The three heavy-weights of the hatchback segment are battling head-to-head to dominate the market.
The American carmaker, Ford is here with its updated Figo. Already made available in the market in the month of March this year, the hatchback not only has some few cosmetic tweaks, but it is also packed with a lot more features and is available in two petrol engine options.
But is it ready to give some serious competition to the top-selling Maruti Swift and Hyundai Grand i10? Let’s find out.
Exteriors
The Ford Figo, with the dimensions of 3941 x 1704 x 1525 mm, is longer by 101 mm than the Maruti Swift. But that doesn’t make the Figo a big car. The Swift has the dimensions of 3840 x 1735 x 1530 mm, making it the widest and the tallest car among the three.
Figo also has the longest wheelbase and highest ground clearance, suggesting the Ford has marginally more legroom in the cabin and less chances of scraping against bad bumps. The Maruti Swift is the widest of the three hatchbacks here, indicating more shoulder room for passengers. The Hyundai Grand i10 is the smallest car among the three of them but offers adequate space.
In terms of styling, the Figo looks the sportiest amongst the rivals thanks to the contrasting styling tweaks offered on the range topping variant. However, the Swift is on par as far as sportiness is concerned, it looks youthful and sharp over its predecessor while the Grand i10 has a neutral design language.
Interiors
The Ford Figo facelift gets a new 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system but misses out on the Sync 3 system and doesn’t offer Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity, which the rivals offer. All three cars have the same sized infotainment screens, though the Hyundai has a more responsive unit. With a wheelbase of 2490 mm, the Ford Figo proves to be more spacious and provides ample legroom than the Maruti Swift and the Hyundai Grand i10. When it comes to boot space, the capacity of 268-litres makes Swift’s boot the largest.
Engine and Mileage
Some of the new updates of the Ford Figo facelift is the new three-cylinder petrol engines and new manual and torque converter automatic transmissions. The new petrol Figo is more powerful than it’s older counterpart and is still the most powerful petrol hatchback in this comparison, though its mileage figures are not class leading. The Maruti Swift is the most fuel-efficient, in both manual and AMT option. Mechanically, the diesel Figo has no changes as such, the facelift is powered by a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine that makes 99 BHP and 215 Nm of peak torque, which is paired to a 5-speed manual transmission. This makes it more powerful than the diesel Maruti Swift and Hyundai Grand i10. In addition, the Maruti is the only diesel hatchback in this segment to get the option of a diesel-automatic, in the form of an AMT gearbox.
Safety and Service
The Ford Figo facelift is the segment leader in terms of safety kit – the top-spec Figo Titanium Blu features six airbags while the Figo automatic is equipped with an electronic stability programme, traction control and hill-start assist, which is not available in the other two cars. Both, the Maruti Swift and Hyundai Grand i10 provide only two airbags. All the three cars offer ABS with EBD which has become the standard safety equipment these days along with speed alert, front passenger seatbelt reminder and reverse parking sensors. Coming to the after-sales, Maruti Suzuki has the largest network across the country followed by Hyundai and then Ford. Maruti is known for its reliable and easy to maintain after sales while Hyundai is also known for good customer satisfaction. Ford is one of the most affordable brand in terms of after sales and their network is growing gradually.
Price and Verdict
All the three hatchbacks are quite closely priced if you look at the lower variants. However, if you compare the pricing of the Figo and Grand i10 with the range topping variants of the Swift, then the Maruti seems to be quite overpriced for what it offers. Yes, the Swift is the only hatch here with the diesel AMT combo and the Grand i10 feels the most premium in terms of quality. However, Ford has reduced the pricing of the Figo with the launch of the facelift, which makes it a more value for money package. Yes it misses out on certain features but in terms of safety equipment, engine options and driving dynamics, it comes out as the most appealing hatchback in this comparison.
Figo vs Swift vs Grand i10
