Once upon a time, diesels were sluggish, noisy and needed deep pockets to maintain. The Ikon did have a 1.8-litre naturally aspirated diesel under its hood at one point (a carry over from the Escort), but it wasn’t something that appealed to the consumer. Now Ford have given the Ikon another shot in the arm by slotting the same engine from the Fiesta and Fusion under the Ikon’s hood. Does it make for a change of heart?

Exterior
The recent nose-job has added a little aggression to the Ikon’s look, but the traditional saloon profile remains. New colors are available on the TDCi, and our test car was decked out in ‘Morello’. This conjured up mouth-watering memories of our Fiesta 1.6 S test car, which was the same shade. The headlamps are now polygonal and the front air dam follows the same school of thought as the Fiesta styling update. The curved doors on our test car were missing rub strips, which will probably lead to dents and dings in the parking lot. The car’s body seems to be quite high off the ground, but that’s because it is – it’s got 167mm of clearance, which is enough for any Indian bad-road situation. The rear remains similar to the old Ikon’s, but the tail-lamp reflectors have changed and now look much better.

Interior
The TDCi’s interiors are beige, so feel bright and spacious. The plastics are mostly hard, but they’re also hard-wearing. The buttons for the air-conditioning and recirculation have a lot of travel while going on and off, and take some getting used to. The buttons that raise and lower the rear windows need to have a softer touch – it takes too much force to operate them. The new dials look good and are far better than the earlier Ikon’s with their front-lit cluster. The horn sounds like it’s inside the car – it needs a better-sounding horn desperately. Tall drivers might find getting in and out uncomfortable because of the steering wheel’s design. The wheel also gets in the way of tall driver’s knees when operating the clutch pedal, so the driver has to sit far away, which makes him (or her) reach a little to the steering wheel. The hood release is on the underside of the steering column, and there is no internal boot release. If you think it painful having to turn the engine off and get out of the car to unlock the boot with the key every time you have to access it, wait till you manage to lock the key in the boot. We did just that, and got to know some very interesting things.

Fit and finish of the plastics and panels on the car is good, as is the layout and visibility of the instruments. There are however some bits that now feel cheap and the cost cutting seems to be showing through. Some insulation and damping material in the right places would have gone a long way to make the car quieter since the Ikon shell is still fairly thin and light and the panel resonance does filter through.
The driving position is comfortable, unless you’re six feet tall or more. The passengers won’t complain any, though – even with a six-footer in the front seat, there is enough legroom for a normal-sized person in the back. We’d have liked the brake pedal to be a little lower – driving in city traffic can be bothersome because of its placement. The mirrors are too small for our traffic, and there’s a massive blind spot because of this. Three in the rear seat might be a squeeze. Getting into and out of the rear seat is a breeze, however – elderly people find the wide-opening rear doors and high clearance a boon for their knees. The TDCi has a single-disc, mp3-playing audio system as an option which does the job competently, but if you’re an audio enthusiast, you’ll want to upgrade the system. The menus for configuring the sound can be a little puzzling, and it is a little slow to read discs, especially mp3s when it tries to pick up where it left off on being turned on. What we really liked about the audio system was the built-in jack for the auxiliary input. It saves the user the trouble of having to carry another cable along, and any device with a 3.5mm jack can be hooked up to the system. The system is placed a little too low on the centre console for our liking – you have to take your eyes off the road to look at it, and the backlighting is too bright at night. It doesn’t respond too well to low frequencies, but it can hook up to your phone via Bluetooth so that you can talk on the phone while driving.
The front doors have pockets, but they’re too narrow for bottles that hold one litre or more of fluid. The glovebox is quite high, but isn’t deep enough for our liking. The cover doubles up as a cup-holder, but we aren’t too sure about trusting the hinges to take the weight of two full cups on our pothole-ridden roads. There are recesses to keep change and phones ahead of and just behind the gearshift lever, but they would have been so much more useful if they were slightly bigger. No such complaints about the boot, however – an airport trip is a breeze (except for the bit when you have to turn off the engine, jump out and open the boot with the key, of course.) The headlamps are bright enough for nightly trips on unlit highways.

Engine
The Fiesta brought this mill to India, then the Fusion TDCi had it, and now the Ikon TDCi has it. We aren’t complaining, however – the Ikon has a spring in its step that the old diesel wouldn’t have dreamt of. 100kph comes up in 14.7 seconds, thanks to 68bhp and 160Nm from the common-rail motor. You can also maintain a comfortable 100kph cruise with the engine ticking over at 2500rpm. The car feels so much livelier thanks to the lack of weight. You can feel the turbo wake up at 2000rpm, and then the Ikon snarls its way to the redline. The noise from the engine is pleasing the first few times you rev it, but then it wears thin – it isn’t as refined as the Fiesta’s vocal chords, whose noise we quite enjoyed. A few vibrations filter through the gear lever and clutch pedal. The warranty on the engine is terrific, which shows the company’s confidence in it’s product.


Gearbox
The bottom three gears help it keep up with traffic, and fourth and fifth are tall to keep economy high. 2000rpm in fifth gives you an indicated 80kph, and fourth gear offers an indicated 60kph at the same engine speed. We have yet to test a Ford with a bad gearbox – they all have been positive and shift as quickly as you want them to. The vibrations through the lever can get annoying, but that’s only because some of us have the habit of leaving a hand on the lever for extended periods of time.

Fuel Efficiency

The Ikon has the potential to be India's most fuel efficient car. It shares its engine with the Fiesta Duratorq, which once held that record, but is lighter. We found that it refused to dip below 12kpl, no matter how hard we drove it. With careful usage of the right foot, 15kpl should be a breeze for the normal person on the highway.

Ride and Handling
The ride at low speeds is a bit stiff, but the tall tyres absorb most of the shock. Up speed and things even out but you feel some pitch at really high speeds on undulating roads because of the long travel suspension and the ride height but the Ikon is still one of the most entertaining handlers. Handling at low speeds is a breeze, what with the power steering. At high speed, the Ikon still handles well – it may not change direction as readily as the Flair or the erstwhile 1.6, but it still manages to put a grin on your face. The steering weighs up well, the brakes are full of feel and the car responds well to throttle inputs provided you’re spinning it above 2000rpm. Ground clearance is a mighty 167mm, so there aren’t any worries about beaching the car, even on big speed bumps.

The hazard switch blinks like the bat phone when you turn it on!

Braking
The brake pedal is positioned in an odd position. The pedal itself has very nice feedback, and the brakes are progressive enough. They stop the car well, but the 80-0kph braking distance is let down mostly by the tyres. The car never loses its composure under emergency braking. ABS isn’t an option on this car.

Tyres
The 175/70 R13 Goodyear GPS 2s on the Ikon offer a decent amount of grip, and absorb bumps well.

Safety
The Ikon is a basic car, and it is reflected in its price. No ABS or airbags are available, even as an option. However, we were offered an insight into other thoughtful features in the Ikon when we inadvertently locked the keys in the boot.
You can’t lock the keys in the car: the only way to lock all doors without the key is to sit in the rear seat, shut all doors, push one of the front door handles in so that it locks all the doors, then open the rear door, get out, lock it and shut it with the handle pulled out. Congratulations – you’ve now managed to lock all the doors without the key. If this doesn’t work, Ford tells us that any Ford car key (or any key that fits into the keyhole) will lock the doors – but it won’t unlock them.
Back to the boot, and the locked key inside it. The rear seat in the Ikon doesn’t flip forward, and the nuts that screw the seatback are accessible only from the boot. Your only options are to fetch the spare key and unlock the boot, or get a new key made.

Cost
    Ford India surprised everyone by pricing the Ikon at Rs 5.5 lakhs, ex-showroom Mumbai. January might see a price hike, but you get an incredible amount of car for the money. It is an extremely economical car to run, as you can see from the fuel economy figures, but we’re still not sure about the cost of ownership, since Ford has told us that they’ve worked on it but not explained exactly how they’ve managed to do that despite reminders from us. Ford service is improving gradually, so we’re positive about the ownership experience.

Overall evaluation
    It’s an old brand – agreed. It could use ABS and airbags – agreed. But look at that price! The only diesel cars you can get for that kind of money are hatchbacks like the Palio and Swift. India values a VFM package and at the price with the size and the premium-ish look of the car, it does strike a chord with the Indian consumer.