Saar: While the official launch of the Freestyle will happen later this month, bookings for the jacked-up Figo will begin on April 7, 2018

Ford is all geared up to launch its Figo in a rough-n-tough avatar later this month and the American carmaker has christened it as Freestyle. Before we dive deep into the variant-wise details, which were recently revealed by Ford, let’s start with a good piece of news for those who have been looking forward to driving home one of these. Official bookings are slated to begin on April 7, 2018, and soon afterwards it will officially go on sale. Just to be clear, the launch is most likely due in April 2018 itself.

Now to the bit where we simplify the variant-wise details for you all. Like all its mainstream cars, Ford has given the Freestyle four variants to start with – Ambiente, Trend, Titanium and Titanium+. All four of them will be offered with petrol and diesel engines. The main highlight is the debut of a new, 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engine from Ford’s Dragon series. It is tuned to produce 96PS of power and 120Nm of torque. The diesel, on the other hand, is the same, tried-and-tested, 1.5-litre unit that generates 100PS/215Nm. With the Freestyle, both engines will be available with a 5-speed manual transmission only.

Vitals

We’ll pit the Freestyle against the car it is most closely related to – the Figo.

Ford Freestyle Vs Ford Figo

The Freestyle is longer, wider and taller than the Figo. The compact crossover also rides on wheels which are 1-inch bigger and 10mm fatter, though have slightly less cushioning as the tyre-wall is 5mm shorter. Those extra inches though have an adverse effect on the fuel economy figures, as far as the diesel engine in the two cars is concerned. However, the new petrol engine manages to outclass the 1.2-litre Ti-VCT engine, both in terms of power and mileage.

To up the safety quotient of the crossover, Ford has equipped it with dual airbags, ABS with EBD, seat belt reminder for front passengers, reverse parking sensors and high speed alerts at 80kmph and 120kmph across all its variants. This list is bang-in-line with the government’s basic safety criteria that every car will have to meet which will be produced from July 1, 2019, onwards. Now, with that out of the way, let’s quickly get cracking on what the Freestyle has to offer in each of its variants.

Ambiente

Mentioned below are some of the highlights from a long list of features:

• Automatic door locking at 15kmph
• Anti-theft alarm
• Rear fog lamp
• 12V power outlet
• Front power windows
• Keyless entry
• Lead-to-vehicle lights
• Manual Day/Night IRVM
• Black roof rails
• Black front and rear skid plates
• Body cladding on side and wheel arches
• Full folding rear seat
• Manual AC
• Trip computer
• One-touch driver-side window operation (Down only)

Although we don’t know how the pricing of the Freestyle will be, it does have a decent list of features in its entry-level variant. The only real misses include a music system, rear power windows, front fog lamps and, rear window washer, wiper and defogger. Let’s get to the next variant.

Trend

Here’s the list of main features that this variant has over the base-spec:

• Front fog lamps
• Rear view camera
• Home safe headlamps
• 4- speaker, Bluetooth enabled, music system with 1 USB port
• 6.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system with onboard navigation
• Turn indicators on ORVMs
• Rear parcel tray
• Premium seat upholstery
• Tachometer with gear shift indicator
• Rear power windows
• Audio controls on steering wheel

The Trend checks off a lot of the basic features that are missing on the Ambiente variant. Onwards then, to the Titanium variant.

Titanium

So what does this, second-to-top variant, variant has to offer over the second-to-bottom one? Let’s find out:

• Active Rollover Prevention (HLA/ESP/TCS)
• One-touch driver-side window operation (Up and Down)
• Height adjustable driver’s seat
• Rear window washer, wiper and defogger
• Push button start
• Height adjustable front seatbelts
• Electrically adjustable and retractable ORVMs
• Automatic climate control
• Silver roof rails
• Silver front and rear skid plates
• Dual tone IP – Sienna & Black

This is much more like it. The Titanium variant gets almost all the goodies that one might possibly need from a car of this type and size. That said, Ford still managed to carve out a variant which tops it. Let’s see what that has to offer.

Titanium+

Over the Titanium, the top-spec Freestyle will come with goodies like:

• Side and curtain airbags
• Emergency assistance
• Automatic headlamps
• Rain sensing wipers
• Ford MyKey
• Electrochromic IRVM
• 2 USB ports
• Audio+Phone controls on steering wheel
• Ford SYNC3 with voice control
• Mobile navigation with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay
• Glovebox light

So there you have it. The Titanium+ variant does have a lot to offer here. That’s in addition to the added safety of four more airbags, taking the total to six. Ford’s SYNC3 system has received a lot of praise and it does seem to have the edge over the systems available in similarly sized cars from Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai. What do you think of the feature list? Do let us know in the comments below.