Confirmed - Ford Aspire Sports Edition To Get A Retuned Suspension, Launching Tomorrow Alongside Figo Sports Edition

Ford Aspire Sports Edition will certainly get a retuned suspension setup, Figo Sports Edition might also be differently sprung

Ford is entering the league of carmakers offering mildly spruced up versions of their hatchbacks. The American carmaker, however, will also introduce the performance-oriented version of its compact sedan - Aspire.

Update - Ford Figo Sports & Aspire Sports Launched - Click for prices and details

The biggest change – Retuned suspension

The Sports Edition of the Aspire will certainly get a retuned suspension, as suggested by the list of changes displayed at one of the Ford dealerships. We believe the setup should be on the firmer side to improve handling and stability. Going by the past record, Ford should be able to do a good job; the last-gen Figo and Fiesta are a testimony of the same. The Figo Sports Edition should also get an update to the suspension setup, ideally.

Other Updates

The Ford Aspire Sports Edition will not feature a rear seat centre armrest. Here's a list of the updates that the Sports Edition of these cars would get over the Titanium variant:

Ford Aspire Sports Edition Updates

• 15-inch alloy wheels
• Black painted grill-bars
• Black painted headlamp bezel
• Leather wrapped steering with grey coloured stitching
• Black interiors
• Side & rear decals with S logo
• Retuned suspension

Ford Figo Sports Edition Updates

• Black painted headlamp bezel
• Dual-tone ORVMs and roof colour (black/white)
• Honeycomb grille
• Rear spoiler
• Side and rear decals
• Painted alloys
• Base seat with red stitching
• Leather wrapped steering wheel with red stitching

Engines – No change

The Sports Edition of both the Figo and the Aspire will be powered by the same set of petrol and diesel engines, with the same output as well. Both the Figo & Aspire come with a 1.5-litre, 100PS diesel engine and a 1.2-litre, 88PS petrol engine. Both the engines come paired with a 5-speed manual transmission.

The 1.5-litre diesel engine makes enough power to do justice to the 'Sports Edition' tag of the stock cars. The diesel Figo and Aspire, with a 5-speed manual transmission, are already quick. The diesel Figo, in fact, does the 0-100kmph in under 12 seconds (unofficial). The acceleration is comparable to cars like the VW Polo GT TSI & the Baleno RS – the so-called budget hot hatches.

There's a bigger, 1.5-litre, 112PS petrol engine also available on the Figo & Aspire range. But the Sports Edition of these cars may not get it for now. The 1.5-litre petrol engine comes with a 6-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission only which isn't the best performer when it comes to spirited driving, despite being a dual-clutch unit.

Fuel Efficiency – Sports Edition is more thirsty

The Figo and Aspire Sports Edition will get the same engine and transmission as their regular version but there's a drop in fuel efficiency. Interestingly, both the Figo and Aspire are equally fuel-efficient with a claimed fuel efficiency of 18.16kmpl for the 1.2-litre petrol engine and 25.83kmpl for the 1.5-litre diesel. For the Sports Edition, both the cars will return 18.12kmpl with the 1.2-litre petrol and 24.29kmpl for the diesel, a drop of 0.04kmpl (petrol) and 1.54kmpl (diesel). One of the reasons for the drop in fuel efficiency could be the wider tires, but it's hard to understand why the FE drop is considerably higher in the diesel engine's case.

Expected Prices – Not too much over the respective Titanium variants

The Titanium variant of the Figo and the Aspire, on which the Sports Edition of the cars is based, is priced at:

Diesel

• Figo Titanium – Rs 6.72 lakh
• Aspire Titanium – Rs 7.27 lakh

Petrol

• Figo Titanium – Rs 5.82 lakh
• Aspire Titanium – Rs 6.17 lakh

The prices of the Sports Edition of these cars should ideally cost around Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 over the Titanium variant.

Competition

Car manufacturers in India have suddenly shifted their attention towards the budget hot hatch segment. Maruti Suzuki, Volkswagen and Fiat are already present in this segment with the Baleno RS, the Polo GT (petrol and diesel) and the Abarth Punto. Presently, the most affordable car amongst these is the Baleno RS, which is powered by a 1.0-litre, 102PS Boosterjet petrol engine. It costs Rs 8.69 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The Polo GT TDI is the only diesel-powered budget hot hatch that you can currently buy, and it costs around Rs 9.30 lakh. It gets a 1.5-litre, 110PS diesel engine.

The Edge – Diesel Figo Sports Edition should be the car to watch out

The Ford Figo Sports Edition with a retuned suspension should be the car to watch out. We're expecting it to cost around Rs 7 lakh ex-showroom Delhi, and it should be one of the quickest cars you'll be able to buy at that price. Price advantage aside, it's a diesel-powered car, so the running costs will also be not too high.

Contributors - Nikil Jonathan / Jagdev Kalsi

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