Help!! Our Figo Petrol is giving us 7.5 kmpl mileage!!

After buying Fiat Linea , my Santro was being used by my wife for two years. Now the Santro was 9 years old so I decided to buy a new car for my wife. After test driving the Beat, Ritz and Figo my wife liked the interiors and space of the Figo and wanted to buy it. We had taken test drive from Cauvery Motors Bangalore. Though the salesman told us we will get upto 14kmpl in city with AC I knew from reading TBHP review that mileage would be 11kmpl in city which was acceptable to me. So we went ahead and purchased the vehicle. We got the delivery on June 25 2011. The delivery process was smooth and we were overall happy with the car and dealership. After 1 month of usage when we checked the mileage we found it to be around 8kmpl. When we called the dealership they told us that such bad mileage was not possible and you should get upto 16kmpl in city and asked us to wait till first service. When we took the car for first service we told the service engineer about the mileage and he also told us to check the mileage after first service. While taking the car back from service he said he found some problems when he connected to his laptop and he has fixed all the problems so mileage will improve now. He also told us to not test the mileage using DTE (distance to empty) indicator and to fill the tank fully, drive 100 kms and then fill tank again fully and then check the mileage. We did this once and mileage was 7.8kmpl. Then we changed the filling station thinking the petrol quality may not be good there. Again mileage was 7.7kmpl. Next to check if my wife's driving is faulty I took the car to office (40km to and fro) once and checked mileage and again it is 7.8kmpl. Now, we took appointment with Cauvery Ford for a Saturday, they asked us to come on a week day as Saturdays are busy. The guy whom I spoke to told me that they will do mileage test for 30kms and if there is a problem we do not need to pay else we need to pay labour charges. Then I took leave from office and went to Cauvery Ford on a weekday. When I told the service engineer that we are getting 7.5kmpl in city, he asked us how much we are getting in highway. I told him we have another diesel car which we use on highway so we have never tested on highway. He asked us to go and test on highway and come back!! I told him I have had enough of this nonsense and asked him to look into the problem immediately. He then connected the car to a laptop, ran some tests and said everything is fine and told us that you guys don't know how to drive the car. When I told him to take him to his boss he took us to the service manager. When I told the manager my problem he said they cannot give any guarantee on the mileage in city. Manager also said he is 100% confident that there is no problem with the car and suggested that we do not know how to drive the car. I told him that our old Santro was giving us 12kmpl, so it is your car that has a problem and there is no problem with our driving. He said Santro is 1 liter engine so it was giving better mileage. I told him my Santro was ZipPlus and 1.1 liter engine and Figo is 1.2 liter and even as per his logic it should give 10-11 kmpl and not 7.5kmpl. He said the traffic has become too much of late so you are getting less mileage now. I told him traffic has not changed drastically in 4 months. I told him to do a mileage test and see it for himself. He said his best driver is on leave and asked me to come another day!! I told him I have taken an appointment for today and have taken leave from office and come so I want him to do the mileage test today itself. Then he went and took the car with him and came back after 30 minutes. I don't know what he did with the car. He said lets go for mileage test and he himself will drive the car. He said he needs to drive the car for 50kms (not 30 kms as told by service engineer) in 70% highway and 30% city and he will show that car is giving more than 12kmpl. I told him that if you drive in highway the car will certainly give him more mileage. I told him drive the car in city and check the mileage. He said as per rules of Ford he can do mileage test like this only, so I told him fine go ahead. He said I need to fill the petrol. I told him I will not!! If we does not believe me then he needs to fill the petrol himself. I told him if he is ready to test only in city I will agree to p! ay for petrol and if mileage is around 8kmpl then he needs to reimburse me for the petrol. He flatly refused. I knew very well that in highway the car will give certainly 3-4 kms more and then they will claim that car is fine, we do not know how to drive and I would have wasted around 600 bucks unnecessarily. Next, I asked him for Cauvery Ford's GM's mobile number and talked to him. GM said he will ask the service manager to talk to Ford and get back to us in an hour. The service manager did not talk to Ford at all instead brought the sales person who sold us the car. The sales person now told us that he never promised us mileage of 14kmpl but had promised us only 10-12kmpl. I told him but we are not even getting even that mileage. He said he is helpless. I was feed up by this time and told them I will complain to Ford directly and left the place. Before leaving I told them that I will post my experience on all automobiles forum in India like TBHP and the service manager said that I can go ahead and post it!! I came home and called the Ford HelpLine. The customer care agent person on the phone had no idea about automobiles and she kept asking the same questions again and again which I had answered many times. She had a fixed questionnaire and blindly asked questions from it and told me that someone will contact us in 24 hours. No one has contacted us so far. I also filled a complaint form on Ford India's website and there has been no response for this also so far. Today a person from Cauvery Ford called my wife (as car is in her name) and asked her to come for mileage test as Ford India has called them about our complaint. He again told my wife that if in mileage test (70% highway and 30% city) if car gives 12kmpl then it means car has no problem. Meanwhile I had checked in TBHP and found that as per AHAI Figo Petrol should give 15.6kmpl and had told my wife about it. So when my wife told him this he did not respond properly. So my wife asked him to speak to me. He again try to convince me to come for mileage test as Ford India has forwarded our complaint to him. He said he will take the car for 80kms (not 30kms as told by service engineer or 50kms as told by service manager) to test the car and prove the car is fine. I told him that if car gives less than 15kmpl then he should reimburse me for the petrol and again he refused. I told him unless you give me this in writing I will not give the car for mileage test and I don't want to wa! ste 800 bucks for it. He said he will talk to Ford India and get back to us. So far I have not heard back from him In the meantime I asked my wife to send an email to the MD of Ford India. We were given this email id (write2md@ford.com) by sales person during purchase. Salesperson had asked us write nice things about him. We also thought that he had done a decent job so we had written an appreciative email to the MD. Let us see if the MD of Ford responds to the email. My cousin also brought a Figo petrol along with me. He is very busy with work so he has not tested the mileage in city but he told me that he got 12kmpl on highway when he went to Mysore and came back after the first service. He has said he will check the city mileage within next few days and let me know. 8kmpl in city and 12kmpl in highway is pathetic mileage and we need to do something about it. I wanted to share my horrible experience with Cauvery Ford and warn all TBHP members to not buy the Figo Petrol. Maybe Diesel is good I don't know but petrol version sucks. Also wanted to know from TBHP members how I should take this forward. Should I go to consumer court? Please advice guys!!

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