[ampere]

Originally Posted by MAS

The minimum and maximum space at the rear. The interior space is almost identical to the new Fiesta.

Nice info there MAS. Clearly Ecosport is not for some one to be in the back seat for long distances. It would be quite cramped.

[KINI]

Originally Posted by MAS

Posting a few pictures that i took of the Ecosport before/during/after the test drive.

Sir,how is the ecosport priced in brazil in relation to the new Fiesta??

And could you list out some key features of the top end(Titanium?) variant??

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by MAS

Posting a few pictures that i took of the Ecosport before/during/after the test drive.

Thanks for the heads up. You covered good detail about the ecosport and these pictures offer clear view of the space and the boot. However it is clearly not as spacious as duster for sure. lets see how ford decides to price it.

I have been forever waiting for the next upgrade of my Swift and Ecosport,Duster,Ertiga and Quanto were high on my list. and each have their own issues

Quanto - handling and body roll(i can live with looks)

Duster - tad more expensive than i expected it to be. exteriors are awesome. its the interiors that makes me think twice about its price(perhaps 60K-1L expensive)

Ertiga - Waiting period !!!! Seriously apart from waiting period, i dont see any complaint coming out so far

Ecosport - compact, stlylish and handles well. lets hope Ford prices it sensibly .

[ku69rd]

Thanks for the brief drive report. Can you please clarify more on the body roll? Would it be something similar like that of the ol school Scorpio or Xylos?

Yes Sir the Black looks very seductive compared to other colors. Also how good is the ground clearance? How was Engine's response? Apologies if am asking too many questions

[shivasuma]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Thanks for the brief drive report. Can you please clarify more on the body roll? Would it be something similar like that of the ol school Scorpio or Xylos?

Yes Sir the Black looks very seductive compared to other colors. Also how good is the ground clearance? How was Engine's response? Apologies if am asking too many questions

I think we should wait for the India-made Ecosport. Ford will definitely tune it to our conditions. Knowing Ford, hopefully the handling will be atleast equal or better than the Duster . GC is 200mm and it should not be a concern.

[Red Liner]

This car ticks a lot of the right boxes for someone who:

1. Always travels alone or with a maximum of one or two other people - thus no guilt-trip that he or she's driving an oversized circus cart

2. Has great GC for those trips out of town (or come to think of it even within the city)

3. Does not intend to haul home, baby, and bathtub to a family wedding (rather doesnt get invited to any weddings at all!) - but has just enough space for a week-end camping trip (tent/bag/supplies)

4. Comes from Ford so its reasonable to accept average service support (as opposed to great support = honda/toyota; or poor perceived support = FIAT/Skoda)

5. Looks heck of a lot better than anything on the roads right now.

[MAS]

Originally Posted by ampere

Can you elaborate on the space? I thought 3 can be seated nicely in a Duster, while they would have some difficulty in an Ecosport. (Both from width and leg room)
How is the transmission tunnel hump for the middle row? Duster is a bit flatter.

Great inputs MAS !

Ecosport and Duster felt to be almost identical on space (leg room). Duster felt a bit more spacious at the rear and wider.

The transmission tunnel hump in the Ecosport seemed a tad higher than the duster. I am attaching the rear seat space of Ecosport & the Duster for comparison

Ecosport


Duster


The transmission tunnel hump is also visible in both the pictures.

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

You are thoroughly a gentleman, as you kept your promise of Test Driving the Brazilian Ecosport

Going by the above comparo, it seems the Duster is a notch above the Ecosport in most of the departments, be it ride, space, size etc. I don't think this would be much different in India, so the only way Ford can sway the customers away from the Duster towards the Ecosport, is to play the price card. Pass on the maximum amount of excise duty benefit to the customers & see the Ecosports fly off the shelves.

Looking forward to the pictures that you clicked & the comparo thread between the Ecosport & the Duster. Please share the link here.

Yes, at the end of the test drive, i felt the same way. I just hope Ford India tunes the suspension and price to more comfortable levels. But even with this package, the Ecosport were literally flying off the shelves in Brazil with a waiting period of 40 days. The Duster on the other hand was not selling too well and was immediately available.

Originally Posted by vb-san

Brazil don’t have the 1.0 EcoBoost? I was expecting a report on that

That was my expectation as well – similar quality interiors as the Fiesta, or probably a bit lower, especially if they have intentions to play the price advantage.

Assume that Ford will be able to get the right tuning for the India version. Afterall ride and handling is their USP.

That’s a bit of a concern. Did it feel flimsy compared to your Fiesta? And you maybe right there – it could be the Focus effect

Brazil did not get the 1.0 Ecoboost engine. May be they have an issue with the "Flex" labeling, which means that the engine can run on both Ethanol and Petrol. But Brazil get the option of two engines, 1.6 L and the 2.0 L.

The interiors of the 2.0 L Titanium is much better than the 1.6 L Freestyle variant. Hope Ford bring the Titanium based interiors for all variants in India.

The Ecosport did feel a bit light, not very sturdy and glued to the road type, like the New Fiesta. Focus is altogether in a different league when it comes to handling and road grip is concerned.

Originally Posted by Maanspeedo

Hats off to you MAS. God bless you for bringing this information to us,the ever hungry , car crazy BHPians

I actually bought the ACI anniversary issue to scroll through Ecosport review and even after reading it , I was not too sure about space and body roll , especially body roll which I am paranoid about .

As per your observations , body roll is more than duster at the corners and you could feel all the undulations of the road which precisely has been the selling point of Duster, no body roll and a 30 lakh car like suspension system.

I am itching to sell my 1 year old Honda city ivtec for a SUV and my search has been longer than the search for the holy grail. I loved duster but waiting is too much and its price just not justify . Fortuner is 26+ and koleos is 29+ , so out of budget. I dont like overdone XUV and thus was really hoping to get all my wishes fulfilled in ecosport ; auto trnasmission,super ride and comparable prices.

Now little doubtful as I just can not compromise with a car which makes me feel every speed breaker or pothole ( ANHC is the same and why should I replace then.)

My question is , how about the space inside the cabin, I am 6 feet 2 inches, would ecosport be comfortable to drive ,ingress, egress with this height . how about the back seat space, can 5.10 to 6 feet people squeeze in comfortably ( sub 4 meter is creating some doubts here ) Please share your observations on this.

And then if nothing works out, then gota wait to see whether TML has any surprises up its sleeve with safari storme on 17th .

Thanks again for being a true blue car lover and taking test rides of both these machines in Brazil .

Thank you for your kind words. I am 6 feet 2 inches and it was a breeze to drive, ingress, egress the Ecosport. It is a compact SUV and cannot expect much more space from it. The SA was a lady of about 5 feet 5 inches and she could sit comfortably at the rear seat during the test drive.

Please refer to the pictures in this post above for comparative leg room between the duster and the Ecosport.

The body roll is present in the Ecosport, but i would not compare it against the Duster. The two cars drive very differently. The Ecosport has a very stiff suspension and hence felt a bit shaky on patchy roads, whereas the Duster completely absorbed the patches. If i were to be driving on tight curvy roads with a smooth surface, Ecosport will handle much better than the duster. But on rough roads, the ride in the Ecosport will not be as comfortable as the Duster.

Originally Posted by vibbs

Thanks for the review MAS. I guess they will soften the ride a bit for the Indian spec one. Also what trim is the duster available there? Is it same as India.
Aren't we getting the 1 litre here? I guess that should give Ford much more leeway to price it more competetively here against the duster as compared to Brazil. Provided they are willing to pass on the excise benefits to the customer. If they to that I guess we could see much more difference in the pricing wrt the duster here than its there.
As I see it they should not overshoot the Quanto (which itself is overpriced IMO) by too much.

Thanks Vibbs. The Duster is available in much better trims when compared to India. I will post the scanned copies of the brochures i got in Brazil on the Duster thread.

India will get the 1 Litre Ecoboost Engine. But i guess Ford would factor in the cost of development of the Ecoboost and will price it higher than the regular 1.5 Litre Petrol engine.

The Quanto, i guess, will be no match to the Ecosport in terms of brand value or the driving pleasure. IMO, Ford will price it higher than the Quanto.

Originally Posted by sridhar-v

How would you rate the front legroom and also the rear legroom vis a vis the new Fiesta?

The legroom is almost identical to the Fiesta.
Front Legroom - Fiesta has slightly more front leg room and the seats (in the Titanium) have better thigh support.
Rear leg room - Ecosport offers a slightly better leg room at the back.

[aravind.anand]

I dislike the seat fabric of the EcoSport! Looks a bit too dated and doesn't impart a premium feel. But from the picture above, it surely seems to be much better at the rear, compared to the Fiesta.

[MAS]

While driving down to Sao Paulo, we also had a chance to see the first Ecosport on the road. Parked the Focus next to the Ecosport to compare the two.

The Focus is wider and longer than the Ecosport.









Due to its construction, the handling of Focus is in a different league when compared to the Ecosport. Both are priced similarly and has the same 1.6 Litre Flex engine, but the Ecosport felt much more agile when compared to the Focus.

The Ecosport seen here is the lowest spec variant with steel wheels.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by MAS

The Quanto, i guess, will be no match to the Ecosport in terms of brand value or the driving pleasure. IMO, Ford will price it higher than the Quanto.

Yes . Now that I have read the official Team Bhp review of the Quanto, it seems much more sense to spend the extra money and get a Duster over the Quanto. So I guess the comparison with Ecosport would also be waaay off the mark and it would in all probabilities be priced above the Quanto and justifiably so. Sorry for the misplaced comparo.

[MAS]

I also had the chance to sit and touch the 2.0 L Titanium variant of the Ecosport. The interiors are much better, different set of alloys, Start-Stop button, ACC, 6 airbags, dual tone interiors with more contrast between the two colours, better seat fabric were some of the additions apart from the heart transplant.

Some pictures of the 2.0 Litre Titanium Ecosport...

From the Front - Looks identical to the other variants, except for the silver lip


The 2.0 Litre engine fills the engine bay


The alloys are different. I personally prefer the alloys from the Freestyle variant. Madame is the Sales Adviser.


The rear gets the "Titanium" and "2.0" badges, except for the silver lip at the rear


The front and rear doors get the bottle holders (one up when compared to Fiesta)
Front


The interior is much better on this variant. Note the ACC, dual tone interiors and the different fabric on the seats


Note the start stop button (kind of oddly placed)

[Red Liner]

Lovely! This is the variant to have in Diesel in India! Will beat the duster hollow!

[sansvk]

Thanks MAS for the great review and pictures. The ecopsort logically seems to be a perfect upgrade for me. Well I felt the same before the NFS launch and then Ford dropped a bombshell.
The ecopsort is kinda ideal for people looking for a hatch with increased ground clearance and with Fords DNA; if your expecting anything beyond it then its certainly not for you.

[Smokeymist]

Exteriors are crafted very well..Interiors are also very good but could have been better.Fabric seating seems very pathetic.Price it well Ford-Else you cant fly in India

[Sheel]

Titanium and Freestyle variants alloy wheels need to swapped ASAP. The Freestyle has got one of the best OE wheels I have seen in recent times in a mass manufactured Car.

Thanks for penning your impression & photos