[zteg]

Originally Posted by sup?

I hope things get resolved once and for all on Monday. I

Please update us on your call on Monday. I have pre-booked with Elite Ford. They are quoting 37k for bumper to bumper, zero depreciation insurance. They have removed Elite pack from the pricelist. However they are still sticking to the insurance part.

By the way how much does a bumper to bumper, zero depreciation insurance cost outside.

Also can you share Ford's customer care mail id. let me also shoot a mail to them.

[gitartha]

Thanks for the first hand account. I am sure many people in this forum were anxious to get details after taking a look at the photos. I suppose as the test drive was done in the narrow, winding roads of Goa, the top speeds attained while testing the car (albeit the incident involving the toppled car) must have been must lower compared to the speeds that this vehicle will be driven in expressways & otherwise good / broad roads as it happened in Gandhidham. Since I myself can vouch for the excellent road infrastructure in major part of Gujarat, it is a high possibility that the ES will definitely be driven at speeds much over 120 kmph here. Hence the question of high speed braking stability or any twitching of the tail happening in the ES needs to be seriously looked into by FORD India at earliest before any more such incidents occur. The light EPS is definitely playing a role here. If I can remember correctly, the inherent instability of the scorpio was largely attributed to its very light steering which as a friend of mine remarked, caused invariable change in direction of the vehicle even if someone so much so as sneezed at the wheel! I have not yet checked, but since the steering is an EPS unit, does it come with speed sensitive feedback (the gradual hardening of the steering wheel at high speeds) ? This feature comes even in a sub 3 lac car like alto LXi.

Originally Posted by mrohit17

I was a first hand witness to this incident. And incidentally I along with my friend were there to get assurance regarding this same Stability thing....
Now even if I leave this unfortunate accident to drivers error I cannot discount the fact that we were present there and awaiting our turn to actually check out this stability factor of which my friend was not at all happy with(he is a Mech. Engineer so not exactly a noob and with 1Lac Km behind his belt he sure knows how a Manza drives). One thing is sure God has given my friend a clear indication not to buy ES(he even would have felt vindicated). For the rest of us it sure makes sense to once again request the experts to specifically check out this aspect once again in detail.

In hindsight I remember myself and my other punto owning friend discussing within ourselves that the steering of the ES does not get properly weighted at high speeds unlike our Punto (this was factor which we didnt like). What I mean is even at high speeds the steering of ES felt very nimble. Could this be the one factor responsible....?....

[harishpr]

Is it not possible to book and take delivery with a dealer in small town, since bookings will be less there and waiting period may be in weeks.. It can be immediately registered with the rto of our locality. Isn't this possible? May be a stupid idea and not really verified. Someone who knows can enlighten me.

[sup?]

Originally Posted by harishpr

Is it not possible to book and take delivery with a dealer in small town, since bookings will be less there and waiting period may be in weeks.. It can be immediately registered with the rto of our locality. Isn't this possible? May be a stupid idea and not really verified. Someone who knows can enlighten me.

The small town dealers have smaller allocations. I already inquired in Hubli and the same waiting period was quoted there too.

Originally Posted by zteg

Please update us on your call on Monday. I have pre-booked with Elite Ford. They are quoting 37k for bumper to bumper, zero depreciation insurance. They have removed Elite pack from the pricelist. However they are still sticking to the insurance part.

By the way how much does a bumper to bumper, zero depreciation insurance cost outside.

Also can you share Ford's customer care mail id. let me also shoot a mail to them.

The mail id is : custmail@ford.com

Even I am curious as to how much a "bumper to bumper" insurance outside would cost. Someone with experience dealing with insurance can give us an update.

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by harishpr

Is it not possible to book and take delivery with a dealer in small town, since bookings will be less there and waiting period may be in weeks.

The bigger cities with more dealers and more bookings will certainly get more vehicles allocated to them each month compared to dealers from smaller cities. I doubt if there will be any significant difference in the waiting periods.

[k_ajay]

Originally Posted by rajneeesh

Madhav, Any half decent Leather Seats will set you back by Rs 25- 30 K. These are not seat covers but leather seats.

While td'ing the Ecoboost titanium+ yesterday, I also tried to get a feel of the leather seats. I felt them to be more art leather than real leather.

But I think this is common. Almost all manufacturers pass out art leather seats instead of leather seats, when rolled out from the factory. They just don't want to be vocal in terming them as art leather on paper..

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by k_ajay

While td'ing the Ecoboost titanium+ yesterday, I also tried to get a feel of the leather seats. I felt them to be more art leather than real leather.

But I think this is common. Almost all manufacturers pass out art leather seats instead of leather seats, when rolled out from the factory. They just don't want to be vocal in terming them as art leather on paper..

I doubt if that's the case. It could be just different grades/quality of leather. Nowadays manufacturers explicitly mention if the seats are real leather or artificial (for example, the leatherette seats in VW Jetta/Vento, Artico Manmade leather in Mercedes etc.)

[saisrujan]

This time, I spent a little more time fiddling with the Sync system - on the Titanium Ecosport.

• Radio is crisp and noise-free.
• Couldn't test USB music playback
• Paired my phone to the sync system using bluetooth. Getting used to the menus will take time, it's not intuitive (typical Microsoft?)
• Music over bluetooth didn't sound crisp - the radio sounded way better . I encode my music at 320kbit/sec and I'm conscious about music quality and listening music over this kind of bluetooth will not work for me.
• Also, commands like 'play track ...' or 'play artist..' don't work work over bluetooth! You'll have to fiddle with the phone and start the song from the phone. This feature, apparently, only works with the USB.
• No problem understanding regular Indian accent - as long as you know what commands work. It's rudimentary compared to siri / android voice search.
• Initiating phone-calls was simple, but the voice over the speakers was lower than usual. You'll have to crank up the volume to hear better, but when the call is terminated, music comes in loud.
• The CD Drive is of low utility. I'm not sure how many of us still listen to CDs in the car.
• Do not make the mistake of pairing your phone with the TD vehicle. I originally thought it's as easy as going into some menu and deleting contacts. Couldn't find any such option, and the SA tells me that the contacts will be erased when bluetooth connection is removed, but I don't believe him.

Due to the sub-optimal quality of music over bluetooth and the inability to search for tracks on my phone using bluetooth, it's best not to play songs from phone. It's best to use a pen-drive instead.

Now that using a thumb-drive seems to be inevitable, I wish they had concealed the USB port somewhere inside the glove-box / boot rather than leave it open right under the hand-brake. An open thumb-drive will attract undue attention from valet parking folks.

[diffsoft]

Review of the Ecosport AT in Autocar

http://www.autocarindia.com/Review/3...est-drive.aspx

Cheers,

[rameshnanda]

Today, I went along with a friend to MPL Ford to have a look at the EcoSport and also to take a TD. To our shock, we were asked to sign an 'Indemnity Form' which states that we will have to take responsibility for any damage happens to the vehicle during TD. I have never encountered such a process with any dealer so far. I asked them whether the vehicle is Insured or not. The SA told that it is yet to be registered and they don't have insurance. I was taken back by his answer and asked how can they take the vehicle out without any insurance. Immediately another senior guy intervened and told that they do have insurance for all the TD vehicles at MPL Ford and this indemnity form process is the direction from Ford itself and not that of dealer. I wasn't convinced and decided not to take TD. And it looked like we were the only one to oppose their indemnity form process and the SA came to us asking whether we are from the 'Media'.

Later, we called another dealer in Chennai, 'Chennai Ford' and they were ready to offer the TD and there is no such thing called 'Indemnity Form' with them.

Ok. Coming back to EcoSport, to me it doesn't look like an SUV or Mini-SUV at all. It is just another big Hatch. Probably they can brand this as 'Micro-SUV'.

Some Pictures.

[sknair]

Originally Posted by diffsoft

Review of the Ecosport AT in Autocar

http://www.autocarindia.com/Review/3...est-drive.aspx

Cheers,

Thanks, just read the review; a bit concerned from the comments in the article that there is not much power for overtaking?

Did anyone get to test drive the Automatic in the dealerships? none of the Dealers in Bangalore has an automatic for test drive.

[dnahelix]

Originally Posted by diffsoft

Review of the Ecosport AT in Autocar

http://www.autocarindia.com/Review/3...est-drive.aspx

Cheers,

Thanks for posting the link to Ecosport AT review on Autocar. This sounds cautious or less enthusiastic compared to Ford Fiesta automatic review on Autocar (there is a hyperlink below the article). Reviewers are apprehensive about lack of tiptronic on Fiesta AT but are generally okay with performance parameters; however they sound cautious about the mid-range lugging capability and performance, even though Ecosport does come with a sport mode and tiptronic. I wonder if it is due to difference in kerb weight of Ecosport and Fiesta. One doesn't expect a scorcher however low- to mid-range throttle response is a must, this adds to the corners we are cutting - light steering, little cramped rear set and now this. I had pre-booked an Ecosport AT, but given the waiting period/uncertainty and mixed reviews about its performance - I might just wait a little longer and let the dust settle before making a decision; thus likely to cancel the booking for now.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by saisrujan

I originally thought it's as easy as going into some menu and deleting contacts. Couldn't find any such option, and the SA tells me that the contacts will be erased when bluetooth connection is removed, but I don't believe him.

The Sync system ensures that contacts are accessible only if the phone they came from is paired, so you needn't worry about others (easily) accessing your contacts.

[diffsoft]

Originally Posted by sknair

Did anyone get to test drive the Automatic in the dealerships? none of the Dealers in Bangalore has an automatic for test drive.

Someone in the forum said it was available at Lathangi.

Separately, over the many pages of this review there are endless debates on whether this is really an SUV or micro SUV or a hatch on stilts and so on. This must of great concern to the purists, but to some like me - I need a car that meets most of my needs at good value whether they are called hatch / SUVs or whatever.

They are primarily -

1. City drivability / 'parkability'
2. Managing poor city roads of all kinds under all conditions
3. Managing go-stop-go traffic
4. Take a family of 4 on weekends
5. Reasonably fun to drive

This should be accompanied by high safety, high reliability and lower cost of ownership.

To me an Ecosport AT meets these needs at best value. Ford has offered what Don Carleone once said, "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse."

Cheers,

[agambhandari]

Now, the local dealer Bhagat Ford claims no TD before Wednesday. Not to forget at least 2-3 months waiting period on top of that to actually get the car.

This is seriously testing my patience, for a car that I have waited 1.5 yrs. Sorry Ford, you are not that special after all, and I WILL look at other cars. A bird in hand beats the two in bush.....to rephrase,
A Duster in your garage beats an EcoSport in the showroom!!