[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by anumod

Hi Suhaas,

Even though Ford is branding it as an urban SUV, but I am expecting it to be a driver's car and I am thinking of taking it to highway very often. So that is why I was looking for an overdrive gear.

From your perspective, just looking at a City car, it doesn't make to have the 6th gear ..

The 5th gear would be an Overdrive gear too. But a 6th will have an even lesser gear ratio, thus reducing both the fuel consumption and the stress on the engine. Inside city or on the highway, the 5th gear should be just fine (provided the EcoSport comes with taller gearing).
All said and done, the 6th gear would anyday be better for relaxed and smooth highway cruises

[M5_fan]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

The 5th gear would be an Overdrive gear too. But a 6th will have an even lesser gear ratio, thus reducing both the fuel consumption and the stress on the engine. Inside city or on the highway, the 5th gear should be just fine (provided the EcoSport comes with taller gearing).
All said and done, the 6th gear would anyday be better for relaxed and smooth highway cruises

I was following your posts and wanted to ask you this. The website mentions a 5 speed manual and a 6 speed dual clutch automatic. So there wont be a 6 speed manual like the one found in the Focus in the UK?

I am also looking forward to buying the ecosport ecoboost but my first preference was the 6 speed manual and then the automatic. Launch is not before january, right?

[avira_tk]

I think people who are expecting a VFM urban SUV are going to be really disappointed, Ford has repeatedly mentioned premium positioning and today's Zigwheels has mentioned pricing as approximately between 8-12L. I think Ford will be using this as a piece to attract footfalls and hope to convert the customer to something else in the lineup. The Fiesta hatch will be ready then(a TC petrol 3 cylinder may not have customers queueing up).

The diesel will be costlier at around the Fiesta's pricing, Ford it seems has resigned itself to pushing the Figo, concentrating on the volumes it generates. This vehicle will have sales comparable to the new Fiesta, unless it strikes a chord with urban customers, who are not so fond of Ford.

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by M5_fan

The website mentions a 5 speed manual and a 6 speed dual clutch automatic. So there wont be a 6 speed manual like the one found in the Focus in the UK?

If the website says so, I guess Ford wont offer that in India. Especially since the 6 Speed Manual is not available in Indian Fiesta, while the 5 speed manual and the 6 speed Auto mentioned in the website are.

Launch is not before january, right?

If we are to believe ACI editor's tweet (he is quite trust worthy) The EcoSport would not be launched before 2012 ends, it would be an early 2013 launch according to his tweet. Sigh!

Originally Posted by avira_tk

I think people who are expecting a VFM urban SUV are going to be really disappointed, Ford has repeatedly mentioned premium positioning and today's Zigwheels has mentioned pricing as approximately between 8-12L.

I don't think that Zigwheels is a highly trustworty site Avira. So I am not going to jump into conclusions. But I also sincerely hope and wish that they price it much lower than the Global Fiesta.

As an answer to both the above quotes, here is the tweet by Hormazd Sorabjee ( Editor -ACI) :
"Ertiga makes Ford re-think EcoSport price. Wont be surprised if base model is sub Rs 6 lakh. What's certain is a 2013 launch, not end 2012"
Hope this helps

[supremeBaleno]

This SUV is an amazing package for those of us who like SUVs but hate lugging around 2.5ton hulk of a truck around adding congestion to already-clogged city roads and worry about the fuel it guzzles (not the money, but the ecological impact). I love the fact that the footprint is small, yet reasonably high stance and most of all I love the tiny wonder of an engine which is just a litre, but delivers performance and/or economy whichever is your preference !!! And I don't give a damn about the fact that it is 3-cylindered - have loved the 1litre K-series and this looks even more promising.

It is not very often that I say this, but hell this car deserves it : Kudos Ford !!!
This is one Ford I would buy, irrespective of the service / parts cost being high.

Suzuki, how about getting us the Jimny now with a 1.3MJD ? Or would you rather give Ford the first-mover advantage and lose out on what looks like a promising segment ?

[anumod]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

This is one Ford I would buy, irrespective of the service / parts cost being high.

This is a Myth for New Generation Indian Fords Including Fiesta and Figo. Maruti spares are costlier. Off late one example from my side . Fiesta Brake pads -- 1200, Palio Brake pads -- 1300 and WagonR brake pads -- 1550 ( All inclusive of labours).

I do agree that ikon, Fusion and Escort spares were costly ...

In the last month Autocar they have also mentioned one the front doorprice of Figo was 4350 and where as Swift was 6596 (That is almost like a 50% more )

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by anumod

This is a Myth for New Generation Indian Fords Including Fiesta and Figo. Maruti spares are costlier. Off late one example from my side . Fiesta Brake pads -- 1200, Palio Brake pads -- 1300 and WagonR brake pads -- 1550 ( All inclusive of labours).

You have missed out mentioning the cost of Swift front brake pads. If I am not wrong they cost a whopping (hold your breath) INR 3000/-. I guess the cheapest of the brake pads are sported by the humble Indica. I fitted new ones on my Indica just last month, costed me INR 845/- for a pair of two (The Maruti 800's & the Alto's could be cheaper though)

[ethan3686]

Ecosport at 8-12Lstill looks ok to me..at least 8L does. Yes there will be naysayers but at the end you should look at the increase in the price of cars. Its not totally ford's fault either.I know people will say they will either go for safari or innova at that price. But lets not forget it has those lovely looks AND its a ford.

[AutoIndian]

Not sure if this link has been shared earlier in this thread, but the 31 odd pictures of the Ecosport on the Netcarshow.com website are really good quality, high resolution (1600X1200) pictures. Its an eye treat, enjoy:

Ford EcoSport wallpaper # 23 of 31, Interior, MY 2013, 1600x1200

[shivasuma]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

You have missed out mentioning the cost of Swift front brake pads. If I am not wrong they cost a whopping (hold your breath) INR 3000/-. I guess the cheapest of the brake pads are sported by the humble Indica. I fitted new ones on my Indica just last month, costed me INR 845/- for a pair of two (The Maruti 800's & the Alto's could be cheaper though)

And I was thinking my i20 diesel's front pads were the costliest at about INR 1800. Man, things are getting expensive and its not just hyundai.

[AutoIndian]

Today I came across this interesting YouTube video, which explains the technical details of the Ecoboost engine in greater depth. It is actually the Ford Ecoboost Engine presentation by Andrew Fraser in Australia for journalists. He is the VP, Gasoline Powertrain Development Manager, Ford Motor Company (England). He refers to the Ecoboost engine as a three legged stool (due to the three core technologies on which this family of engines is based upon), the three legs being:
1. Turbocharging
2. Ti-VCT (Twin independant - Variable Camshaft Timing) &
3. Direct Injection

The three legs or pillars of technology are beautifully explained by cut-out sections of the actual engine parts. Don't want to spill all the beans here but some points worth mentioning, which caught my attention are listed below. It is interesting to know how Ford has tried to overcome the real world problems (the pain points):
1. Turboloag: When the driver needs the sudden surge of power to overtake the vehicle in front & he presses the accelerator pedal, the turbo takes its time to spool up resulting in what is called turbolag. The bigger the turbo, the more is its lag (due to inertia). This has been prevented/minimized in the Ecoboost to a large extent by providing a smaller turbine (mini if you may like to call it so) & the use of scavenging, wherein the exhaust gases are driven out from the cylinder very fast allowing cooler/denser charge & fuller combustion.
2. Power when needed: Each fuel injector has six orifices to spray finely atomized partiles of fuel in a desired pattern. Moreover if required there can be multiple injections per stroke.
3. More torque at lower revs: In our routine city driving we hardly get the chance to rev the engine to its limit & the torque of a naturally aspirated engine is rarely used, not so with the Ecoboost. The peak torque is made available at 1500 rpms & almost 90% of that from 1300rpms, which is the rpm range in normal city driving. So the full torque is availble in the normal day to day running.

Rest of the things for your to discover from the video -->

Ford EcoBoost Engine Presentation - YouTube

[Rigid Rotor]

That's quite an informative You Tube video.
So it appears some of the concepts used in Diesel engines have been carried over here - turbocharging, high pressure common rail, direct injection along with a synergistic approach to extract high performance.
I suppose Ford India must have / will spend some time building in measures to make this engine more or less "India-proof" (if one may call it that)- given the lower octane and often adulterated petrol in Mera Desh. Would'nt be surprised if it came out with two-stage fuel filters as in most diesel engines here, with some advanced 'limp-home' capabilities in the ECU program, all of which needs to make this engine more tolerant compared to its versions elsewhere.

[supremeBaleno]

Did not want to go OT on this thread by discussing spare prices, but since the amounts mentioned for pads seemed quite high (higher than what I paid recently for a spare set for my Baleno, which is supposed to be the mother of costly-spares car), I had to check this for myself.

Originally Posted by anumod

Maruti spares are costlier. Off late one example from my side . Fiesta Brake pads -- 1200, Palio Brake pads -- 1300 and WagonR brake pads -- 1550 ( All inclusive of labours).

The WagonR brake pads are only Rs800 - as per ABT-Guindy (Chennai).

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

You have missed out mentioning the cost of Swift front brake pads. If I am not wrong they cost a whopping (hold your breath) INR 3000/-

You are wrong - the Swift pads are 1800 - again price quoted by ABT.

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Did not want to go OT on this thread by discussing spare prices, but since the amounts mentioned for pads seemed quite high (higher than what I paid recently for a spare set for my Baleno, which is supposed to be the mother of costly-spares car), I had to check this for myself.

we should not discuss matters here related to brake-pad prices. Request the moderators to please move these posts to the appropriate thread

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

You are wrong - the Swift pads are 1800 - again price quoted by ABT.

I do not want to debate on the pricing, you could perhaps be right & I may not be wrong either. My close colleague who got his Swift LDi recently serviced from MASS shared with me that the brake pads costed him Rs 3000/-. Will try to get hold of his service invoice & if possible post it here highlighting the brake pads' price along with the item number. Request you to do the same, display the price along with the item number. This will at least make sure that we are comparing apples to apples & are not poles apart.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

...You are wrong - the Swift pads are 1800 - again price quoted by ABT.

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

...My close colleague who got his Swift LDi recently serviced from MASS shared with me that the brake pads costed him Rs 3000/-. ...

Let's put an end to this discussion with this post. Swift's brake pads used to be Rs. 3000/- [MGP product]. However, recently they started using SGP brake pads which costs Rs. 1800/- This has been discussed in some Swift ownership threads in this very same forum.

Edit::

Originally Posted by M5_fan

I was following your posts and wanted to ask you this. The website mentions a 5 speed manual and a 6 speed dual clutch automatic. So there wont be a 6 speed manual like the one found in the Focus in the UK?

I am also looking forward to buying the ecosport ecoboost but my first preference was the 6 speed manual and then the automatic. Launch is not before january, right?

From what I have read in the forum, the diesel version of Ecosport will come with the same engine as the new Fiesta D. So I guess it will make more [financial] sense for Ford to go with the same gearbox used in Fiesta. I don't think they will bother about a new gearbox for India at this point of time, as they may NOT have recovered the cost of development of this 5 speed gearbox itself.