[damager21]

Originally Posted by drpudhi

Found this video by powerdrift on the ecosport from Delhi.

One thing i noticed at 0:54 in the video is the rear parcel tray. It appears to be integrated into the back of the rear seats and can be pulled/retracted into seat back, if needed, saving space. Seems pretty nifty. Can any one who saw the ecosport in person confirm this.

The video shared by you shows Indian version of EcoSport which is on display at some malls and it indeed has this rear parcel tray. You can pull / retract the tray depending on your requirement. In fact if you were to fold rear seats to extend boot space then this entire tray is removable.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by noopster

Interesting. I never knew EcoSport wasn't a made-for-India vehicle (like the Figo).

Neither is Figo. Figo is european Mark 5 Fiesta hatch with a facelift bumper and lights. Rest is the same. Once it was phased out of UK, they got it to India as Figo as an all new car for India.

While this is definitely inconvenient it doesn' seem like a dealbreaker. You should NOT be opening the hatch/loading & unloading on a trafficky road anyway!

Not a deal breaker but pretty inconvenient. Say you want to put a small shopping bag in the car and your car is parked by the kerb. In a RHD convention, all you have to do is open the hinge door by 30 degrees and slip the bag in. Incase of LHD config you have to step out facing the road open the door wider and place the bag in.

The other problem is when you park. In a regular hatch opening, the gap needed with the car behind is negligible. Here you need to account for it incase you need to open the boot (Ofcourse this applies to Safari and Scorpio as well). With my Figo I can open the boot even when the ALtis is parked behind with a gap of 6".

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

The other problem is when you park. In a regular hatch opening, the gap needed with the car behind is negligible. Here you need to account for it incase you need to open the boot (Ofcourse this applies to Safari and Scorpio as well). With my Figo I can open the boot even when the ALtis is parked behind with a gap of 6".

This is definitely a bigger problem than door opening on the sideways. Parking is an important thing.
Many folks looking at this as a second car for a city work horse, would definitely see this as a problem.
But I am also thinking many may not realise this flaw, and buy it just by getting bowled over by the looks.
(The door being yet another entity). When reality dawns, they will have hick-ups initially, but then they would
get used to it slowly.



Ford sure must have tried hard fitting a 16 incher below the body before they gave up. Cant have a cake and eat it too.
Some negatives of a sub 4m implementation with chunky tyres.

[mTorque]

Originally Posted by vasanthn21

A quick question.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of the hatch door opening being the opposite of the conventional design? I see this point being mentioned a few times, is this such a big issue?

The obvious reason that I can think of is 'weight of the door'. The spare wheel's weight would have been considerably on the heavier side for the designers to go with a hatch like opening.
This is a trade off that the designers may have known. I believe they are correct.

[raj84]

For those who are interested in the safety aspect of Ecosport, Latin NCAP has tested the Ecosport with two Airbags, and given it a 4 Star rating. A good rating for a model with two airbags. For comparison the Hyundai HB20(equivalent to i20) with two airbags received only 3 Star rating. The i20 with 6 airbags received 5star rating in Euro NCAP.

http://www.latinncap.com/en/results-list

Select the Make and Model on this site and click on Go.Videos and Photos are also posted in their site. Attaching photos

[vasanthn21]

Originally Posted by drpudhi

Found this video by powerdrift on the ecosport from Delhi.

http://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=Wjr6NN3kf9k

One thing i noticed at 0:54 in the video is the rear parcel tray. It appears to be integrated into the back of the rear seats and can be pulled/retracted into seat back, if needed, saving space. Seems pretty nifty. Can any one who saw the ecosport in person confirm this.

Looks awesome in this video. The retractable parcel tray looks like a simple, yet very cool & useful feature. Hope this is available in all trims.

[anumod]

One question I have with respect to Sync, in Fiesta also you can sync your contact with car, is it not Sync. The same technology is there in Linea Punto .. Is there anything more in Ecosport?

[damager21]

Article on AutoCar India talks about launch in May with deliveries staring early June. It says there will be 3 engine options – the 1.5-litre diesel and petrol engines from the current Fiesta saloon and 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol engine. All three engines will come mated to a five-speed manual gearbox, while the 1.5-litre petrol will also come with an automatic gearbox option.

It seems someone sat in office to write the review. It further says "Ford showcased the Titanium variant, which comes with push-button start, rear parking sensors and Ford’s Sync system."

I saw the Titanium variant at Malad in Mumbai and it does not come with a push-button start.

http://www.autocarindia.com/News/336...-ecosport.aspx

[crazydave]

Wow, a lot of armchair criticism for a car that has not even been TDed yet! I think if priced close to the CS segment (Maruti Dzire/Honda Amaze), this car would be a gamechanger for Ford in India. And for that price, the interior quality is par for the course, as the boring interiors made-to-cost interiors of other CS-segment cars would suggest.

I'm really hoping that this will hit the Duster where it hurts and we start seeing some rationalization of pricing for a car that is really not worth its 13-lakh price tag for a top-end variant. Plus, if Ford also decides to launch a 4x4 soon, it'll be in a brand new category of its own given that the Duster 4x4 (the only alternative mini-SUV) is expected to touch XUV500 pricing levels!

As echoed by others, fingers crossed on pricing!

Originally Posted by anumod

One question I have with respect to Sync, in Fiesta also you can sync your contact with car, is it not Sync. The same technology is there in Linea Punto .. Is there anything more in Ecosport?

Yes, Sync does not refer to syncing of contacts alone.

Sync is a Microsoft product developed for cars, and allows Bluetooth pairing, control of HU from phone etc. Don't know how many features have been enabled in the Sync-enabled Ecosport for India

Note from the Team-BHP Support: Please use the EDIT or MULTI-QUOTE buttons instead of typing one post after another on the same thread.

[swiftnfurious]

Some of the comments supporting the low quality interiors makes me compare to this :

You are stealing a lot of limelight in an award night! You choose to wear torn shirt & trousers and You expect the audience to "assume" there are better ones in your cup board!!

Isn't it common sense that anybody go the extra mile to wear & show their best in a public gathering?

Ford needs to FIRE the one who gave the idea of "exhibiting" a pre-production model (if it indeed is one as claimed by some members). If they thought of "wow'ing" potential customers by showcasing a low quality model first & a better one later, sorry Ford - that's a TERRIBLE idea!! This activity will NOT win you any extra customers, will only lose you some of them who were keenly waiting!

Edit::

And to all those who think the RHD opening of the tail gate to be un-safe::

How do you all get into the driver's seat while parked on the left side??? Slide from the navigator seat??!! Please!

I don't think your body is exposed so much to other vehicles on the road while loading, as much you are while opening the driver's door and getting inside.

Edit 2:: Having said all these, I really hope the interiors do NOT rattle even after some abuse!

[anumod]

Originally Posted by crazydave

Yes, Sync does not refer to syncing of contacts alone.

Sync is a Microsoft product developed for cars, and allows Bluetooth pairing, control of HU from phone etc. Don't know how many features have been enabled in the Sync-enabled Ecosport for India

As I said earlier my question was that how is it different from New Fiesta, Punto and Linea. In Fiesta you have voice enabled controls along with blue tooth pairing, contact syncs, (I am not sure about music syncing ) etc. The technology is the same one from Microsoft. I just wanted to understand, what is the extra thing that is available in Ecosport.

[parsh]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

And to all those who think the RHD opening of the tail gate to be un-safe::

How do you all get into the driver's seat while parked on the left side??? Slide from the navigator seat??!! Please!

I don't think your body is exposed so much to other vehicles on the road while loading, as much you are while opening the driver's door and getting inside.

Simple. Drivers are mostly and generally and assumed to be more sensible of the traffic sense on how to operate the driver-side door even in traffic or in tricky situations. They do not need to slide through the LHS Front Passenger Door while parked on Left Side or in tight parking spots jamming the Driver Door. They can and are assumed to slide into the drivers seat with a minimal opening of the driver door when required while keeping the traffic sense active while parked in this way even on shoulder of the road or while parked in parking with cars jamming doors on either side to allow only a minimal opening.

However, the same cannot be said of all others not used to such situations which will mostly be co-drivers, passive passengers who would need to open the hatch and in some situations taking granted the road is empty and they can behave freely without worrying traffic loosing sense that there might be speeding vehicle approaching fast suddenly and hence they should observe utmost caution in operating the same.

There are numerous possibilities and one needs to take utmost precaution while operating such tail gates atleast in Indian traffic conditions/sense on city roads as well as highways.

[sharninder]

Originally Posted by anumod

As I said earlier my question was that how is it different from New Fiesta, Punto and Linea. In Fiesta you have voice enabled controls along with blue tooth pairing, contact syncs, (I am not sure about music syncing ) etc. The technology is the same one from Microsoft. I just wanted to understand, what is the extra thing that is available in Ecosport.

Sync, I believe, is a newer system that Ford designed along with Microsoft. Blue&Me was developed by Magneti Marelli along with Microsoft.

Sync is modular and with the right modules can do a lot more than the stuff you've described above. Ford has released an SDK for the sync which lets developers make apps for it just like there are apps for our phones. There are few other improvements too but I haven't used Sync and I'm not sure most of that will come to the Indian Ecosport.

[anumod]

Originally Posted by sharninder

Sync, I believe, is a newer system that Ford designed along with Microsoft. Blue&Me was developed by Magneti Marelli along with Microsoft.

Sync is modular and with the right modules can do a lot more than the stuff you've described above. Ford has released an SDK for the sync which lets developers make apps for it just like there are apps for our phones. There are few other improvements too but I haven't used Sync and I'm not sure most of that will come to the Indian Ecosport.

Fiat blue and me and Ford Sync are based on Windows Embedded Automotive from Microsoft. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%26Me and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Sync) If I understand correctly the only extra thing which we get in ecosport over Fiesta is the mobile app support from iOS.

[Nilesh5417]

Originally Posted by mTorque

The obvious reason that I can think of is 'weight of the door'. The spare wheel's weight would have been considerably on the heavier side for the designers to go with a hatch like opening.
This is a trade off that the designers may have known. I believe they are correct.

Hydraulic struts? Its not all that complicated.