[Guna]

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.

I have seen an video advt somewhere, in which one of the Hyundai cars is being promoted a a safer car because it doesn't have door on the road side for the passengers. For the driver, it is a slightly different thing as he is supposed to be alert (loading takes more time and attention) all the time (and there is no other easy solution to this).

Other then the safety, there is another possible inconvenient aspect. When you open the hatch door, it is actually blocking your way (in a parallel parking situation). in that case either you need to come around the car with the parcel (and totally exposing yourself to the traffic) or take the parcel to the right side corner of the car and keep it on the road (if you are alone) before opening the door.

[sumeshmani]

Not sure if this has already been reported. EcoSport was launched in China.
Here is the link to China Car Times:
http://www.chinacartimes.com/2013/03...port-in-china/

[9thsphinx]

From the pictures, does anyone else think the EcoSport looks too narrow for a mini-SUV? Missing are those big and broad wheel arches (ala Duster). Add that in to the styling and Ford has one of the best looking mini-SUV's ever designed!

[agambhandari]

If China's prices are any indication, the EcoBoost MT is priced well below the 1.5 AT (petrol).
Considering that the 1.5 AT in Fiesta costs as much as the diesel, and the EcoBoost will also get an excise benefit(similar to the diesel but the fact that it is imported), we can still expect a good difference between the EcoBoost and the Diesel.
This is Good for me(and us petrolheads) ...I just want an EcoBoost EcoSport at the earliest, seems like I will have to wait about 3 months for it

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by Guna

I have seen an video advt somewhere, in which one of the Hyundai cars is being promoted a a safer car because it doesn't have door on the road side for the passengers...

Hyundai Genesis I believe.

Originally Posted by parsh

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....

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.

Originally Posted by Guna

...Other then the safety, there is another possible inconvenient aspect. When you open the hatch door, it is actually blocking your way (in a parallel parking situation). in that case either you need to come around the car with the parcel (and totally exposing yourself to the traffic) or take the parcel to the right side corner of the car and keep it on the road (if you are alone) before opening the door.

I agree with both of you on the convenience aspect. Yes, it's inconvenient than a LHD opening.

But "un-safe" aspect is made out more than it actually is. When the driver is careful enough to open his door, he shall assist in loading stuffs into the bay too. It's a matter of "getting used to".

When all the permutation-combinations are talked about, we also need to understand we are talking about a country where even walking on the footpath or even a zebra crossing could be fatal for pedestrians due to motorists!

[ganesc]

Originally Posted by delix

For example the steering unit where we find the turn indicator switch on the left hand side for may manufacturers like Ford, Renault etc.. Even more hilarious is the explanation they give for this change from the stereotype design is manufacturers wants the drivers to always keep their hands on steering (which is of course a true requirement) and hence the switches are inverted. God only know how they justify this logic.. This is one of the comments which I received when I went for test driving a vento..

Ya, I don't know if the reason given by them was true but frankly I love having the indicator stalk on the left even in the Fiat Uno. Its comfortable. And some people complain about having the bonnet opening lever on the left side - whats the problem? how many times do we open it anyways?

[echo77]

http://www.rushlane.com/ford-ecospor...e-1270426.html

priced between 94,800RMB to 127,800RMB (INR 8,30,743 to INR 11,19,926) in China.

How do Chinese prices compare to India? Would we able to guess the Indian price based on the above?

Comparative prices of Fiesta:

http://chinaautoweb.com/car-models/ford-fiesta-sedan/
Changan-Ford Fiesta Sedan
1.3 MT - 81,900
1.5-1 - MT: 90,900 AT: 98,900
1.5-2 - MT: 95,900 AT: 103,900
1.5 Luxury AT - 111,900

http://www.carwale.com/ford-cars/fiesta/
1.5 P Ambiente MT - 751,761
1.5 P Titanium+ MT - 921,090
1.5 P Style AT - 934,817
1.5 P Titanium+ AT - 1,004,788
1.5 D Style MT - 935,165
1.5 D Titanium+ MT - 1,039,173

Forex 1 RMB = 8.75 INR

1.5 P Titanium+ AT - 1,004,788 / 1.5 Luxury AT - 111,900 = 8.98 (say 9*)

so ecosport could be:
Ecoboost: 119,800 x 9 = 10.8L
lowest: 94,800 x 9 = 8.5L
highest mt: 115,800 x 9 = 10.4L
highest at: 127,800 x 9 = 11.5L
http://chinaautoweb.com/car-models/ford-ecosport/

Would definitely be great if they are much lower than those. Those prices may be a bit too high, esp for the base variant to make much impact. Could higher than the norm price make it go the same way as new Fiesta which is doing <100 units per month in 2013?

[ku69rd]

Think its a bad idea to exhibit examples which were used extensively for testing. They should have let out brand new cars for displays and am skeptical if the quality is as poor as the displayed ones then it will be another Fiesta.

Pricing still remains to be more of a wait and watch game. Wish they released by March to capitalize on the financial year end

[agambhandari]

For all those crying about the el-cheapo seat covers on the EcoSport, kindly take a look at the SCOOP pics which were available even before the official display, these have well put together fabric seats and I suppose these would be the ones available at the time of launch.

courtesy: the automtive india forum

[motorworks]

Not surprised by the amount of flak the ecosport seems to be drawing. One clear trend in T-bhp--"Too much hype=massive expectations=car bashing" Examples being New ford fiesta, safari storme and now the ecosport. I think duster may have been the only exception.
Anways, I have not seen the car in flesh, but like many of you said, interiors is not something that I'm that concerned of. It will boil down to pricing though. If they can slot this somewhere between the i20/polo and the likes of vento /rapid, then the pricing would seem alright, at least to me. The inside space seems to be at par with some of the hatches around and is nothing like the duster. So is it a "souped up" hatch? Looking at the inside space it does seem so. It cannot rival interior space of the duster and nor of the entry level c sedans such as the vento or verna. It looks stunning though, has massive road presence et all.
Key to how it would perform is the pricing. Let's wait and watch how ford plays this one.

[mavrikm5]

Can't understand this marketing, why would anybody show these shoddily assembled cars, saw them myself at Delhi mall and didn't inspire one bit of confidence in the build quality. Even a Tata car is better put together.

But i guess Ford is high on the hype that has built up and is confident of it's success, poor quality notwithstanding.

[Bingeljell]

The question for me seems to be more in terms of how the 1.0L engine will feel.

I've never really been a fan of the quality of American car interiors (I prefer the European cars), and provided the overall environment is the same, I won't be complaining too much. I'm more interested in seeing how peppy the engine is and how well it performs in the 'urban' setup, for which it is primarily built.

[Behemoth]

One thing is sure that these samples of the Ecosport are heavily run (maybe 100,000 + kms) run test products which Ford has shown to the public. No wonder these are taking so much flak. It is definitely not a good idea to show these to the public and it will end up disappointing quite a few customers, who have anyway been waiting for so long.
What I know from Inside sources is that Ford is still working on the localization part and aims for 75% + localization, which has kept on delaying the launch of the product as they want to be very aggressive on the price front. The actual launch would not happen before June and there is a possibility that it may even be further delayed till Aug for deliveries.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

One thing is sure that these samples of the Ecosport are heavily run (maybe 100,000 + kms) run test products which Ford has shown to the public.

Why do you say this? The vehicles definitely don't seems to have any kms run, look at the engine bay and underbody pics, they seem real clean.

[diwa]

Based on the VIN number posted a few pages back - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...ide-out-20.jpg

Looks like the car was manufactured in November 2012 and chances are that this could be a pre-production model. Interestingly the color mentioned is "MARSRED"