[SchumiFan]

If they were going to jack up the prices for the addition of an ICE, why remove the features as well? Not like early days where they were the solo player in the segment to do as they wish.

Brezza has already taken over this segment and am not sure if this move from Ford is going to help their sales.

[chncar]

What an idiotic move! Who thinks that it is a good idea to remove lumbar support? And still no cruise control, which is one thing that the Brezza offered that the Ecosport did not?

Also, this takes it over the 10 lakh barrier and hence in most of South India makes the buyer pay 5% of the value extra in terms of road tax!

They should have simply made the touchscreen available as an aftermarket accessory with company authorized and supervised fitment and guarantee.

[R-Six]

Absolutely stupid move by Ford. From the December sales figures we have, Ecosport is already taking the hit on its sales numbers (2nd in the Top Losers' list). Now with these omissions, they are going to see a new low in the sales numbers I guess.

They want people to buy a crossover but do not want to provide the driver armrest either!! WOW!!! Ford!

[anurag.somani]

The VFM proposition that Ford offered till recently is now gone!

After Brezza launch, prices of Titanium+ TDCi was slashed to Rs. 9.68 lakh.
Now it's hiked back to Rs. 10.19 lakh - a good 51K more.

Add to that, the deleted features & some additions - Ford is acting greedy too soon!

IMO, the Ecosport is a much better engineered product compared to Brezza (no offense to Brezza owners) - but the current moves are like giving away the cake to the competition on a platter.

[Nilesh5417]

The Trend+ variant must have been bringing the most sales of the Ecosport so am really stumped as to why did it lose so many features! Maybe it was to make Titanium option more desirable since the current distinction is seriously nothing except the Lumbar support. But then they could have simply done away with Trend +.

Further, having used my 2013 Ecosport Tit for 3yrs now, i can tell you that:
1. Lumbar support is something you will live without. Its useful alright but I touched it once in 3yrs and that too on a long drive. So you won't be missing it if your primary use is in the city esp. if you are the only driver of the car.
2. Center Armrest - its so ergonomically imperfect and short in length already that its a good riddance. Liberates space to make effective use of bottle holders between the seats.
3. Cooled glove box - it never worked to begin with so good riddance.
4. Passenger seat storage - its something that i was so looking forward but ended up never using it. It just doesn't fit anything substantial and is just like a place to store things that DONT rattle e.g. papers / books etc.
5. Leather on gear shift knob - it came off by the end of year 1 anyway. Sweaty palms and no amount if sticking with a glue will keep it for the lifetime of the vehicle. Now i ended up tearing it off and it looks shabby.

What the Titanium+ is losing is again a whole lot of bling. Even the DRLs, which to me are aspirational hence worth mentioning are useless. The current DRLs are practically useless as you can hardly spot them during day time unless you are touching noses with the oncoming Ecosport (pun intended).

To summarize, if Ford takes away tons of bling and some decently useful stuff to keep the cost increase of including the touch screen at INR.20k, i think its a pretty good move. I feel that the value that this single inclusion brings in far outweighs what you lose in the bargain.

P.S. - I assumed that there is no change to the safety features cause otherwise the discussion becomes a lot more serious.

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Can't we fit the same touchscreen aftermarket? Or is there a dash re-design?

No - it looks like a dash re-design. The current housing of the Ecosport ICE will barely fit in a 3.5in screen so its practically not very useful for a touch screen. And i dont think getting an aftermarket ICE that will integrate with the features that Sync brings in e.g. Voice activation will be very easy. Especially if the facelift is bringing in full blown Sync App support.

[R-Six]

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

To summarize, if Ford takes away tons of bling and some decently useful stuff to keep the cost increase of including the touch screen at INR.20k, i think its a pretty good move. I feel that the value that this single inclusion brings in far outweighs what you lose in the bargain.

If I understand the starting post correctly, the new feature is going to be available only on the top Tit+ variant. Your argument might stand a chance if the omissions were on the top variant only. But from what I read, Ford is scrapping a lot of features (on paper) from the entire Ecopost range but offering new feature only on the top variant. So anyone who would be buying anything less than a Titanium+ would feel that they are being overcharged. And there is no other side for it.

[Vid6639]

While the touchscreen is a welcome move the omissions are glaring. The armrest was the most useful thing for me!

Is it just me or does the touchscreen look aftermarket? It doesn't look like a Ford SYNC system to me.

I honestly am happy without the touchscreen, it's also too far away from the driver due to the inherent design of the dash which is why the facelifted Ecosport has an all new dashboard layout.

They could have just added the colour screen variant without the touchscreen.

[Nilesh5417]

Originally Posted by R-Six

If I understand the starting post correctly, the new feature is going to be available only on the top Tit+ variant. Your argument might stand a chance if the omissions were on the top variant only. But from what I read, Ford is scrapping a lot of features (on paper) from the entire Ecopost range but offering new feature only on the top variant. So anyone who would be buying anything less than a Titanium+ would feel that they are being overcharged. And there is no other side for it.

You are actually right in which case if Ford is increasing prices but taking away features from Trend & Titanium, its a really bad move.

When i posted my response, i had what i read in another thread in my mind. Found it now - see this thread / post 295 and the source. It mentions that this screen was an option to be chosen while booking the vehicle. Since both Titanium & Titanium plus have the same ICE currently, i would assume that if optional, this could be fitted to both.

Let me then put it this way - simply taking away features and not reducing prices (in any variant) is a bad call. Even a cost increase due to increase in material costs gets noticed these days. But taking away "these" particular features and including the Touch Screen ICE as an option in Titanium / Titanium + with only a 20k premium i think should be fair.

[Eyas337]

From all the omissions done on Tit+ variant, the ones I will be missing are:
- Driver arm rest (really important, although its quite short)
- Leather on handbrake and gear knob (nice to match the interiors, since Tit+ comes with leather seats)

Rest were pretty useless anyways, including:
- DRLs (were non LED and always get the attention of people during day time, indicating to switch off lights )
- Lumbar support - doesn't have the required range for it to be useful
- Cooled glove box (never works even in a brand new car, so literally non existent)

Does anyone know regarding below:
- Can the new touchscreen be fitted as an official Ford accessory, on existing Tit+ versions from Ford Service centers?
- If yes, then what would it cost?

p.s: I think it would be a bit of stretch for the driver, to reach the touch screen panel

[Avikbrio]

Why remove these nifty little features? Why not just move these features into upper variants (or create a new variant) instead of removing it entirely?

Sometimes, I don't get Ford's decisions. These won't sound good for prospective customers.

[CarguyNish]

This update is part of every companies policy for a New Year. Some Add/Delete features while some Change the Alloys/Color Options on thier cars. Ford has done the same thing. But besides this, why have Ford removed some features from the Ecosport could be of these 2 factors.

1. It was already loaded with every feature one could ask for, sans the Touchscreen HU.

2. With the facelift expected by year end & the fact that apart from new Interiors, the Indian model won't be getting any new features unlike it's international version made Ford think to omit some features for time being & provide them later on the Facelift.

So, I guess Ford is thinking like,

Hey, we can offer these features when we launch the Facelift. So that consumers will feel like a proper upgrade over current one.

[GTO]

Very saddened by this news. The EcoSport was one of my top recommendations - despite its age & newer competition, but Ford seems to be taking some of its strengths away. Honestly, I don't care about touchscreens, and would much rather have an armrest instead.

For its depth of engineering, I'll still pick it over the Vitara Brezza, but such deletions leave a sour taste in the mouth. Tip: If you're in the market for an EcoSport, pick the older model up . Should be easy to find Oct-Dec stock at dealers.

@ Ford: Business rule #1. Never, ever, under any circumstances take away something you once offered. It's best not to offer something at all, than to do so temporarily & pull it back later.

Originally Posted by R-Six

From the December sales figures we have, Ecosport is already taking the hit on its sales numbers (2nd in the Top Losers' list).

That sales dip was due to the changeover to this updated model.

[Phoneix]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

While the touchscreen is a welcome move the omissions are glaring. The armrest was the most useful thing for me!

Is it just me or does the touchscreen look aftermarket? It doesn't look like a Ford SYNC system to me.

Can't agree more. Whenever I drive my i10 or Ritz the first thing my elbow do is try to place itself on the missing armrest. While cruising it is perfect place to rest your arm. The width of it is just perfect, could have been wider but that's not pertinent if your elbows are not that thick.

Someone mentioned that he used lumbar only once so not really useful. To be useful does not mean you play it with daily. Sit in the passenger seat without lumbar for a longer drive and you will find the difference. It's really good for long drives.

Not happy about what Ford has done here.

The number of times Ford changes (+ & -) the price of their cars is surprising and I can't think of any other car company that does that.
Does not reflect well on their strategy and thought process.

[redbaron91]

I recently bought my Ecosport Titanium Tdci in early December.
Just by 1 month of usage, I can tell the omissions on Titanium variation doesn't hurt much.
Driver Armrest : It's too short, narrow and wrongly placed. I was never able to rest my left arm on it and drive. All the time it was in retracted position.

Cooled glove box - Just a small diversion of AC into it. Doest cool up your drinks or water.

Storage under the seat - That's was useful when I had to keep few eatables during a long trip.

And DRL, which is rarely visible during day time.

IMO, Ford has removed few features which are not so useful at customer end, and loaded it with a touch screen which will definitely increase their VFM against Brezza.

I hope the touch screen can be retrofitted from service centre itself even for customers of any variant which has Sync support.

Waiting for updates from new customer on the prospects of fitting the touch screen.

[AJ-got-BHP]

Excellent bit of sharing dZired !!

The question that instantly comes to my mind is that - Is FORD targeting to pitch the New ECOSPORT to the Commercial Operators in order to book more volumes by removing the so called luxurious features from the New EcoSPort ?

This can be a strategic move from Ford which may back fire big time. Well, times will unveil the story once the number game is reviewed on a Year on Year Basis.