As per the autocar's variant article online, the automatic would be available in Trend+ and Titanium+ variants. Which makes a lot of sense, and would offer a good spectrum of variants for AT buyers.

As per autocar, Ford is offering switchable traction control and hill-start assist on all variants of this EcoSport. Love this if true

Where did you get that? Hill start assist and traction control are only offered with an automatic transmission in Ford cars in India, including this one.

Its up on the autocar review (just after the engine bay pic)
https://www.autocarindia.com/car-rev...t-drive-406389

Thanks for your advices. Had missed on DCT gearbox being replaced with traditional torque convertor. Nor was i aware of DCT failures. I need to do more research☺️.

On engine front, I opine that today's engines can be made better only incremental. My bread and butter is engine maintenance and every time I have to work on newer version I have fair shares of issues but have to admit that they burn more and more lean and fuel efficient.

If there's one thing common to all the reviews that have been published so far, it's that the engine improvements are anything but incremental. Then there are the host of other changes. I really don't see the argument in favour of purchasing the older car, no matter how large the discount. The dealers are willing to offer large discounts because they know that it's a tremendously bad deal.

It says "the top variants", not "all", and it's only the automatic trims even among the top variants. I don't understand why Ford makes this distinction though. Perhaps because automatics are a strength for them and they want to encourage India's transition to them, so they can get a leg up on the competition.

seems like they have corrected it now, i copied from the same review and pasted here

Two things I noticed in the Autocar review.

The wind deflector near the ORVM:



The ABC pedals get metal plates in the Titanium (as the variant reviewed is Titanium):

I managed to get a discount of approx 70k in the last week of August. Car purchased from Bhavna Ford, Panvel.

Didn't bother to wait for the facelift because apart from the good discount, the car bought was the diesel ambiente which will not have any major changes, except for the refreshed looks.

But since you are planning for the petrol AT, I think you should definitely consider the facelifted model. Why? Simple. It's got a new heart

All said and done never rush towards a new engine, it's better to wait for a few months to see how it fares and then take the plunge. If you can get hold of the diesel at a fat discount that would be great. Petrol's in the Ecosport both the 1.5L Sigma and 1.0L Ecoboost have been slow sellers.

The only place in a car where one's eyes divert to/rest for the maximum time, except the road(s) ahead:

I own a Ford Figo. The single most thing I would vote to change in my car is the Instrument Cluster.
Ford has taken to another level with the blandness of this instrument cluster. Look at the empty space, reminds me of the black boards in my school.
I like everything else though. :-)

Yes, the instrument cluster is shockingly bland. Looks straight out of a 90s car. The present one is so much better. But then, everything else about new Ecosport is good. And, wise of them to have ditched DCT in favour of Torque Converter (TC). TCs are hugely reliable and extremely abuse-friendly. In any case, the DCT Ecosport was not known for performance. So, I'm sure no one will miss DCT.

While close up shot shows the ugliness, the console when lit up and seen from drivers distance does not look too bad.



Also if you look at the International version, its not too different. The dials are exactly the same except that there is a what seems to be chrome circular boundary which is missing in the Indian version (the boundary makes it look better) and there is a larger color MID



However 2 key points:
1. The MID seems to be small and at such a distance, reading text maybe get tough
2. I believe the color MID unit available in the global models may not have costed Ford more than INR 800. Post manufacturing even if the entire cost would have doubled, I think it was worth-while for Ford to have offered the larger color MID and passed on the cost to consumers. Color MID should have been there in the Titanium and Titanium+ variants

It's like you have worn the best dress for someone's wedding... the moment you step out from the house, a crow shits on your dress. While you clean it out and you know everything is looking fine, you still realize that there is a bit of stain on this spot and that spot will continue to trouble you for sometime

Having said that let's not forget that Ford has really packed in everything. 6 airbags, cruise control, new engine, new Automatic gearbox, wider driver seats, 8" touchscreen, AT in top variant, projector headlamps with LED DRLs and many more.

Hopefully they price it sensibly which should be a possibility given that there is 20% more localisation

Every chance it will be possible to swap the instrument cluster of the Indian Ecosport with that of the international version. Should be a direct plug and play, assuming both are calibrated to kmph and liters. This is pretty simple and common mod in VAG cars. No reason for it to be any different here.