[GTO]

Originally Posted by justchells

I’m a proud owner of the Ford EcoSport S - Ecoboost variant. It will be 1 month old tomorrow and has completed 875 kms in city driving conditions.

Thank you! An angel from heaven, you are. Reason = your location is Bangalore which is where EcoSport-owning Moderator Vid6639 is. Vid6639 & me had also originally reviewed the EcoSport in 2013. I just spoke to Vid and he can come on any weekend day to check out your car, drive it for a bit and shoot it. No one knows EcoSports better than Viddy. Does that work? Please drop me an email on g t o @team-bhp. com to take this forward.

Thanks again! Am very grateful. We can help you a little bit with running in your car .

By the way, my inbox is flooded and we have had EIGHT EcoSport S variants offered to us (over and above 20 regular 2018 EcoSports). God bless this community.

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

but it stands for more than his individual (or anyone else's) perceptions and biases.

Well said!

Originally Posted by a4anurag

IIRC Maruti Suzuki too had shown such a behaviour when a review car was asked for. Right? 2nd generation Maruti Swift was reviewed using the car of a Team-BHP Fan

Yep.

Originally Posted by prakash_ajp

We can only judge whether or not team-bhp is biased after we see the review. But I am certain it'll be just like our any other reviews.

Thank you. We value the trust you place in us.

[vb-saan]

Interesting! Ford should know that the members seen here are the representation of the selected few (read enthusiasts) who actually put their money on their models. Be the Ecosport, Endeavour or the recent Freestyle, models from Ford are well-recieved. If the snub is due to the recent discussion on the Endeavour chassis, all I can say to the Ford India think-tank is "Grow up!"

[GTO]

Originally Posted by justchells

I’m a proud owner of the Ford EcoSport S - Ecoboost variant. It will be 1 month old tomorrow and has completed 875 kms in city driving conditions.

I would be delighted if you consider my car for your in depth unbiased review.

Originally Posted by GTO

Thank you! An angel from heaven, you are. Reason = your location is Bangalore which is where EcoSport-owning Moderator Vid6639 is. Vid6639 & me had also originally reviewed the EcoSport in 2013. I just spoke to Vid and he can come on any weekend day to check out your car, drive it for a bit and shoot it. No one knows EcoSports better than Viddy. Does that work? Please drop me an email on g t o @team-bhp. com to take this forward.

I just heard that you & Vid6639 connected and realised that you are literally neighbours! What a small world. Thank you! This thread & you are a match made in heaven.

My heartfelt gratitude to you, justchells, and all other BHPians & guests who graciously offered us their brand new, beloved steeds. It takes a lot to trust someone with your new car.

[Arjun Reddy]

Clap, Clap, we have a car in less than 8 hrs.

This is kind of really weird from Ford. We have really loved their cars, my Ford Fiesta was not sold for 12 years,inspite of numerous other cars we bought. Loved the way it drove.

Maybe our threads on the Endevour Chassis and the Mustang 2* crash rating, contributed to the cold shoulder.

Just wondering as to what there is or isn't on the New Ecosport that they want to hide?

Viddy: check the chassis first. :

[turbowhistle]

Originally Posted by roy_libran

On further thoughts, if Team BHP were to procure the cars directly for Reviews, I'm sure the forum's community might itself buy off the test mules at a minimal depreciation - after all any Team BHP review is essentially a grounds up, and bone marrow deep assessment of the test vehicle - what better yardstick for quality and subsequent confidence?
Solves GTO's potential parking woes as well!

Exactly! Consider it as extensive and exclusive PDI done by Team-BHP for the owner! Plus the owner gets to flaunt the car too! Win-win situation!

[ramji_or]

That is nasty, What were they thinking really, I am not sure what they stand to gain by denying a media car for the mighty Team-BHP.

Anyways they are not going to realize their mistake with this incident, as the Ecosport is the best in their lineup and Team-BHP with its un-biased nature would tell exactly the same inspite of their negligence.

[R-Six]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

I can ask my neighbour for a Dragon 1.5L Automatic for review in Bangalore.

Originally Posted by justchells

I would be delighted if you consider my car for your in depth unbiased review.

Originally Posted by GTO

heard that you & Vid6639 connected and realised that you are literally neighbours! What a small world. Thank you! This thread & you are a match made in heaven.

Wait!! Vid6639, were you talking about justchells in the post earlier? If that is the case, this was indeed a match made in heaven as GTO mentioned!!

[SRM]

This can really by suicidal for Ford because in today's digital age they can't possibly control any comments/reviews/thoughts on their products. This move will just receive flak for them, why unnecessarily tarnish a strong brand like Ecosport.

As buyers, we never buy 100% perfect product, we always compromise somewhere as the overall package is considered. Really can't fathom what went through the head of these guys to even attempt something like this.

Probably a corporate case study in the making for the current and next generations to learn!

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by R-Six

Wait!! Vid6639, were you talking about justchells in the post earlier? If that is the case, this was indeed a match made in heaven as GTO mentioned!!

Hahaha yes I was. I had just messaged GTO in the morning that I am seeing a new Ecosport S in my basement and I will find out which flat it belongs to and speak to my neighbour!!

Then justchells replied on this thread. GTO called me and requested if I could make time and meet justchells who is from bangalore. Later on I had a doubt that the handle seemed familiar and then I realised that justchells is my neighbour!!!

What a small world. So finally we will be catching up this weekend and driving the car. Unreal stuff!

[jagzrk]

Wow, disappointing move from Ford. I bought my Ecosport Trend+ TDCI variant just 3 months back, JUST because of the reviews on this forum and word-of-mouth among local member meets.

Not just the reviews, even the general opinion here carries a "lot" of value even amongst the non-members who passively read the forum which include many of my colleagues. A die-hard Tata fan at my workplace is considering the Freestyle just because of the recent T-BHP review which perfectly nails the details about what he wants and things he does not consider necessary.

While this doesn't change the perception about my car which I'm enjoying having done 7K kilometers in these 3 months, this definitely paints a sad picture of the Ford front-end in India who seem like egoistic proclaiming how great their cars are (which they really are!), but jeez, some constructive criticism being taken in such manner!

[R-Six]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Hahaha yes I was.


What a small world.

Small world indeed!

Amazed by the reach of our community! Only "IF" Ford understood the same too!

Cheers!
R-Six

[naveen.raju]

If Ford had agreed on giving the car, it would have taken more time. Now you got the car in less than a day. Shows the power of this community. Guys at Ford would be .

Hope this would wake them up. Cheers to the entire community.

[Asish_VK]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Hahaha yes I was. I had just messaged GTO in the morning that I am seeing a new Ecosport S in my basement and I will find out which flat it belongs to and speak to my neighbour!!

Then justchells replied on this thread. GTO called me and requested if I could make time and meet justchells who is from bangalore. Later on I had a doubt that the handle seemed familiar and then I realised that justchells is my neighbour!!!

What a small world. So finally we will be catching up this weekend and driving the car. Unreal stuff!

Wow ! One of the good things Ford did with this media car fiasco is that they connected 2 neighbors in Bangalore, through this thread which was posted from Bombay

Small world indeed

[am1m]

About not providing a test vehicle, am ambivalent. Ford India certainly need not provide a test vehicle if they don't want to. Especially if they think that a forum might be biased against their products. And I have to say, for someone who hasn't browsed the forum for as long as we have or isn't acquainted with the number of different mods and policies we have in place, the title and general tone of this thread does sound quite hostile and directed against Ford.

But I'm also pretty sure that the reason Ford did suddenly change their stand (and the key here is the change in stance) towards this forum is because of the chassis-related thread. And that's plain childish on their part.

Again, not a big deal, because while I certainly hope TBhp (and several other independent forums) do get to a point one day of being able to actually influence buying patterns in a large enough scale that they/we can ensure some form of consumer protection by having manufacturers think twice about providing shoddy products/service for fear of being called out, I don't think we're there yet. IMHO, Ford or any other manufacturer can afford to ignore forums such as this for some time yet. They might miss a chance to get some positive publicity, but that's about it. Most consumers don't really care. Yet. Advertising- both obvious and in the form of auto magazines/'news' articles still have a much greater impact.

Which brings me to the fanboys. Not just for Ford, but for any brand. I've stated this before, but here goes again- real head-scratcher guys, why pay so much of your money and then also do free publicity/defend a multi-billion dollar brand online?! Hard to understand unless you've also invested so much of your own self-esteem as well in your purchase. When the time comes, and knowing any manufacturer in India, any of 'your' brands will let you down in some way. A lemon, a service station that blatantly rips you off, maybe a life-threatening defect, the chances are high. And then your only form of some little consumer protection is an independent forum like this one.

[headbanger]

I really wish that someone from Ford especially along with other manufacturers go through this thread from start till end. Just 8 hours it took for TBHP to get the car. And what did Ford get out of this episode - an egg on the face.

This could have certainly been dealt in a better manner from their end- unfortunate and simply unreasonable episode.

On the positive side, this episode shows that the old forgotten adage of right intent and determination still works to success. Well done TBHP!!!