Ford EcoSport SE variant dealer dispatches begin; no tailgate-mounted spare

Safari_Sid · 22nd February 2021, 12:57

Mounted tyres look "GOOD" and if it moved to boot further reducing the available boot space, it's a definite NO.

Removing the spare tyre completely doesn't sound like a wise move considering it might save 10-15k at max and it would be gamble just like Apple did with iphones (as others mentioned before too) but will impact the sales negatively in my opinion.

Please correct me if I am wrong, the sub 4m length is the current ecosport is excluding the tyre. I don't think the tyre mount is considered in car length else the old gen Safari would have exceeded 4.7 m mark.

CARDEEP · 22nd February 2021, 13:15

I voted for minus tailgate mounted wheel look. The reasons for this is better dynamics due to lower center of gravity. However, not happy with the spare wheel removed. It gives a psychological assurance on long drives.

Sanjivvohra · 22nd February 2021, 13:19

The rear-mounted spare wheel was a good differentiator for the Eco Sport. Not anymore.
It seems Ford in India is bent on committing hara-kiri, with first reducing the power from the Endevour, not getting the more powerful twin-turbo, making insane changes to the lineup of compact sedans and now this!

Soon they will be using India as an export hub only.

Batfreak · 22nd February 2021, 13:20

The European version of the EcoSport never had the mounted spare wheel either, and honestly, even though I have been seeing this since a substantial time, it has still not grown on me. I think the Indian version actually had a lot of character and looked far better.

Also, to answer some questions here, the tailgate still opens sideways. If the intention was to make a system that lifts up like a conventional hatch, I could still understand why they would do that since this may need less space to open, but that's not the case either.

Yes, a few people on the road cannot change the spare by themselves but the number of people who can effectively use a puncture repair kit is far far less.

I think that our stupid authorities are equally to blame though. Trying to introduce US-spec norms that allow manufacturers to forego the spare when we don't have a road infrastructure to match.

aenkay91 · 22nd February 2021, 13:25

While a puncture can be repaired and dealt with pretty easily by most of us, A SIDE WALL CRACK cannot be. Me and my wife have been seriously considering the ecosport for her use and some long distance hauls and the lack of a spare really makes me skeptical of it's usage.

A couple of months back I came across a post by a fellow BHPian about how he suffered a side wall crack while returning from a long journey and we all presume that even though we would feel harassed in such a situation, we would not be very worried since we have a spare wheel to fall back on. A glaring omission as per me and takes away a peace of mind.

How come nobody considered this situation while devising the law?

rpads1 · 22nd February 2021, 13:30

I think it is ok that the spare wheel is out.
For one, I find most cars are already putting in non-alloys for the spare. This results in the spare wheel not getting rotated at all and used maybe 5% of the life it could.
I've had two punctures over 5 years. The first one was on an inter-city trip and I managed more than 100kms remaining on the trip after refilling air at the immediate fuel pump, post realising the pressure loss. The other one was in the city and I managed for almost a month, since puncture was minor and refilling at the petrol bunk would help me carry on.
With tubeless tyres, if you carry a battery powered inflator, that should do the job for managing most punctures till the next puncture shop, even if you cant fix them on your own.

volkman10 · 22nd February 2021, 13:57

Upcoming Ford EcoSport SE Spotted During Promo Shoot Alongside Titanium Trim.

Only the upcoming SE variant will miss out on one( Spare tire on tail gate).

Ford EcoSport SE variant dealer dispatches begin; no tailgate-mounted spare-fordecosportsespiedduringpromoshootrear3qd142_wm.jpg

Ford EcoSport SE variant dealer dispatches begin; no tailgate-mounted spare-fordecosportsespiedrear3quarterdb08_wm.jpg

Link

Reinhard · 22nd February 2021, 14:31

I actually always liked the UK spec EcoSport's looks. Clean back, no spare wheel. I'm not a fan of the gate mounted spare wheels since I crossed teen-age.

This said - the lack of a spare wheel altogether is not what I'd be comfortable with. So if I were to get an EcoSport - I'd still pick the one with rear mounted spare wheel. Purely for the utility and not aesthetics. So this is the first mass-market car made in India that will be available to buy without a mandatory spare wheel (aligned with new regulations)?

SVK Rider · 22nd February 2021, 14:55

Tailgate mounted spare wheel to me looked better than this one. It really feels odd to me. Instead they should have launched the AWD version in India.

amitayu · 22nd February 2021, 15:04

Will the new EcoSport get a full sized spare or will it now have a space-saver to accommodate the spare in the luggage area?

volkman10 · 22nd February 2021, 15:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by amitayu

Will the new EcoSport get a full sized spare or will it now have a space-saver to accommodate the spare in the luggage area?

It will have no spare wheel.

Quote:

With a new amendment from the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, the carmakers can now opt to omit on offering a spare wheel in a vehicle of M1 category. Hence, the EcoSport SE is expected to come with a tyre repair kit and a tyre pressure monitoring system.

amitayu · 22nd February 2021, 15:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by volkman10

It will have no spare wheel.

What? Now owners are expected to repair their own tyres under duress? Who on earth would buy such an 'SUV'? Ecosport owners have offroading aspirations, right?

On a related thought, wouldn't having two different designed and manufactured rear door add to operational costs for Ford? How much do they save in giving a spare tyre?

libranof1987 · 22nd February 2021, 15:19

I'm curious if this entire exercise is just because they have a lot of inventory of parts for the non-Indian-spec EcoSport.

This is stupid from Ford because owners of this variant essentially can't carry a spare wheel anymore; it'll most likely fit in the boot but it'll make the boot almost entirely unusable. The EcoSport and Endevour have done wonders to Ford's reputation in India and the kind of feature cuts seen on both cars is just awful. Perhaps they have a solid (financial?) reason for this, but it is likely to do more harm than good.

My '16 EcoSport has a full size alloy for a spare tyre so from that to this, is disappointing.

ts1506 · 22nd February 2021, 15:39

I'm curious as to where the SE model fits in the range and what sort of kit are we expecting.

Ford India's model nomenclature is different from US/UK, where the EcoSport is offered in S, SE, Titanium, SES (US only), ST-Line (UK only).

Going by that logic, the SE should fit in below the Titanium/Titanium+, i.e. Trend variant. However, going by the alloys and headlamps on the car, it seems to be a replacement for Titanium / Titanium+ instead.

For reference, the US Spec EcoSport SE comes with the following (over Titanium+):
8 inch touchscreen with 4G LTE, Navigation and SYNC3
Blind Spot Monitoring System
Heated Front Seats
Knee Airbags for both driver+co-driver (total 8 airbags)
Ford MyKey + Emergency Assistance
Option for AWD with the 2L engine

kiku007 · 22nd February 2021, 15:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by amitayu

Who on earth would buy such an 'SUV'? Ecosport owners have offroading aspirations, right?

Ecosport, SUV and off-road aspirations. It's absolutely hilarious to read the comments on this thread.

The Fiesta on stilts was never supposed to be taken seriously as an SUV or an offroader. But it seems the marketing team ended up making a good number of people believe the opposite.

The boot spoiler on a road-going sedan and the boot mounted spare wheel on crossovers like the ES are both for aesthetics. Take it easy people.

View Poll Results: Ford EcoSport with or without the Tailgate mounted Spare wheel. Which one looks better ?
The tailgate mounted Spare wheel looks good. Should have retained it !	540	77.47%
The new clean look of the tailgate devoid of the spare looks better.	92	13.20%
Both are ok. Frankly I cant see the difference !	65	9.33%
Voters: 697. You may not vote on this poll

22nd February 2021, 12:57	#46
Safari_Sid BHPian Join Date: May 2010 Location: Mumbai, Noida Posts: 38 Thanked: 17 Times	Re: Ford EcoSport SE variant dealer dispatches begin; no tailgate-mounted spare Mounted tyres look "GOOD" and if it moved to boot further reducing the available boot space, it's a definite NO. Removing the spare tyre completely doesn't sound like a wise move considering it might save 10-15k at max and it would be gamble just like Apple did with iphones (as others mentioned before too) but will impact the sales negatively in my opinion. Please correct me if I am wrong, the sub 4m length is the current ecosport is excluding the tyre. I don't think the tyre mount is considered in car length else the old gen Safari would have exceeded 4.7 m mark. Last edited by Safari_Sid : 22nd February 2021 at 13:04. Reason: Adding a query
	() Thanks

22nd February 2021, 13:15	#47
CARDEEP Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: NCR Posts: 3,341 Thanked: 2,723 Times	Re: Ford EcoSport SE variant dealer dispatches begin; no tailgate-mounted spare I voted for minus tailgate mounted wheel look. The reasons for this is better dynamics due to lower center of gravity. However, not happy with the spare wheel removed. It gives a psychological assurance on long drives.
	() Thanks

22nd February 2021, 13:19	#48
Sanjivvohra BHPian Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 74 Thanked: 179 Times	Re: Ford EcoSport SE variant dealer dispatches begin; no tailgate-mounted spare The rear-mounted spare wheel was a good differentiator for the Eco Sport. Not anymore. It seems Ford in India is bent on committing hara-kiri, with first reducing the power from the Endevour, not getting the more powerful twin-turbo, making insane changes to the lineup of compact sedans and now this! Soon they will be using India as an export hub only.
	() Thanks

22nd February 2021, 13:20	#49
Batfreak BHPian Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: The Hague Posts: 154 Thanked: 305 Times	Re: Ford EcoSport SE variant dealer dispatches begin; no tailgate-mounted spare The European version of the EcoSport never had the mounted spare wheel either, and honestly, even though I have been seeing this since a substantial time, it has still not grown on me. I think the Indian version actually had a lot of character and looked far better. Also, to answer some questions here, the tailgate still opens sideways. If the intention was to make a system that lifts up like a conventional hatch, I could still understand why they would do that since this may need less space to open, but that's not the case either. Yes, a few people on the road cannot change the spare by themselves but the number of people who can effectively use a puncture repair kit is far far less. I think that our stupid authorities are equally to blame though. Trying to introduce US-spec norms that allow manufacturers to forego the spare when we don't have a road infrastructure to match.
	(1) Thanks

22nd February 2021, 13:25	#50
aenkay91 BHPian Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Kolkata Posts: 61 Thanked: 272 Times	Re: Ford EcoSport SE variant dealer dispatches begin; no tailgate-mounted spare While a puncture can be repaired and dealt with pretty easily by most of us, A SIDE WALL CRACK cannot be. Me and my wife have been seriously considering the ecosport for her use and some long distance hauls and the lack of a spare really makes me skeptical of it's usage. A couple of months back I came across a post by a fellow BHPian about how he suffered a side wall crack while returning from a long journey and we all presume that even though we would feel harassed in such a situation, we would not be very worried since we have a spare wheel to fall back on. A glaring omission as per me and takes away a peace of mind. How come nobody considered this situation while devising the law?
	(1) Thanks

22nd February 2021, 13:30	#51
rpads1 BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 66 Thanked: 41 Times	Re: Ford EcoSport SE variant dealer dispatches begin; no tailgate-mounted spare I think it is ok that the spare wheel is out. For one, I find most cars are already putting in non-alloys for the spare. This results in the spare wheel not getting rotated at all and used maybe 5% of the life it could. I've had two punctures over 5 years. The first one was on an inter-city trip and I managed more than 100kms remaining on the trip after refilling air at the immediate fuel pump, post realising the pressure loss. The other one was in the city and I managed for almost a month, since puncture was minor and refilling at the petrol bunk would help me carry on. With tubeless tyres, if you carry a battery powered inflator, that should do the job for managing most punctures till the next puncture shop, even if you cant fix them on your own.
	() Thanks

22nd February 2021, 13:57	#52
volkman10 Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: -- Posts: 25,812 Thanked: 79,190 Times View My Garage	Re: Ford EcoSport SE variant dealer dispatches begin; no tailgate-mounted spare Upcoming Ford EcoSport SE Spotted During Promo Shoot Alongside Titanium Trim. Only the upcoming SE variant will miss out on one( Spare tire on tail gate). Link Last edited by volkman10 : 22nd February 2021 at 14:07.
	(7) Thanks

22nd February 2021, 14:31	#53
Reinhard Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Pune Posts: 4,908 Thanked: 18,123 Times View My Garage	Re: Ford EcoSport SE variant dealer dispatches begin; no tailgate-mounted spare I actually always liked the UK spec EcoSport's looks. Clean back, no spare wheel. I'm not a fan of the gate mounted spare wheels since I crossed teen-age. This said - the lack of a spare wheel altogether is not what I'd be comfortable with. So if I were to get an EcoSport - I'd still pick the one with rear mounted spare wheel. Purely for the utility and not aesthetics. So this is the first mass-market car made in India that will be available to buy without a mandatory spare wheel (aligned with new regulations)?
	(2) Thanks

22nd February 2021, 14:55	#54
SVK Rider BHPian Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: Kolkata Posts: 192 Thanked: 808 Times	Re: Ford EcoSport SE variant dealer dispatches begin; no tailgate-mounted spare Tailgate mounted spare wheel to me looked better than this one. It really feels odd to me. Instead they should have launched the AWD version in India.
	(1) Thanks

22nd February 2021, 15:04	#55
amitayu BHPian Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Kolkata Posts: 433 Thanked: 546 Times	Re: Ford EcoSport SE variant dealer dispatches begin; no tailgate-mounted spare Will the new EcoSport get a full sized spare or will it now have a space-saver to accommodate the spare in the luggage area?
	() Thanks

22nd February 2021, 15:19	#58
libranof1987 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: All over! Posts: 8,196 Thanked: 20,626 Times	Re: Ford EcoSport SE variant dealer dispatches begin; no tailgate-mounted spare I'm curious if this entire exercise is just because they have a lot of inventory of parts for the non-Indian-spec EcoSport. This is stupid from Ford because owners of this variant essentially can't carry a spare wheel anymore; it'll most likely fit in the boot but it'll make the boot almost entirely unusable. The EcoSport and Endevour have done wonders to Ford's reputation in India and the kind of feature cuts seen on both cars is just awful. Perhaps they have a solid (financial?) reason for this, but it is likely to do more harm than good. My '16 EcoSport has a full size alloy for a spare tyre so from that to this, is disappointing.
	(4) Thanks

22nd February 2021, 15:39	#59
ts1506 BHPian Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Milan Posts: 191 Thanked: 423 Times	Re: Ford EcoSport SE variant dealer dispatches begin; no tailgate-mounted spare I'm curious as to where the SE model fits in the range and what sort of kit are we expecting. Ford India's model nomenclature is different from US/UK, where the EcoSport is offered in S, SE, Titanium, SES (US only), ST-Line (UK only). Going by that logic, the SE should fit in below the Titanium/Titanium+, i.e. Trend variant. However, going by the alloys and headlamps on the car, it seems to be a replacement for Titanium / Titanium+ instead. For reference, the US Spec EcoSport SE comes with the following (over Titanium+): 8 inch touchscreen with 4G LTE, Navigation and SYNC3 Blind Spot Monitoring System Heated Front Seats Knee Airbags for both driver+co-driver (total 8 airbags) Ford MyKey + Emergency Assistance Option for AWD with the 2L engine Last edited by ts1506 : 22nd February 2021 at 15:41.
	(1) Thanks