[supertinu]

Originally Posted by dchax

The original BHP reviewers mentioned that the Goodyear tyres are way better than the MRF tyres, and that Ford provides both. Surprisingly the Planet Ford (Pune) dealer seemed unaware of choosing tyres as an option. I mentioned that I would like the Goodyear instead of MRF, and he said that they had no control on choosing tyre brand. I'll be taking this up with Ford directly... but any other similar experiences to this regard?

I think the dealer is right. Choice of tyres is typically not given. You get what factory sends. The dealer can choose to give you a car with your choice of tyres if stocks are available. When I bought my Figo, to the the dealer I specified model with Apollo Acceleres and not MRF and he picked that piece from the stockyard. But in this case since Ecosport is selling like hot cakes, getting this kind of options will be tough. Just go ahead and do an aftermarket change. You can get something even better.

Originally Posted by SwapnilNalavade

Ford Ecosport Test Drive Vehicle topples while on Test Drive in Gandhidham, Gujarat

Originally Posted by ACM

We require a better background of the incident to arrive at any conclusions about the EcoSport Stability or absence of the same. It can just be a coincidence but surely does not inspire confidence. Yes the first incident seemed to be a one off case of rash driving, but this one needs to be studied better. But really speaking without a background this will remain a puzzle.

Originally Posted by ArunV

Seems like ecosport has toppled again during a testdrive in Perumbavoor, Kochi.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set...3519653&type=1

The pictures posted for Kochi seem the same as ones for Gujrat earlier. Its the same incident. No data to point it to a car stability issue. Considering rear right tyre is missing it seems like high speed turn and skidding into a median or something. But definitely not good publicity for a newly launched car. Reminds me of Merc A Class early days. By the way I have seen people topple the old Zen, so toppling any SUV is not improbable due to poor driving skills.

[Kal.Wiz.]

Just Returned from TD of Titanium Diesel from Cargo Ford Ahmedabad.
There was a crowd of about 50 checking out the vehicle but was promptly attended by SE. Unfortunately when I started inquiring about mandatory insurance, compulsory accessories, essential pack etc he was out of his depth.
Was handed over to a senior SE who assured me that my NCB would be transferred at the time of delivery, essential pack was in fact a set of mud flaps and floor mats and accessories were not mandatory.
Due to ques they were offering only a small TD but assured me that after a week or so would offer a proper TD.
They already have 350 plus bookings and expected 90 - 180 days for delivery.

I took a measure tape with me and rear seat is narrower by 5 cm as compared to my i20. Front and rear legroom ok for me (5'7"). The ride is stiff but not stiffer than my Fusion. Switching to 65 profile tyres greatly improves ride with minimum effect on handing (again experience from Fusion) There is a mild turbo lag but not a deal breaker. K & N Filter and Tuning box should take care of it.

After driving fusion for more than 5 yrs it fits to a T for my needs.

Will be booking Titanium Diesel tomorrow. After viewing horror stories on forum I was prepared for the same but was pleasantly surprised by the front office interaction.

p.s. There was a crowd of neo rich bafoons offering a premium of 50 to 100k for delivery from first lot. Credit to Cargo Ford for flatly refusing their overtures.

[dchax]

Originally Posted by dchax

On road Pune price for the EBoost Titanium was coming to Rs.9.19, inclusive of Rs.5500 accessory pack, 25K for insurance and an additional 3rd year warranty. The dealer said he preferred us feeding insurance from them, but that I could get my own if desired. The accessory pack was also optional as was the additional warranty. This was a pleasant, positive surprise compared to the fleecing I read through these blogs. Even the insurance pricing seemed believable, although I so intend to take it separately from my trusted Tata AiG.

OK! Take back all that I had said! Planet Ford has finally woken up to the rampant extortion the other dealers are following, and found that it's to their best business interest to enforce a compulsory Accessories pack of Rs.30,000 apart from increasing their booking amount to Rs. 1 lakh! So Ha! They'll be confirming all this only on Monday evening or later... but I smell a stinker here!

Already taken this up as a optimistic preventive step with Ford India. Sent emails to their various email ids - custmail@ford.com and fordindia@fordind.com. They're yet to respond. The docile Chat Support Executive seemed to mumble a vague and non-committal.... "There is no compulsion for accessories from the company end".

So what does Team BHP propose as a ethical approach to handling this daylight robbery? It seems it's a national matter now. Awesome Car, Great Pricing, Downright evil sales strategies!

[urajkumar]

Finally did a test drive of the Ecosport (Ecoboost). Overall impressions are positive.

Plus - Good seating position! Feature rich! Interiors are nice (lighter colors on the Titanium make it look good), Massive presence and looks awesome! Paint finish & build quality is excellent!

Minus - Steering provides no feedback - Worse than Honda/ Hyundai! Rear space is just ok!

Now the long wait for my automatic 1.5 Petrol. From what i believe, its not been fully integrated (possible since no one has driven it nor has any demo car available) and Ford has launched it only to get foot falls and launch it first to manage the media pressure.

They are now saying it will take 6 months just to make customers buy the diesel and cut their losses on the 1.5 liter petrol (I always suspected this since 1.5 liter does not get the excise duty benefits as well and so cannot be this cheap).

I hope they at least honor the poor guys like me who pre-booked the AT version.

[zteg]

Originally Posted by sup?

Also they have released a price list with accessories worth 25000 as compulsory. This too is not legal.

Let us hope something concrete comes out of it.

They have removed 25000 from the price list. However they are still sticking to the compulsory insurance thing.

[dkaile]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

It is very easy to topple any car

Rather than blame the car for no reason, we should be blaming the drivers.

only a very very noob driver can topple the car. The dynamics are super solid and it is almost impossible to get it messed up.

I always thought it was very hard to topple a car and only very rash and negligent drivers were able to do so. Nice to hear a different perspective.

Its also so re-assuring to see a TeamBhp moderator 'guaranteeing' the dynamics of a new car. So its just the driver's fault that caused this topple, which is good to know. I just love the car's design and with a TeamBhp backed assurance, it will enable many innocent and not-so-expert car buyers to place money on the Eco Sport.

[kopakabana]

Originally Posted by mayankk

For anyone planning a move from a decently booted sedan, this is not the option. In fact, I checked it out on two consecutive days, just to make sure.
I absolutely adore the car, but it does not make sense for me,and I'm sure others will concur.

well if your point is that one should not look at Ecosport just because of boot space than i must add here that the Ecosport offers a lot more than some of the decent booted sedans. Please don't forget that a roof rack can significantly increase the luggage space and personally i feel they look great on SUVs and should look good on the Ecosport. I believe the roof rails and tray are available as accessories. Its a decent addition i must say.

The compact SUV thing is new to Indian market but i am in Johannesburg, South Africa and people here love these small SUVs and whenever they need to carry lots of luggage they use roof racks. Its simple and very practical. So may be its time for us to look beyond the boot space as a deal breaker.

[sansvk]

Originally Posted by zteg

They have removed 25000 from the price list. However they are still sticking to the compulsory insurance thing.

Good, Yesterday I shot a mail to ford after receiving Price list with 25K extra. Got a response of Accessories is not mandatory. People should flood the ford email ids to get dealers to stop such extortion.

[gaurav911]

Interesting thing - I was unable to check out the boot of the display vehicle here (Titanium, TDCi, Sea Grey color) as the sensor on the tailgate was not working.
Reason given by the SE- A huge crowd has come to the showroom since morning and due to constant opening of the doors/ operating the music system - the battery has conked out. Hence the sensor to open the tailgate is not functional and can't be opened!

Firstly, it shows the unprofessionalism/ lack of preparation of the dealership.

But importantly if its true then its a slight weakness in the design.
A mechanical switch/ button like the one in Figo/Fiesta should be provided so as to open the tailgate without using the sensor too.

Originally Posted by dhruvmalik

Who is the sales exec you are dealing with and at which Cargo ford, CG or SG?

I visited the Cargo Motors showroom at SG Highway.

There were many SE's - I interacted with around 3 sales executives and even a girl at the reception since there were around 20 customers checking out the display vehicle (I remember the name of just one of the sales executives -Chirag Pasavala).
Overall experience in terms of product knowledge and query handling was pathetic.

Enquired about the 45K accessory pack. First answer was no idea -we have not been given the details yet. Then this SE-Chirag told me that the customer would be provided an accessory list out of which he can choose accessories worth 45K (Found this to be a cooked up answer)

So next I approached another executive and asked him whether extended warranty was included in the Accessory pack. He answered that it can be included if the customer wants and then the customer can opt for accessories of the balance amount.

Next, I asked about availability and TD of Ecoboost engine as the only car they had for TD was the diesel mill one.
The SE(Chirag) said that they do not have the Ecoboost yet.

So i asked him as the diesel was in demand - was it possible to get delivery of the Ecoboost model soon.
He said that they had not received the allotment schedule and had no idea about what engine options and variants would be available.

Lastly, on requesting a TD, i was told that the car had gone for diesel refueling and would take an hour to get back. And so I returned without a TD.

I guess some serious 'Product Knowledge' & 'Customer Handling' Training is required.

[anandtheleo]

Mailed Ford about the availability of the Ecosport AT, below is the reply I have got:

"Thank you for showing your interest in Ford EcoSport.

The 1.5L Petrol Automatic version is not available now. You may book it
once the automatic version is available at your nearest Ford dealer.
Request you to kindly be in touch with your nearest Ford dealer for the
same. We will keep you updated."

[blurust]

OT but for what it's worth petrol prices again hiked by 1.82 per litre from midnight today. I doubt if I am going to go for automatic ecosport. I'm too much of a chicken I think regarding the cost of ownership. So diesel it is then.

[sup?]

An update to the earlier email I posted:

The customer relationship manager of Elite Ford, a Mr.Dikshit called me today. He said they are not insisting on Accessories. But he said their insurance is the best out there and additional parts are also covered under their insurance. He said he would send out a list of the parts covered. I told him be that as it may, I still want the option to buy my own insurance and threats like we wont allocate car if you don't buy insurance from us are not the way to please customers. Though he agreed, I still suspect (because of how much he insisted on their insurance) they might try to pull a trick or two at the time of delivery or delay my delivery since the allocation is completely under their discretion.

At a time when I should be excited about my booking, I am sitting and worrying about what these showroom guys are going to pull.

Apart from that, what do the experts think? Will I face any issue at all if I buy my own insurance? What does the term "bumper to bumper" insurance translate to in layman terms? Also 3rd and 4th year warranty is justified since it is a new car?

[zteg]

Originally Posted by sansvk

Good, Yesterday I shot a mail to ford after receiving Price list with 25K extra. Got a response of Accessories is not mandatory. People should flood the ford email ids to get dealers to stop such extortion.

In addition to this, they have reduced the insurance quote by 3k ( compared to the pricelist I received yesterday)

[zwift1819]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Why bother feeling bad for any manufacturer? The Hondas and Suzukis and Toyotas and even VW's of the world have been pretty heavily over-pricing their products in India for absolutely ages. They have been delivering much less here than they do abroad, in terms of safety and other functionalities, focussing instead on stupid gadgets, gizmos and the ubiquitous beige interiors etc and charging premia for these as well as for cheap sticker-led limited edition jobs. And we Indians have been forgivingly and stupidly lapping their products up at pretty much whatever pricing they cared to come in with!

Let them now burn for a good long while with Ford and Renault and Mahindra's and others new entry level pricing strategies. Jai Ho the Indian Consumer - finally!

In ref grab handles I am not able to understand the lack of the same because it is not an automatic conclusion that grab handles have to go to make room for side/ roof curtain airbags. I state this because my Yeti offers side / roof curtain airbags and has four lovely spring loaded grab handles too, one above each of its four passenger doors.

You have said what my heart wanted to say all these years. But still I don't think any manufacturer will take this as a serious move. Swift which first started of its DDiS at around 5L now takes 7.10L for the swift vdi onroad. Worse is with Toyota. They have taken Indians for granted.

[vineetg84]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

It is very easy to topple any car forget tall boy. Even a Figo or a Dzire will topple. Bangalore had a toppled Duster during TD outside the showroom.

Rather than blame the car for no reason, we should be blaming the drivers.

For the amount GTO, myself and the other reviewer pushed the Eco-Sport through the hills of Goa, only a very very noob driver can topple the car. The dynamics are super solid and it is almost impossible to get it messed up.

Ofcourse, like I mentioned if you try to jump over a divider or do something stupid, even a Porsche Cayenne will flip over.

thanks a ton for clearing the air about the ecosport toppling over.I have been driving Ford cars since past 10 years,the 1st generation ikon the 2nd generation tdci ikon kinetic design,the 1st edition figo tdci and now have booked the Ecosport diesel and i can vouch for its stability.I was surprised that the diesel variant pulls more effortlessly than the ecoboost variant in the 2nd gear,a much need in city driving condition,and surprising enough the interiors of titanium seems to be much better than the higher titanium option.