[Aceman82]

I booked an Ecosport Diesel Titanium option pack in Chennai in the Kinetic Blue color. The waiting time is around 3 months. I am upgrading from my NA Indica though Indica would still remain in garage as a backup car.

The below are the observations,

a) The Car is quiet for Diesel. Absolutely no diesel clatter sound inside the Cabin. It has excellent NVH characteristics and a smooth ride. Long distance travels would be fatigue free.

b) Coming from Indica , I personally found the car very powerful. Also for a Diesel the car almost impossible to stall. Did a small urban offroading on an under construction road which had quote a few small stones near the showroom and the ride quality was acceptable. The ride quality in Tarmac was terrific.

c) I know many BHP'an would kill me for saying this but I actually liked the Steering. It was light , not very vague (like some Hyundai) and almost effortless to use. After using a steering like that of the Yamato which needs 200 turns to make a turn , I have started to appreciate the benefits of EPS steering.Just a small flick to turn directions and the car was eager to turn.

d) Ergonomics are spot on for the Driver and the Passengers. Eventhough Indica's rear bench is much bigger , family actually preferred the Ecosport's rear bench. At the very least there was hardly any thing to chose between the Rear bench of Cars which I had test driven (Rapid, Verna and Ecosport) since neither of these can sit 3 people in comfortable manner. Here in the Ecosport the Arm rest for rear passengers with the small padding was appreciated by my family along with the Leather seats.

e) I personally did not feel or see much of any Blind Spots but don't believe my word for that since all my experience is with the older model Indica which basically was full of blind spots and only has only a few visible spots.

f) Audio quality is quite good and the Dashboard looks futuristic. The Leather seats were also quite comfortable.

g) Features, Features and more features. Most of those features would actually be quite helpful though I would have preferred TCS or ESP since the vehicle is quite tall in place of Leather seats in the Titanium Option pack.

In the end this car gave the best compromise between Safety, Space, Ground clearance and maintenance. If I had 4-5 lakhs more to spend (and no housing loan) , I would have bought the XUV500 but as things stand this is a good Am Junta car and hence booked the same.

[TheARUN]

Just back after my first darshan of the Ecosport. They have the Ecoboost and basic diesel on display.

The clincher for me was the visibility of the bonnet while perched on the drivers seat. The basic diesel model does not have the central screen display, unless you can fit something in there after-market it's going to be an eyesore.

The most shocking thing displayed all over the showroom '360 days waiting period'. By the time you get your Ecosport, it's going be Duster prices that you would have to pay

[Turbo_Charger]

Originally Posted by vb-san

True. That’s why I am a bit baffled that Ford has decided to have ESP available only on the Petrol AT model, and not on any other variants (even on the Titanium+).

I think it might be related to the Gearbox. Remember that the Fiesta Auto also comes with ESP (both in Style and Titanium) and so does the Polo GT TSI. Maybe it has got to do something with the Dual Clutch Gearbox present in both ?

Another co-incidence is that both also feature Hill Hold Control too.

[rajamuneeb]

I only have one query. will the 2L TDI Ecosport with a 4wd hit Indian market and how soon?

[Achyuth Vaibhav]

Originally Posted by agambhandari

It is probably because there were less bookings at that dealership coupled with the proximity of Vellore to the factory.

Case in point, the dealer here in punjab only has a display vehicle (no TD), but doesn't have a lot of bookings. Cars are expected next week with nearly no expected booking for the EcoBoost. Nobody cares about a petrol here. So when I book an EcoBoost, I could very well get it in the first lot.
The height would be only a little more than the WagonR but what makes it more SUVish is its good ground clearance.

Thanks for that, With height, how is the headroom in the EcoSport when compared to the WagonR? Is it < or > when compared to all other tallboys?

Thanks for the help agambhandari!

Cheers,

Achyuth

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Achyuth Vaibhav

Thanks for that, With height, how is the headroom in the ES when compared to the WR? Is it < or > when compared to all other tallboys?

Thanks for the help agambhandari!

Cheers,

Achyuth

Good question yours.
However, do please stop using abbreviations..not everyone reading these posts can automatically equate ES to EcoSport and WR to WagonR...
It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track...say 1974AM2 can mean Ambassador Mark 2 but it can equally mean a 1970's Aston Martin of some variant and so on and so forth.

[altius]

With the pricing it looks like EcoSport would be competing with a whole spectrum of cars from top end i10 to City/Vento and compact SUV/MUVs like Duster, Quanto, Ertiga. It may have forced itself in to the consideration list of all purchases between 5.5 - 12 lakhs. Ford need to be congratulated on this positioning.

[Achyuth Vaibhav]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Good question yours.
However, do please stop using abbreviations..not everyone reading these posts can automatically equate ES to EcoSport and WR to WagonR...
It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track...say 1974AM2 can mean Ambassador Mark 2 but it can equally mean a 1970's Aston Martin of some variant and so on and so forth.

But where is the answer? , See the edited post, I have corrected it. So here is another question:

How does the EcoSport compare to the Yeti?

[himanshuchadha]

Unofficial News from Harpreet Ford, Moti Nagar Delhi - Ecosport has crossed around 11000 bookings nationally. The dealer itself is currently at 950 bookings (I am at 382 after pre-booking on 22nd June). Also heard that Ford is going to close the bookings soon (10th July).

They had a board mentioning the waiting period for all versions of ES increased to 7 Months!

[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by Achyuth Vaibhav

But where is the answer? , See the edited post, I have corrected it. So here is another question:

How does the EcoSport compare to the Yeti?

The headroom is adequate. In tallboys like the WagonR personally, I believe the headroom is mostly overkill. I'm about 5'11" and my head had some good clearance off the roof.

I was actually considering the Yeti as well when they were giving some killer discounts on it. It of course is a segment above in terms of quality, power and a few features as well. But it just happens that quality of EcoSport for the asking price is good(much better than say, a Duster or even XUV in many cases). The extras in the Yeti that I saw, like 4x4, powerful diesel engine and a bit more rear seat space are some that didn't matter much to me, hence couldn't justify the extra price, (the Skoda horror stories stopped the deal finally). Had there been a loaded 4x2 1.2 TSi, it could have made a more compelling choice to me. In fact, the only real use of an SUV I can see in a city, is high ground clearance and water wading depth (which were a bit low in the Yeti).
But if you can spend more and see value in the extras it offers, it could be a great choice. The only competitor till now, the Duster offers some pretty average interior quality and No good petrol motor. Something I wasn't happy with.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by agambhandari

Had there been a loaded 4x2 1.2 TSi, it could have made a more compelling choice to me. In fact, the only real use of an SUV I can see in a city, is high ground clearance and water wading depth (which were a bit low in the Yeti).

This was something which even I was hoping for a long time. But it just remained a hope. A 1.2TSI version does exist in Europe. But I still think, that it still may happen. Now that that 1.2TSI has come to our shores with the Polo.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Was it a display/test drive car? From the VIN looks like a 2013 Jan model!
(11th char - D for 2013, 12th char - B for Jan)

It was a new Ecosport, probably a display car, seen at Kairaly Ford's service centre yesterday.

[damager21]

As per a dealer in Mumbai, wait time for 1.5L petrol variant is 4+ months as Ford has not yet started production of petrol variant. This is the reason why 1.5L EcoSport is not available for test drive.

According to them production of petrol variant will start mid of July and hence the delay. In fact this is another reason why some of the dealers are not taking bookings for AT as there is no clarity yet.

Dealers in Mumbai are ok with customers managing their own financing however there is a absolute NO when it comes to removing Essential pack or managing insurance on our own.

They did mention that there have been some cancellations as well because few customers felt that Titanium is over priced and they did not want to degrade to Trend.

[achyutaghosh]

So i went ahead and test drove the Ford EcoSport, and came back mighty impressed- as no car in India matches the value proposition AND lust factor that this little Ford offers. Ford's future in India depended on this car, they realized that too and have created a gem of a package with multiple engine options straddling a budget that is not only wide (INR 5.6-9 lakhs) but has also seen most action, having experienced the largest number of launches in the recent past as Indian consumers with increasing disposable incomes move up the value chain for premium vehicles.

Exteriors- This is right sizing in an entirely different concept. Ford brands the Ecosport as an urban SUV and this is perfectly so. The size is perfect for a city focused vehicle, and it looks great from any angle- an aggressive front, stylish rear, chunky wheels, 200 mm ground clearance and 550 mm water wading capabilities and good amount of plastic cladding further reinforcing its pseudo-SUV credentials. The colors offered are standard Ford spec (red, grey, white, black, chill, silver) with one new addition- an electric blue. The build quality is very very good, doors close with a thunk, paint quality is excellent, and shut lines are perfectly fit. Bottom line- the Ecosport looks twice its price.

Interiors- This is where other vehicles fail the test, but not the Ecosport. While interiors are a straight lift from the much more expensive Fiesta, the quality has remained the same which is a good thing. The central console looks like a mobile phone, with a preponderance of buttons that will take time to get used to. The doors plastic moulds are padded over, the electronic controls have a nice positive click to them. Two interior color trims are available, the top end model has an all black sporty theme, while other variants get a black-grey combo. The latter combination offers a more airy experience, and breaks the general black monotonous look. The front seats are very comfortable, the high seating position gives a great view of the road. Rear leg room is surprisingly better than the larger Fiesta, and the seats offer good thigh support. The boot is adequate at 375 litres, the rear seats split and fold to liberate even more space, however it is a narrow car, so seating 3 abreast is going to be difficult. I only wished the driver armrest was wider and better quality, and that Ford would have Indianised the wiper and indicator controls .

Mechanicals- The Ecosport comes in 3 engine options- a 1.5 petrol and diesel (that do duty in the Fiesta) and the revolutionary 1.0 Ecoboost turbo petrol that combines the fuel efficiency of a hatchback with the power of a large capacity engine. There is a twin clutch autobox on offer with the 1.5 petrol too- hallejullah for the ladies.The 123 bhp Ecoboost petrol would be the engine of my choice, having seen the tepid performance of the 1.5 liter duo in the Fiesta, but all test drive vehicles available currently are diesels so my feedback limited to this variant only. The 1.5 liter engine puts out 90 bhp in fairly linear manner. Happy to see that in modern CRDIs they are slowly able to take out the jerky response characteristic so far- after the Amaze, here is another engine with minimal turbo lag, perfect to drive in the city. I couldnt take it to the highways to test top end power, but in the little time i drove, i did feel a lack of urgency in throttle response. The gearbox is smooth, the clutch is soft, the brake feel was good and the diesel clatter is limited. The ride is pliant, but not as good as the Duster, and this is the first Ford i have driven that has a lifeless steering.

Features- The Indian consumer today is highly educated. A few years back, we hardly understood any features, but today the formula to succeed in the Indian car industry is- design+ features. Look no further than the Verna. Ford has loaded the Ecosport to the gills giving competition to the German luxury troika- ABS, 6 air bags, hill descent, leather seats, 60-40 split fold, Microsoft sync for your phone, key-less start, climate control, tiptronic in the auto variant- the list is really really long.

Ford claims an ARAI fuel efficiency of 15.8 kmpl for the 1.5 liter petrol, 18.7 kmpl for the 1.0 liter Ecoboost, and 22.7 kmpl for the 1.5 liter diesel. All these are great figures considering the wide tyres and 1250 kgs+ bulk of the Ecosport. No vehicle in India has made best use of the Indian government's below 4 metre car benefits as the Ecosport. Perfectly sized, well priced, loaded with features, with a range of fairly economical engines and head turning looks, there is no way this can but not be among the top sellers in India. Entry level sedan,s premium sedans, premium hatchbacks and crossovers- all will feel the heat from the Ecosport. The other sub 4 meter suvs- Quanto and Premier Rio will shrivel up and die in shame. Duster- done and dusted? I think so for the time being, as it was an overpriced product. The Ecosport betters the Duster by doing all that the Duster does equally well, at a far lower cost with added features. Having made an excellent product, all is up to Ford's service now. Can anything better the Ecosport today? Not in the near future, but looking forward to what Maruti and Hyundai will offer by 2014 in this segment. Till then for this Ford, it is- Veni, Vidi, Vici

[yogeshnaik]

In a Ford EcoSport crash thread:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...t-dhamaka.html

This thread is closed but any discussions will be on main thread. The thread mentions the driver was pushing hard. Any idea on what was the speed of the vehicle during that scenario?