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Here's a link to Joginder Singh's (the Ford India boss) interview by Hormazd in Bloomberg. I just felt he spoke stratospheric platitudes giving no confidence on a solution to the current long waiting periods. Hormazd was compelled early on itself to say that he was being politically correct.

http://btvin.com/ceoonthedrive/video...o-on-the-drive

Rupee depreciation is helping their exports and likely they are taking advantage of that to skew production to exports.

Cheers,

Absolutely ! His answers were more like the standard reply one gets from Ford customer care.

I had a long chat with the person managing ecosport deliveries at my dealer today. He told me most of the titanium + models are exported. Despite the high demand they receive very less of this variant (5-6 a month) and that has led to insane waiting periods and dealerships closing bookings.

He also told me all dealerships have approached Ford India requesting for more units of the titanium variants since the demand for this is higher than for other variants. Ford did supply more of titanium variants but majority of the option variants are still exported.

Can some one confirm if we can connect an external amp and subwoofer with OEM music system in ES??

If yes, will it be done in showroom?

Intriguingly, people seem to realise that Duster/Amaze is the car they really wanted only after being told that they have to wait for 8-10 months for delivery of the Ecosport.

Got my Ecosport TDCi Titanium today.Few quick observations:
1.The boot release button in remote is quitte hard and is not marked.
2.The rear wheel inside wall has carpet like material which is going to be pain to maintain during rainy season.
3.The SYNC is a good feature but is not very straight forward to use.
4.Dead pedal has a design flaw.The clutch pedal obstructs the use of dead pedal.
5.I felt the materials used in interiors as good as ones in my Vento,but its fit and finish in some areas and texture/color that are a bit let down.
6.The suspension on bad roads have typical SUV feel and sedans/hatch cannot match Ecosport in this department.
7.I found the armrest very comfortable to use.
8.The door armrests have cushioning and is super comfortable.
9.The horn is easy to use,looks India ready.
10.The engine is exactly in between Figo and Vento interms of power and is super silent in comparison.
11.Heard service costs are around 5-6k approx.Also was told no issues w.r.to availability of spare parts.I doubt this however.

Congratulations on your EcoSport, and happy driving!

A few points:
1. The boot release button is a dummy in the Indian variants (see the picture of the key fob on this post). The boot release works by unlocking the car (key fob or button above the hazard lights button) and pressing the little black request sensor on the rear door.
2. The fabric lining in the rear wheel-well - the benefit is that it minimizes road noise (see this thread) but yes, it will pick up and hold muck. You can hose (with a pinched tip) this down to clean it.

It is not dummy. I tried it myself today and it did release the boot.Yes the boot doesnot release if car is locked.
Once car is unlocked press the so called dummy button in remote twice and the boot opens.Even i was surprised when sales advisor explained this to me.Not sure why ford didnt mark it as boot release button.

Good that your service advisor knew this , In my case i was the one who told my Service Advisor about how the so called "Dummy Button" is actually useful.

That is curious, but I suppose, for them the ES would be as small as they are prepared to go, whereas, for me, (apart from a Yeti, drool, drool) it would be as big as I'd be prepared to go. So, for me, it would be: no ES? Stick with a hatch.

It's nice to be detached: I am sticking with hatch (Polo) for several years, the ES will have matured, and goodness knows what else will have come along by then. Or how much money I'll have left :(

Exactly contrary to your view, I feel the horn button is big pain. Try honking when your steering is turned. You will end up pressing the Audio controls.

I hate the horn button. Just too small and hard. Not at all India friendly.

I too go with penpavan. Horn button is really a headache. I've been using Maruthi since past few years. Honking has never been a such a pain whereas in ES its really tough. And I do feel the button is harder than Maruthi.

In my opinion horn pad of Ecosport and it's feel is like any other European / American vehicle may be because the development engineers are not giving much importance for honking effort by a driver as drivers in other countries rarely / will not use them (also we should remember Ecosport is a global vehicle where I'm not sure to what extent the vehicle can be tweeked for every domestic markets other than homologation requirements).

While in the case of Maruthi it is always the other way round in India, also is there a driver airbag on your Maruthi? Because airbag on steering wheel will obviously increase the driver effort for honking.

Cheers!

Would it be possible to see some statistics (mm/ inches) around the comparison with the Jazz?

My experience: The car speeds upto 120-130 pretty fast and gives a sense of power during that time. However, post that, the power delivery tapers off and I felt that someone needs to push the car to go further. So yes, what you have heard is correct.

Hmmm... it's possible but kind of difficult as the Exosport is with my office colleague and not my neighbor :D

I will try to put a more objective comparison next time when I get the Ecosport.

As I said, the leg space in Ecosport is similar to Jazz. But what made me feel cramped is the smaller or less wider driver seat in the Ecosport and may be the dhashbaord intruding too much, not sure. But, it did feel cramped compare to the Jazz with regards to the width.

@suhaas, well you are entitled to your opinion. It's not fair to compare Ecosport with Jazz as both are totally different cars intended for different purposes. We can only talk about certain aspects.
I agree to your point about the GC which is one of the problems with Jazz though I have not faced as much problems as you seem to have. I also agree about the ride quality and I expect Ecosport to ride better though I have not tested it throughly.
But, I am not sure about other aspects.
For example, the Ecosport seat may have better under thigh support but it is smaller and doesn't provide as much lateral support as the Jazz. The rear seat of Ecosport is again less wide than Jazz and is flat as a bench. I did not find the support to be any better than Jazz.
Also, things like interior quality and the overall design of the dhasboard, interiors - Jazz is much better IMO. In fact, I find Polo, Swift, I20 to have better interiors than Ecosport.

To me, both Jazz and Ecosport are very good cars and it depends on individual preferences.

I guess enough of comparison.. let's move on!