[achilles101]

Originally Posted by catchkumar

Hi All,

I happened to drive the much awaited Ecosport last evening.
This is a vehicle which was given to Facebook winners as part of the promotion.
Ecoboost 1 Ltr Engine Top of the line spec.
[*] The Drive - Lack of power in 2nd gear - couldn't even take off after a normal speed breaker in 2nd gear. Am not technically sound to say much about power to weight ratio etc., but my swift does better in this area & the ecosport will be a pain for city driving if Ford doesn't fine tune this aspect.[/list]

• Driving position is great but the seats lack under thigh support. The rear seats are good for 2 adults only. This is a major dis-advantage & a set back for good numbers in terms of sales especially for Indian customers the 5th occupant though occasional is essential. This is a game changer for me at least when it came to the final decision making to book the vehicle & am keeping away from it for now. A long shot to fix this is to scoop out the door pads & redesign the seats. The longer fix i would have preferred is to have a wider Ecosport.

Boot space is good however the boot upper lip is dangerously sharp & protruding, if you are not careful you might get hurt.
The engine bay lacks the plastic cladding over the engine & looks shabbily finished.



I was on the verge of booking the Ecosport Diesel however i have now differed from the decision & started looking for alternates.

This is my personal opinion & hope not to be used for buying decisions.
Please test drive the Ecosport & take your call.

Regards,
Kumar

@Kumar - how good or bad are the rear seats of the Ecosport as compared to your swift?

[scarlet.fever]

My friend knows somebody who was given Ecosport to drive as part of the contest which Ford ran.
That person updated that the mileage was coming out to be only 8 kmpl
I would take that with pinch of salt because we don't know how it was driven and other factors.
But if that is true then it is really doomed.

[catchkumar]

Rear Seat -
The Good - Has the ability to recline & will be appreciated on long drives.
Leg space is great for 2 occupants.
The Bad - The third occupant if seated is a tight squeeze who will have no back support with legs apart as the drive train hampers leg space.
No rear arm rest or for the co-driver, however the drivers seat gets one.
The rear seat too lacks under thigh support.

Not sure if DC can do some magic here with the limited space available.
How many of us would want to take this route remains a big question after paying for a brand new car.

Note - The mileage seems to be pretty bad from what the Facebook winner of the car has experienced so far with an average of about 8-9 kms.

He also says that the car is very stable at high speeds.

Regards,
Kumar

Originally Posted by achilles101

@Kumar - how good or bad are the rear seats of the Ecosport as compared to your swift?

[dhanushmenon]

Originally Posted by catchkumar

Note - The mileage seems to be pretty bad from what the Facebook winner of the car has experienced so far with an average of

He also says that the car is very stable at high speeds & has touched 140-150 kms/hr.

Regards,
Kumar

The Ecosport in brazil also had returned very bad fuel economy figures for short runs. It was for the long highway runs that the engine proved to be economical. It was mentioned in the previous Ecosport thread. A small search will get you results

[rajneeesh]

The Ecoboost may be a technological marvel but Ford may have aproblem if it develops the reputation of being guzzler ( Small engines when pushed for performance can show an alarming increase in fuel consumtion as the engine needs to work a lot harder).

The 1.5 Diesel will pull in the numbers given Indian customer's facination for the sticky fuel. However, for somebody who drives 1000 -1200 Km / month, the 1.5 petrol may be a good option if priced right ( despite higher taxes) giving a decent economy and performance.

I hope that Ford starts thinking in terms of a 1.2 litre 4 pot ecoboost ( like the Polo). For me as a lot of others, there is no replacement for displacement.

I also hope that the Ecosport is priced right. The production costs for it should not be too different from a Hatch like the Swift. Rs 1- 1.5 lakh premium over the Swift/ Dzire ( 1.5 lt diesel) is what a lot of customers will be comfortable with . Anything higher will restrict its appeal and put it in direct competition with the likes of Duster and XUV on one side & Sedans like the Verna on the other.

[Mpower]

From what I understand, the 1.5 petrol struggles to move the smaller and more aerodynamic Fiesta. I can only imagine how it will struggle in this application

[rajneeesh]

Originally Posted by drpudhi

Except for the butch looks, the external spare does more harm than good. Whom we are trying to impress here ?

It will be a pain to remove and fix a large tail mounted spare. It negates the advantage of a compact city run about car by stretching the overall length. Will be tricky while reversing into small parking lots as mentioned by viddy in the review. Might turn into a rattle magnet with time due to the heavy tyre in the boot lid. And to top it off, will attract unwanted antisocial elements towards the exposed tyre (a beautiful alloy that it is). Is it really worth so much hassles for mere butch looks ? Not for me !

EDIT : @kvish that's really a mouth watering proposition you've got. Hope it turns out true. Will turn into the next big thing in auto industry if it is.

How often will one use the spare? Punctures are alot less common with tubeless tyres . The external tyre also gives the manufacturer the flexibillity of maximising internal space. ot a bad trade off in my book.

[rajneeesh]

Originally Posted by Mpower

From what I understand, the 1.5 petrol struggles to move the smaller and more aerodynamic Fiesta. I can only imagine how it will struggle in this application

Should not be a major problem with proper tuning and gearing. Just hope the first gear is not too tall. A lot of cars have no problems with engines of similar capacity. With 110 PS of power and approx 140 NM of torque it should deliver.

[Mpower]

Let them first use their tuning & gearing magic on the Fiesta

[Guite]

Originally Posted by avira_tk

Please don't think that fancy upholstery and ICE is not desirable. In my experience Alloys, upholstery and ICE are top priority for most folks, they will try to get the lowest variant to add the bling.

Therein lies the tragedy. Why does this game of one upmanship has to be loud and flashy? Why can't it be discreet like the word "airbag" written on the steering wheel pad? Why can't smugness be derived from the knowledge that you are driving a safer car than the one stopping on your left / right at a traffic signal.

I desire all the safety feature I can afford not because of me or my wife's driving style but because I value our lives, including my son's. In a country where driving in wrong direction and jumping red lights is considered normal, the extra that I pay for safety features is like an insurance premium to assure our safety.

One thing I find most scary about red light signal violators is the ones going straight. Say someone is taking a right turn on getting a green signal and someone coming straight from the opposite direction is jumping a red light. Incase of a hit (God forbid), side curtain airbags could be invaluable for occupants of the car taking right turn. Unfortunately side curtains are still rare in India.

I wish car manufacturer's stop milking safety conscious customers. They are charging too high a premium on safety features. Fine example is Renault wrt Duster. By making it more affordable they would also be promoting safety on the road.

[crazydave]

Originally Posted by Guite

Therein lies the tragedy. Why does this game of one upmanship has to be loud and flashy? Why can't it be discreet like the word "airbag" written on the steering wheel pad? Why can't smugness be derived from the knowledge that you are driving a safer car than the one stopping on your left / right at a traffic signal.

I desire all the safety feature I can afford not because of me or my wife's driving style but because I value our lives, including my son's. In a country where driving in wrong direction and jumping red lights is considered normal, the extra that I pay for safety features is like an insurance premium to assure our safety.

One thing I find most scary about red light signal violators is the ones going straight. Say someone is taking a right turn on getting a green signal and someone coming straight from the opposite direction is jumping a red light. Incase of a hit (God forbid), side curtain airbags could be invaluable for occupants of the car taking right turn. Unfortunately side curtains are still rare in India.

I wish car manufacturer's stop milking safety conscious customers. They are charging too high a premium on safety features. Fine example is Renault wrt Duster. By making it more affordable they would also be promoting safety on the road.

Very well said. Completely OT, but a forum like TBHP and all the influential members here, should be directly lobbying with the government (to counteract SIAM) to make ABS and airbags for front passengers mandatory in all vehicles!

[shankar.balan]

Wholeheartedly endorse this point of view.
In today's complex, crowded scenario with increasingly large numbers of the great Indian public being able to afford and pilot a vehicle and ever increasing speeds, safety too must be taken very seriously.
I hate the way these manufacturers take advantage of the "safety conscious" amongst us and literally "milk" them for what they are worth.
Government must necessarily mandate a few more safety features the way they made seat belts mandatory many years ago.

Originally Posted by Guite

Therein lies the tragedy. Why does this game of one upmanship has to be loud and flashy? Why can't it be discreet like the word "airbag" written on the steering wheel pad? Why can't smugness be derived from the knowledge that you are driving a safer car than the one stopping on

[GrammarNazi]

Not to sound negative, but one post says the space is just as much as the Swift, another post says it has a turbo lag upto 2000RPM (for what's supposedly an Urban SUV!), yet another post says it gives only 8-9 km/l for short runs.

Does FORD intend to sell the EcoSport based Just on its looks & safety features? Agreed, mechanically its a sound car with 200mm GC etc, BUT does it have the premium interiors to claim that its worthy of the price tag that many have posted here? (~10 L).

[shankar.balan]

Just a small pointer on Bangalore on road prices:
An I20 Diesel top spec costs around 9.5 lacs.
Similarly a Swift Diesel top spec costs around 8 odd lacs.

Until quite recently, the general public used to be deeply shocked by such prices for hatch back cars.

Apparently the buying public have gotten used to this kind of pricing judging that these hatch back cars are still selling in decent numbers.

The Duster top spec Diesel, which many people feel is highly overpriced, seems to only be relentlessly gaining ground in terms of monthly sales numbers!

Is this a sign of a starved public or a newly resurgent India which could not care less about prices as long as easy loans are available to feed the hunger/greed?

Is this the dawn of a totally new purely consumption driven society a la America of the 1960's?

If indeed this is a plausible state of affairs, I think that there will be more than enough takers for the various variants of the Ford EcoSport, notwithstanding the pricing speculation on this thread..

Whatever it is, a matter of a few days more, will bring everything to light!

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

Not to sound negative, but one post says the space is just as much as the Swift, another post says it has a turbo lag upto 2000RPM (for what's supposedly an Urban SUV!), yet another post says it gives only 8-9 km/l for short runs.

Does FORD intend to sell the EcoSport based Just on its looks & safety features? Agreed, mechanically its a sound car with 200mm GC etc, BUT does it have the premium interiors to claim that its worthy of the price tag that many have posted here? (~10 L).

[GTO]

Originally Posted by catchkumar

The Drive - Lack of power in 2nd gear - couldn't even take off after a normal speed breaker in 2nd gear.

That's the EcoBoost's turbo lag, exactly what Vid highlighted in his report.

I was a fan of Ford was due to the steering response which is lacking in Ecosport.

True, this was a major disappointment.

I was on the verge of booking the Ecosport Diesel however i have now differed from the decision & started looking for alternates.

But you've driven the petrol! I suggest a spin in the diesel before making up your mind. The diesel has excellent driveability.