Re: Ford EcoSport : Official Review I have made up my mind to cancel my Ecosport booking. And buy a Duster.
Here's my story. I booked a Ecoboost Titanium Mars Red on 11 July at Chennai Ford and was told a waiting time between 3 and 4 months. I had vowed to myself I will not let the purchase experience turn bad, so did not follow up expect for once in 15 days in July-Sep and then once a week with my SA, just to pleasantly ask each time if my vehicle has come/any way it can be expedited etc. And I kept hearing that it will come as per the promised timeline. Once 3 months were over, I started getting some bad vibes about the messages I was hearing from the SA and the CRM Manager. And when I asked them how I can get my car as soon as possible, they said Diesels were getting delivered more. So I asked if i switched to a Diesel, will it improve my chances, they said yes. So I switched to a Diesel Titanium Mars Red sometime in Oct and was told, I will join the line as if I booked my Diesel on July 11 and hence will get my car mid-Nov.
In the meantime, I kept reading up on Team BHP about Ecosport as if I was preparing for my CAT entrance. Slowly, but surely, some of the niggles brought up by current owners of Ecosport started nagging at the back of my mind. I also started wondering if I had done my initial TD of Ecosport in a 100% dispassionate manner or was it colored by Ecosport's looks. Well, seeds of doubt had been sown in my mind and in my wife's mind as well.
So we both told ourselves we will TD a Duster as well and then make up our mind. And this is where my bad experiences with Ford dealer, which I was trying to avoid getting into all along, started. I requested for a TD of Duster and Ecosport both on the same day(day before yesterday). Duster guys agreed to "as many TDs as you want for as long a drive as you want until you purchase". Whereas when I requested Chennai Ford for a highway TD to test the balance, braking etc.,(which some of the owners have reported being nervous about at times), the SA said he has to "get permission from the manager". I had to follow up many times before "the permission was granted". So I took an appointment for Saturday from Ford, while I did a walk-in TD with Duster.
Waiting time at Renault = 0
Waiting time at Ford(despite taking prior appointment) = 1 hour
To be sure, I took the vehicles for TD on the exact same route and took them through the exact same rough roads, ran them over the same craggy road edges and potholes for like-for-like comparison. Both my wife and I rode them in the exact same pattern.
And the consensus was this: while I did not feel any shocks when taking the Duster over the crevices, we felt a definite rough feedback from the suspension every time the Ecosport went over the same rough patches. Also, we felt a high degree of sideways swaying movement on the Ecosport over rough patches.
So ride-wise I gave a 9/10 for the duster and a 6/10 for the Ecosport.
Other differentiators:
-I did feel the Ecosport accelerated better at low speeds than the Duster
-Son loves the touchscreen display in Duster(the dealer is offering a OEM replacement with a system that had CD, DVD, USB and aux in and can also play movies on the small screen)
-wife and I like the MapMyIndia in Duster
-Duster has bluetooth for making calls, so only thing we will miss is the SYNC voice command and SMS readup, which both wife and I concur is ok
-Son loves the space he gets in Duster on the back seat to lie down and sleep(yes, I know it is not safe, but he always sleeps in a jiffy on the back seat since he was 1 year old, something to do with the calming vibrations)
-my initial aversion to Duster was on account of its color, color finish and looks. But i was pleasantly surprised at the dealer's by the Duster dark grey color(which I had not realised was there - insufficient research, I agree). It looks quite attractive(both wife and I have a soft corner for the BMW grey). And the "bad looks" also didn't seem to be that bad any more. So it ticked that box as well for me.
So I had almost decided on the Duster and wanted to cancel the Ecosport and that is when the icing on the cake happened. I enquired from the SA what the cancellation process was and he nonchalantly asks me to send a cancellation letter/email with the bank account number in it. No shock, no asking for reason for cancellation, no asking to reconsider, nothing. So I tell him i will probably do it on Sunday(yesterday) and request him to waive the cancellation fee and come away. And this morning, mother of all shocks - he calls me up for the first time in our entire relationship and asks me as to why I "did not come yesterday and give the cancellation letter". All these days when I wanted to buy the car, there was no call from him at all(except to return calls he missed). And now when i want to cancel, he diligently follows up. So I told him I will do so soon, but do sarcastically mention that he "seems happy at my cancellation; what, you want to give my car to someone else?". To which he says "No sir, if you wait for the 4 months we promised(which lapsed yesterday) and then want to cancel, you will obviously have your reasons for cancellation. That's why I did not ask what the reason was". What a lame duck excuse. !!!
Now, my mind is made up. Where I might have been in two minds up until the TDs, the sheer preposterousness of the dealer's attitude was hugely insulting and I am firm I will cancel the Ecosport booking come what may.
I had a 2 step gate in my mind for the cancellation:
-will I feel later that I was hasty in cancellation and could have waited a bit more? the answer is NO, as I am not so besotted to Ecosport any more, I am afraid(my own opinion)
-will seeing Ecosports on the road send me into guilt pangs - again no, as I have fallen in love with the dark grey Duster and will not miss Ecosport.
Sorry if I rambled a bit, I am most likely to book my Duster within the next 2 days and to cancel the Ecosport in a week. Thanks to all TBHPians for helping me in the decision process. |