Team-BHP - Ford EcoSport : Official Review

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi (Post 3144894)

If the interiors were of the quality like the Skoda Fabia had, then I would've agreed, but I think you should see the OnCars.in review of the EcoSport. The interiors aren't as good so as to command that price IMO.

I do not get your point. Of all the <10L cars out there Fabia has the best interior quality. How many cars around the 10L price range cars have better interior quality than the Ecosport? How about the cars you just mentioned posts above? The Storme, the duster and the XUV? At 14L+ do they have better interior quality than the Ecosport?

Had a better look at the Ecosport today. The interiors are comfy - space wise, yes there is a problem with the plastic qulaity. It has the look of the new Fiesta on the dash which extends ot the dorrs as well - all have the great sounding thud when you close them. Not for a minute when you see it from the outside you would feel as if the whole package in in 4 meters.

Here comes the downer - it looks as if the launch has been postponed again and the base price seems to be starting atleat upwards of 9 lacs (Both unconfirmed though).

I guess we need to wait another couple of weeks before Ford guys can finish their number crunching and get you that price!

Quote:

Originally Posted by civic-sense (Post 3144964)

EcoSport interiors will be known only when it is launched and I see it in the showrooms. Based on reviews I assume they are not as bad as the Duster.
However Storme's interiors are a class above. Tata's material was never an issue, the fit and finish was. However from 2012 onwards the fit and finish have improved quite a bit.
Regarding the XUV the fit and finish are fine, material used is good too, only as per me, in dark colors the car looks a bit claustrophobic.

Pricing wise, EcoSport will not succeed or fail just because of plastics or interiors. Its only the issue of the size. If the hatchback sized car is priced at a C+ sedan money, it will fail

I recently read the Ecosport review in the car india magazine. I literally fell on the ground after reading the specs given there :
1) On road price - Rs. 26.4 lakhs :uncontrol
2) It was mentioned that its a 4wd drive suv!
3) They even said that there is enough space in the engine bay to accomodate a V6 engine (even gave a pic of the engine bay with the ecoboost engine in it which already looks like a tight fit inside it)
If there was just one out of the three mistakes, i would agree that it could be a typo. But all the three together makes me think what do these guys smoke :D

Just drove down and spoke to the Ford showroom near my house. There was a single sales guy, he spoke with authority on a launch next week. Apparently the pricing has been finalized - most of the models will be 6-9 lakh range, only the Titanium Auto and Ecoboost Titanium (O) will apparently cost higher. More importantly, he said that these figures are on-the-road prices, which I thought was extremely unlikely. But even then, good sense seem to have prevailed in Ford India if his price points ring true.....

With all this 'Unofficial' booking, 'Pricing' and Launch date, I want to know few things. If someone books unofficially then doesn't it means that its purely between you and the dealer and with Ford nowhere in picture. Then in that case if dealer takes you for a ride (highly probable considering Indian customer's as well as dealer's mentality) what will one do.
Why I am asking this is because I still remember very well when Pulsar was about to be launched, one of my close friend who was desperate to book it, went all the way to Pune for a TD as it was launched in MH first. Then he made this 'unofficial' booking with Bajaj dealer in Bangalore by paying 1000/- or 5000/- IIRC for his Pulsar 180 almost a month in advance. He was very happy but his happiness was shortlived when he saw that at the launch, the bike was readily available to everybody like him and that 'unofficial' booking was nothing but a farce. I would also add that what would dealer do if there are customers falling over each other with ready cash to make a booking. Is there a 'reliable' system so as to prove that token no. 25 gets delivery only after token no.24. Also as seen in many cases some 'smart and wealthy' people would definitely try to get backdoor entry and they will do at the 'cost' of 'unofficial' booking customers.

I feel the executives at Ford must be having a tough time wrt right pricing.
They can release say 100 cars before pricing is announced and make the prospective customers 'bid' for them. Win-Win situation for both, Ford as well as customers.:D

OT : Did someone notice that T-BHP about to cross 3 Million posts landmark.clap:

The 'consultant' at the Ford showroom in Teynampet, Chennai says that the launch date is 17th June 2013.

For the last 10 days or so 3 'orange' colour Ecosports are seen there. One is TN registered ("TN 19K 1967" I think) and was apparently used for the 'Urban Discoveries' program (have seen this vehicle in the Ford videos); one is an ecoboost petrol and the third one is the diesel model - these two have temporary registrations. Have seen the temporary registered model being driven on the road outside the showroom - apparently test drives by those close to the staff/ management.

Waiting to have a test drive of the automatic version.

Quote:

Originally Posted by amansanc (Post 3145363)

Still its just a single mistake typo error. That shouldn't have been typed as Ecosport.lol:

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So I have been following this thread as well as the one before. One of my friend has the vehicle (Mumbai Boyz).

In either case, in Ahmedabad, I just test drove one at the dealership (The vehicle had the urban discovery badge over it).

Drove the Titanium Optional (Leather Seats, Steering Wheel, Push Start with Ecoboost).

Coming from a Swift, the seating and viewing needs some getting used to. The seat needs to be raised so you could comfortably see over the hood. The rear view mirror is good, but the rear window is a bit small IMO, but once you get a sense of the vehicle presence you wont have issues.

The steering was a breeze, nice to drive. The AC (Auto HVAC) was comfortable and cooled the cabin quite quickly.

The Trunk space was awesome IMO, plus the ability to fold back the seats is plenty. Remember this is coming from a Swift so its certainly a welcomed feature.

Surprisingly while driving it, we pulled next to a duster and were able to do a size comparison; not to far off with spacing.

The rear seating will allow 3 adults medium build.

Pricing.

Ambiante - 7.5-8.0 On Road on 1.5l Petrol
Trend should be around -7.75 - 8.75 On Road in 1.5l Petrol
Cant say for more because those were the figures provided to my buddy by Ford.

Deliveries expected to be 14-21 Days from Booking.

Ahmedabad Cargo Ford isn't taking any Official booking since FORD hasn't officially started the booking process.

Booking will occur at launch once prices are revealed, anything else is off the books and only with the dealer itself. Which is fine as its their responsibility to allot you the car, but that's not FORD officially.

Quote:

Originally Posted by carwatcher (Post 3145402)

I might be wrong here, but I had always thought that "booking" is always between the customer and the dealer. Well, perhaps except in the case of XUV500, where Mahindra handled it. Irrespective of what variant you book, the dealers always get a set of vehicles from the manufacturer which they allocate as the dealer deems fit. That is why we most of the times settle for a color that is not our primary choice.

Advance bookings are always done in good faith. There is every possibility that the dealer does some out-of-turn allotments, but that should not deter you from doing your part.

OT but could be very much interesting for Ford Ecosport buyers: The Linea T-jet has been relaunched and they have kept very agressive pricing:

Delhi Ex-showroom Prices

Linea T-jet Active : 7.6 Lakhs
Linea T-jet Dynamic : 8.4 Lakhs
Linea T-jet Emotion : 8.8 Lakhs

Will this not take away a good number of buyers from Ford, unless they price their machine really well- atleast the ecoboost?