The Ford EcoSport is touring India (12 cities to be precise) and will soon be in a mall near you. Ford is running a campaign called the Urban Discovery, a means by which it plans to promote its upcoming compact SUV. The American automaker has delayed the launch of the EcoSport by quite a lot and prospective buyers are getting impatient. If Ford ends up pricing the EcoSport very attractively, then the wait can be worth it. The company is expected to launch its Urban SUV in June, with deliveries starting immediately.
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We checked out the Ford EcoSport thoroughly recently and can give a fair assessment about the interiors and exteriors. The exteriors of the EcoSport are quite eye catchy, the large grille at the front is indeed the highlight of the vehicle. However at the side, the EcoSport does end up looking a bit small, largely due to its sub 4-metre length. The high ground clearance and muscular body will definitely appeal to a large chunk of buyers. The tail mounted spare wheel is quite SUV like but we hope it doesn’t vibrate. Ford has indeed struck the right chord with the exteriors. We only hoped the vehicle had LED lights like the concept showcased last year.
Step inside and you realize the EcoSport is quite tall and you sit in a commanding position. The interiors of the EcoSport are very Fiesta like, which is a good thing in terms of design but a bad thing in terms of quality. The interiors although solid (doors are quite heavy) have strictly average finish levels. One expects more in terms of fit and quality from a car which will cost between Rs. 8-10 lakhs.
Quality aside, the seats are very comfortable and there is decent amount of space for rear seat passengers (not class leading though). There is a charging port right next to the right most rear passenger, placed on the edge of the seat. The driver gets an arm rest, weirdly though, the co-driver doesn’t get one. Ford will lure buyers by offering a ton of features and the company might play the value for money game, something which it did with the Figo. Thus the Titanium variant on display (top end variant is the Titanium+ which gets push button start and 6 airbags) had SYNC facility, steering mounted audio controls, alloy wheels, etc.
A neat feature on the EcoSport is the boot release button, which is placed inside the tail lamp. The boot is decent for a compact SUV and the rear seats can be folded in 60:40 format to leverage more space. The demo car was powered by a 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine and we shifted the 5-speed manual gearbox to get a feel of the transmission. We found it smooth and we are confident that the EcoSport will offer a thrilling driving experience like all Ford vehicles. Now it is in the hands of Ford to price the EcoSport right and fill the streets with its urban SUV.
