FORD ECOSPORT
The original compact SUV
NOTHING EXEMPLIFIES HOW FAR AHEAD OF THE game Ford were than the EcoSport, the first compact SUV. The sub 4-metre rule discounts the spare wheel hanging on the tailgate and that allowed Ford to squeeze the overall length to just under that magic mark, harness the excise duty breaks to price it aggressively, and their ingenuity was rewarded with long snaking queues outside dealerships as people waited patiently for their turn to buy one. The EcoSport was a roaring success, the likes of which weren’t witnessed even in the heyday of the Ikon or Figo. And there were no half measures.
Way before turbo-petrols were a thing, Ford offered the EcoBoost engine in the EcoSport, a fantastic 3-cylinder allaluminium direct-injection motor that was the best small capacity engine you could buy. But it was expensive — you couldn’t blame Ford for that because this was a very high-tech engine — and that meant nobody opted for it. You couldn’t get the EcoBoost with an automatic, so if convenience was a requirement you had to opt for the 1.5 petrol (which didn’t benefit from the excise duty breaks) that got a twin-clutch automatic. What people bought in droves was the diesel and it suited the C-SUV so well.
Then there was the handling. Based on a re-worked Fiesta platform the genes were all there and though compromises had to be made for the raised ground clearance and additional weight the EcoSport still handled very enthusiastically, setting a new benchmark for its class. The ride was on the stiffer side, something that would get highlighted in the latter years with the arrival of the Nexon and XUV300, and then there was the lethargic pace of product development.
In 2017 came the facelift with, what Ford claimed were, 1600 changes, and at the top of that list was the new Dragon petrol engine. The floating infotainment was a notable upgrade to the interior but Ford could do nothing to address the big drawback of the lack of space. In early 2021 another facelift was applied to the EcoSport, this time the headline was the deletion of the spare wheel from the tailgate in favour of an air compressor and puncture repair kit. And 2022 should have another facelift, this time with new engines from Mahindra, but we all know what happened.
IT HANDLED VERY ENTHUSIASTICALLY, SETTING A NEW BENCHMARK FOR ITS CLASS