The Herald - The Herald Magazine
Ford EcoSport
IT SEEMS car makers spend much of their time concocting features intended to bamboozle drivers. Yes, I’ve had my share of rear-door handles being buried high in the window frame and touchscreens that present themselves with mathematic challenges to work the satellite navigation.
No-one – and more so if there is an audience – enjoys displaying ineptitude. My recent time with the revised Ford EcoSport model witnessed this “expert” that’s supposed to know all about cars gaze at its rear with a glaikit expression, wondering how to raise the boot lid.
I waggled a leg below the bumper – this is fairly modern concept – to no avail. I prodded the Ford badge imagining it might dip and twirl allowing the tailgate to spring up, but with no success.
Taking a new approach, I stood back and examined the whole rear structure. At last there was something different about the light clusters, the one on the offside had a gap, a piece of lens plastic was missing.
Grabbing the “handle”, I pulled on it quite strongly but nothing happened. Eventually, I detected a little bulge and when I pressed it the tailgate pulled open and went unfashionably sideways as it was hinged at the side. Alas, although its mechanics are different, it is not cleverly different and a door that opens sideways is clumsy and not very practical for loading in confined spaces.
Ford says that for the 2018 model year the EcoSport has 2300 new parts and I for one am glad that I need not identify them. What is clear is the model has taken the grille design from the Kuga and Edge. The EcoSport sits below these models in the Ford range and is the company’s smallest crossover being based on the Fiesta and sharing this car’s footprint.
My model was the Titanium 1.0 EcoBoost 125ps. Its three-cylinder engine was mated to a six-speed manual gearbox. A similar basic model will cost just under £18,000 but for another £2000 you will get worthwhile features, such as rear-view camera, parking sensors, climate control and touchscreen with satellite navigation.
If you know your way around the Fiesta, the EcoSport will be familiar. There’s no trickery about its controls and this model should be easy to drive.
Its cabin is reasonably appointed – for some it may lack sparkle but I think it’s quite acceptable and I do like it having a real
handbrake. Space is good for legroom and headroom but the car feels narrow and I’m aware of being nearer than normal to my front-seat passenger.
Its turbo petrol engine is a good performer despite its sprint time on paper appearing lethargic. When driven with vigour it will get of its mark but the downside is fuel consumption rises quite steeply.
For a small car its steering is nicely weighted and has an engineered quality feel. Compact cars don’t like potholes and bad surfaces and the EcoSport is no exception. I hit a horrible hole in the road and there was a sickening bang but this wee car got up, shook itself down and got on with the job.
The new EcoSport fills a niche for the buyer who prefers a neat compact car that offers a feeling, with its slightly raised driving position, of being in a larger vehicle. Buyers of Ford will have no difficulties with its controls but others may be advised to look through the handbook. This should at least prevent a moment in the supermarket car park when the boot appears to have no way of being opened.