Ford EcoSport: Old Vs New

Changes in the updated EcoSport are more than just cosmetic

Watch Ford EcoSport facelift video review:

Update: Ford EcoSport Facelift Launched At Rs 7.31 Lakh

Launched in 2013, the original Ford EcoSport garnered a substantial fan-following with its chic styling, competitive pricing, and punchy performance. Over the years, the EcoSport received a few variant revisions and more features to keep its competition at bay. However, the current sub-4 metre SUV segment is way more crowded now than what it was over four years ago. Time for the Americans to fight back? Yes indeed!

Ford has taken a good amount of time to ready a proper mid-life update for its most important product in India. The facelift model comes with a host of cosmetic, technical and mechanical upgrades in its recipe. What are those? Let's find out!

Exteriors

When it comes to styling, it is at the front that we find the most prominent set of changes. The tweaked front bumper now houses a restyled grille with the Ford logo at the center, bigger headlamps and fog lamps and a hump on the bonnet that gradually spreads in width towards the front windshield. The bonnet-mounted windscreen washers have been tucked away neatly. All these changes give the updated EcoSport a much more aggressive stance than before.

Apart from the redesigned alloy wheels, there isn’t much to notice in its side profile. A closer look would reveal that like the Platinum Edition of the outgoing EcoSport, the wheels are 17-inches in diameter. At the back, the boot-mounted spare wheel gets a different cover and the rear bumper gets minor tweaks as well.

Interiors

As soon as the door opens, the optional LED backlit scuff plates light up with the EcoSport branding. The next new thing that catches the eye is the refreshed layout of the dashboard. A bigger infotainment system sits at the top of central AC vents and the circular climate control unit has been ditched to make space for the same auto AC fascia found on the Figo siblings. 

The steering wheel is also new and gets more buttons to push. The instrument cluster is all new as well, with a MID housed in between the tachometer and speedometer.

Features

The updated EcoSport has a lot to live up to and, at the same time, shrug-off the pressure from its competitors. The updated model is offered in five variants - Ambiente, Trend, Trend+, Titanium, and Titanium+. The Platinum Edition has been discontinued. 

Making the car more feature rich is surely one of the ways to take the game to the competition. Here’s what the refreshed model gets over the one it replaces:

• ABS with EBD as standard
• Rear door child safety lock as standard
• Auto door unlock with light flashing on crash
• Ford SYNC 3 with voice command
• 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in Titanium and Titanium+ variants
• 6.5-inch touchscreen infotainment unit in Trend and Trend+ variants
• Paddle-shifters with automatic transmission
• Backlit dual USB ports
• Projector headlamps
• Tyre pressure monitoring system
• Reverse parking camera

Engines And Transmissions

The highlight under the bonnet of the refreshed EcoSport is the new 1.5-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engine which has been engineered by Ford in India. The company had shared details of this engine a while back and that’s when we learnt that it will produce 123PS/150Nm. This engine replaces both the other petrol engines - the 1.0-litre EcoBoost and the 4-cylinder, 1.5-litre Ti-VCT.

The new motor comes mated to either a 5-speed manual transmission or a all-new 6-speed automatic. Diesel fanatics will have to make do with the same 1.5-litre TDCi engine (100PS/205Nm) with a 5-speed manual transmission. The same combination also powers the Figo and the Figo Aspire.

Pricing

(Note: All prices are ex-showroom Delhi)

As far petrol-fed variants are concerned, the discontinued model was offered with a 1.0-litre, 3-cylinder EcoBoost engine in the Trend+ and Titanium+ variants. Moreover, the automatic transmission was only available in the Titanium variant. When we look at the diesel-powered variants, we barely see any change in prices, apart from the Titanium+ variant. The updated model has a lot more kit in this variant than its predecessor.

Ford has also managed to increase its sub-4 metre SUV's localisation of parts from 60-65 per cent to a whopping 85 per cent. This has helped the company to load the car with a lot more kit than before, without changing the prices much.

As far as competition is concerned, the EcoSport locks horns with the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Honda WR-V, Tata Nexon and the Mahindra TUV300.

Also Read: Ford EcoSport Facelift: Variants Explained

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