Ford EcoSport 2015-2021

The S receives slight cosmetic changes to distinguish it from the rest of its family. The first thing that you notice is that all the chrome is missing, replaced by dark, matt-finished surfaces. This is prominent on the grill face and around the headlights and fog lamps. The headlights have also been updated to bright HID units which feature smoked lenses. The roof and roof rails are painted black and the new 17-inch alloys are also in smoked grey, which gives the SUV a custom look that does make it stand out. However, these 17s are not on sale anymore. Instead, you get 16-inch wheels. 

Interior Inside the S the changes are similarly minimal. The instrument panel and the seats get orange accents that do a good job of breaking up the all-black interior. The SYNC3 touchscreen dominates the dashboard and is a big improvement on the the Ford interiors of old. Even the driver’s instrument cluster feels proper modern with the new 4.3 inch display. The wider front seats and the updated cushioning are comfortable all round but the rear armrest folds down a little low and is not usable for taller passengers.  

Technology

The S gets the excellent 8-inch SYNC3 touch screen infotainment system. Its screen is bright and responsive and Ford’s third-generation SYNC interface is intuitive and easy to operate. It features the now obligatory Android Auto and Apple CarPlay as well. We did complain about the tiny information display in the driver’s instrument cluster on the facelifted EcoSport but this has been fixed with a larger 4.3 inch unit now. It is much easier to see on the move and allows you to adjust features such as Hill Assist, auto headlamps, and also displays the tyre pressures from the tyre pressure monitoring system or TPMS. In fact the EcoSport S actually steals the TPMS system from the Titanium + variant, which won’t receive this feature anymore now.

In addition to rain-sensing wipers and automatic headlamps the S also retains the Titanium +’s excellent keyless entry system which we really liked. It also has another trump card over the Titanium + variant: a sunroof. Yes, Ford admit they have given in to customer demands and equipped the top end EcoSport with a feature customers prefer, even over safety features like more airbags.

So who is the Signature edition for?

Further expanding the EcoSport family is the Signature edition. This is based on the Titanium trim of the Ecosport launched last year. It sits just below the Titanium + edition and misses out on features like Ford’s My Key, SYNC3 and cruise control, and also comes only with driver and passenger airbags. Surprisingly, it is the Signature that gets a spoiler and not the S! It wears chrome instead of the matte black finish on the S. And also gets 17” alloys in a different diamond-cut design.

Inside, blue stitching on the seats and blue trim accents on the dashboard add some colour. It will also feature its own 9-inch touchscreen that is larger than the range-topping S, but made by FlyAudio. It mimics the SYC3 theme but misses out on Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The Signature version is available as an optional kit on the Titanium variant for a premium of Rs 85,000 and it also features the new sunroof. It’s perfect for those who don’t see the need for the other optional extras that the Titanium + and the S offer, but just can’t do without a sunroof.

This is an aspect where the EcoSport scores well. Dual airbags and ABS with EBD come as standard across the range. You also get speed sensing auto door locks and the top end variant gets 6 airbags. Ford also offers the emergency assist feature, which automatically calls up the emergency services in the event of an accident. The automatic gets added tech like EBA, ESC, traction control and hill-launch assist.

With the 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine not in the lineup anymore, you get a 1.5 petrol and a 1.5-litre diesel engine. On the diesel front, the 1.5-litre motor in the S makes the same 100PS and 205Nm as before and is great for everyday driving - as there is no suddenness in power delivery, it’s strong from the word go. Even when turbo kicks in the surge is very mild. 

Ride and Handling

Contrary to speculations Ford hasn't made any change to the suspension setup or the dynamics of the EcoSport S. Ford say that further stiffening of the setup would just make the ride quality quite unbearable on our roads. And we can’t blame them as we did quite like the new setup of the 2017 update. It’s still a firm setup but the crashiness from the pre-facelift car has disappeared. Only really sharp bumps like level changes and rumblers make their presence felt in the cabin.

The nicely weighted steering is quite responsive around town but, as can be expected, the tall boy design exhibits some body roll during quick lane changes at highway speeds. Lime mentioned, the 17-inch wheels are not on sale anymore. But this got us thinking - what if Ford decided to drop the ride height, add some sticky tyres instead of the Bridgestone Ecopia 205/50 R17s, and gave us an RS version?

The petrol motor has been heavily worked on in the areas of refinement and eliminating vibrations typical of a three cylinder motor. It makes 123PS at 6500rpm and 150Nm at 4500rpm. It is a refined unit and makes most of its power in the low to mid range rpm.  

The first thing that strikes you is the motor’s refinement and how well Ford has been able to insulate the interiors. There is minimal engine noise entering the cabin. Vibrations too are non existent and the only time you are reminded that it is a three-cylinder motor is during startups. It is a peppy unit with good low down torque. This motor is also free to rev and starts to wake up post 2000rpm, helping the EcoSport reach 80kmph fairly easily. Unlike the previous EcoBoost unit, you don't get shoved into your seat, but rather get a linear push every time you step on the accelerator. Performance isn't a real highlight here, refinement is.

Under test, the BS4 petrol EcoSport AT did the 0-100kmph dash in 12.51 seconds. Where the EcoSport impresses is in the flexibility offered by the engine-gearbox combination. In Drive mode, gear shifts are seamless and make for a relaxed driving experience. The 20-80kmph roll-on under kickdown test took 7.57 seconds. Pretty good for a simple-tech automatic transmission.

At low speeds in Drive mode, the gearbox tends to stick to higher gears, keeping the engine between 1500-2000rpm at speeds below 50kmph. This is below the optimal rpm where the engine is really responsive, so each time you want to get a move on, you need to give much more throttle input than normal. The end result is poor fuel efficiency in the city, where the EcoSport managed just 7.04kmpl in our tests.

While this behaviour of the gearbox is far from bothersome in the city, this tendency of shifting to a higher cog too soon and the reluctance to downshift quickly make highway performance feel lacking. In order to overtake, you need to depress the throttle quite a bit, making progress slower. However, drive at a steady speed and this gearbox does a great job of conserving fuel. And steady speed driving on open roads is fairly easy too, thanks to the inclusion of cruise control. On our highway tests, it managed an impressive fuel efficiency figure of 17.12kmpl.

In Sport mode the demeanour changes -- the gearbox allows the motor to rev a bit by holding onto the gears longer. But then it also holds on to the gear past 5000rpm, which takes it out of its powerband, resulting in a drop in performance before it shift to the next gear. To get rid of that dead spot, you can shift up using the paddle shifters. There is no separate manual/Tiptronic mode that you can stick the gear selector into. Instead, you just tap either paddle and the gearbox goes into manual drive. Upshifts in this mode take a bit of time, especially at higher revs. Downshifts though are fairly quick. It wont allow you to shift up to a higher gear if speeds are low. It will also drop down a gear if you are in a higher gear and have to slow down. It is a good gearbox to live with if you drive mainly in the city and aren't exactly pushing it on the highway.

After the BS6 update, the 1.5-litre petrol engine has a claimed fuel efficiency of 15.9kmpl with the manual transmission and 14.7kmpl with the automatic gearbox, while the diesel model offers a claimed mileage of 21.7kmpl

Ford EcoSport Variants: Ford offers the sub-4m SUV in six variants: Ambiente, Trend, Titanium, Titanium+, Thunder and S.

With the new features and the slight visual tweaks Ford has managed to add considerable value to the S version, even if it’s not quite the weekend thrill machine we were expecting. The diesel is a personable engine and just the cost of the sunroof, the HID headlamps and the new instrumentation should justify the price premium from the older model. And if you really must see the sky through the roof, the Signature edition skips the bells and whistles of the top-end variants and offers a sunroof at a much lower price point.