Booked a Titanium+ Diesel Lightning Blue shade in Bangalore.
Happy to see the car in person. Dragon 3 cylinder Petrol Titanium MT and the proven 1.5L Diesel Titanium+ MT.
Both were looking good and its awesome.
Some of my observations, although everything is discussed in detail to length & depth in this thread and in reviews.
Things that I liked (As our reviewers write in TBHP official review - small but significant things)
1) As many people mentioned about simple MID, IMPO those who never seen the export version color MID will NOT complain about this one because it is not really that bad or horrible. Yeah, it is just blant but with illuminated lights its okay. However, those who have seen export version colorful MID with EcoSport picture shown first will feel disappointed. But it is what it is. We get simple one in India. I think over time, we will get used to it. The MID had options to enable/disable multiple settings to decide what needs to be shown in MID when you scroll up/down. So you can enable what you want to look at frequently like ODO/Trip meter, DTE etc and rare items can be disabled. TPMS is quite useful one.
2) The headlights are quite good. The car was parked in basement and it was bit dark as it was raining/cloudy in Bangalore. So was able check it out to whatever possible extent. If i am not wrong (need to double check), the good thing i noticed is Low beam and high beam are not Toggle type, means not only one light glows at given point of time. If you have switched on the lights in low beam and then apply high beam using indicator stalk, both lights glow giving very good lighting effect in front. Add to that is the Fog lamp position at higher level which is almost equivalent like normal hatches low beam light giving more lights to front. Plus the DRLs which are pretty good looking in dark/low light. However, i doubt whether DRLs will be very evident or obvious in bright day light or against the sun light. Have to check it out when the car is driven out.
3) The new 8 inch touch screen is extremely simple to use and awesome. The voice commands works very well in SYNC3. Also the Bluetooth microphones are clear enough for other end person to hear in phone calls. I did record the call in my phone and checked it out later to confirm. I couldn't check the sound system well with songs because the car was in basement and didn't pick FM/Radio signals. Didn't had USB pendrive either to check audio quality. However, going by hearing the phone call audio quality, it is quite good.
4) The capacitive touch for keyless entry works great. As you open the door, its nice to see the ORVM opens up with puddle lights on. Its easy to lock the car as well, though not very obvious. There is very small 3 lines in the handle which you just need to touch/tap to lock the car with key fob in your pocket. But remember the key fob has to be really close to the car for this.
5) The interior illumination in blue is super cool. Glad to see a light for glove box too.
6) Adjustable boot height is welcome addition. Very convenient.
7) Foot well illumination is cool with alloy pedals. Though i felt the pedal size may be bit small.
8) Last but not least, the build quality is mind blowing. I can easily say my parents can't close the door with ease. It is so strong and well built. Thanks to Ford for giving maximum importance to safety that too with 6 airbags.
Missing but good to have things
1) Sad that the Driver armrest is not sliding one. It would have been a great addition, but it is okay. Ford removed the Driver armrest in outgoing model since Jan 2017, but it is good that Ford added it back. Rear seat armrests are pretty good. I actually liked the Titanium variant fabric one more than Titanium+ leather one for comfortable elbow support.
2) Inbuilt GPS Satellite Navigation would have been a good addition, but I assume Ford would have done survey and possibly since many use Google Maps with live traffic, the chose to provide Mobile Navigation via Android Auto & Apple Car Play.
3) As in outgoing car, the rear seat is good for 2 adults+1 child (less than 10 years) but not for 3 adults. The leg room is adequate but not great.
Overall, it seems Ford listened to the customers to address the shortcomings of outgoing car. Hence a good car became very good car to buy.
One last word to say after seeing the car today. Trust me. Those who waited for this facelift version won't ever regret. Its worth the wait as ford delivered a good all rounder.
-Ravi