[Aditya]

Buying a used Ford EcoSport

You know a car is competent when it sells in healthy numbers, despite being 8 years old and relatively premium-priced! Launched in 2013, Ford's EcoSport is still capable of selling 3,000 - 4,000 copies / month. Based on the company's global B-car platform (which also underpinned the Fiesta), the EcoSport has the characteristics of a typical Ford - solid construction, fun to drive nature, sorted suspension. Over the years, the car has also had some great engines and transmissions.

Positives

• Despite its age, the EcoSport is still among the most competent compact SUVs on sale in India
• Good looks matched to solid build quality
• 1.5L diesel is tractable & economical, while the 1.5L 3-cylinder Dragon is revv-happy & fun
• Dynamically sorted. Competent handling by crossover standards
• Lots of fun to drive, in the city as well as on the highway
• Loaded with kit (leather seats, paddle shifts, auto headlamps & wipers, cruise control, terrific SYNC3)
• Smartly packaged interior. Adequate space for 4 adults. Lots of storage & practical features
• Safety kit includes 6 Airbags, ESP, Hill Hold, EBA, emergency assist phone call & more
• Decent reliability with the 1.5L TDCi Diesel & 1.5L 3-cylinder Petrol variants
• Reasonable spare part prices, especially of the wear & tear variety

Negatives

• Ride quality is far from plush; underlying firmness obvious, more so with the 16" & 17" variants
• Rear seat space & narrow cabin width make a 5th occupant unwelcome. Best for 4 onboard
• 1.0L EcoBoost engine is best avoided. Turbo-lag, reliability issues, complex nature
• Complicated dual-clutch AT is problematic. Pick only the torque-converter ATs
• Tree trunk thick A-Pillars result in severe blind spots
• Insane feature deletions over the years (lumbar adjustment, reclining rear seat, cooled glovebox...) and frustrating variant rejigs
• Mahindra-Ford JV has been called off. We remain concerned about Ford's long-term commitment to India
• Be prepared to pay a premium for the good examples. Model is in demand, new EcoSport is expensive
• Later models have visible cost-cutting compared to the early builds

Related Threads

• Official Review, 1.5L Dragon Petrol, 1.0L EcoBoost S

• naveen.raju's EcoSport 1.5D Titanium

• jithin23's EcoSport Facelift Titanium TDCi

• Murugan's EcoSport 1.5L AT

• Bangalore to Leh in an EcoSport

• Bhutan in an EcoSport

• Ford deletes features from the Titanium+ variant

• Ford EcoSport SE variant with no tailgate-mounted spare

• Team-BHP Car of the Year, 2013

Mod Potential:

Very popular model here & abroad, so plentiful extras available in the after-market.


Source

Availability:

Excellent. Sold well for 8 years so there is ample choice in the market. As mentioned, go for the 1.5L Dragon 3-cylinder Petrol or 1.5L Diesel. Avoid the 1.0L EcoBoost and dual-clutch ATs. If you have the budget, look out for the 2017+ Facelift which gets a nicer dashboard, SYNC3, better headlamps, slightly softer ride etc. Check out the examples on sale - link.

[GTO]

Voted Yes, and would absolutely buy a pre-owned one if I had the need. Love the build & driving experience. Would be confused between the superb 1.5L TDCi on a remap and the 1.5L Dragon which is among the best triple-cylinder NA petrols in the market today. Would pick based on monthly km, I guess.

Great car to buy used & new.

[jigar1791@gmail]

Voted YES.
A cousin owns a '15 1.5 TDCi having clocked about 1L kms and still going strong, one can vouch for it's 'solid build' factor, acting as a differentiator in the crowded space of C-SUVs.

With many pre-owned options available, my pick will be the 1.5 TDCi, purely because one has a bbiigg on his face everytime he/she revvs the car.

Plentiful decently maintained post '16 options should be available, spares and servicing as well is not a worry, as Ford has dramatically improved the post sales function lately.

Should be a relatively fuss free ownership experience, if you happen to come across a carefully maintained sample and pick it up.

Regards,
Jigar Shah

[Shreyans_Jain]

Voted no.

The older models with the now discontinued engines (both Ecoboost and NA), the ones that don’t cost a bomb don’t really appeal. Those engines are average at best, and part availability will be a question. The newer post facelift models haven’t really depreciated much to be attractive. And personally, I am not touching a high mileage pre owned diesel. A decent, low running diesel or petrol automatic for sale is very hard to find.

[CEF_Beasts]

Voted Yes!

There are very few CSUVs that can handle and drive the way the EcoSport does. The connected feeling to the road is fantastic, solid build quality and that spare wheel on the bootlid adds to the appeal. Brakes are good too. Only disadvantage is the extremely stiff ride on the pre-facelift EcoSports and rear seat width.

Mine is not the amazing diesel but the 1.5L sigma petrol Ti-VCT manual, it’s not a scorcher but for my usage I needed the bottom end more than the mid-range or top end punch. Being a 4 cyl petrol (current car has the 3 cyl Dragon petrol) it has low road noise and NVH is pretty good (though not Hyundai-level good).

AC is pretty strong don’t feel the need for rear AC vents, for 2013-14 the OEM music system and speaker setup was too good!

More importantly when buying a used EcoSport many people will have doubts about the aftersales, let me tell you the experience is pretty good; spares are easily available, service is not too costly even after 7 years (I paid ~₹5000 for the service in December 2020 IIRC), they have child parts for various body parts so if something is damaged the entire assembly doesn’t need to be changed if it can be managed with the child part (eg: if the ORVM is broken then depending on the damage, only the outer cover or glass can also be changed helping reduce the costs).

Only grouse I have with Ford India is that all dealerships have closed down in Mumbai and only one service centre is left for Mumbai folks, others are in Thane or Navi Mumbai. Let’s hope they open some dealerships, IIRC they recently opened a new dealership in Goa, so there is still some hope!

Here is my 7 year old EcoSport standing strong.


Will try penning down a long-term ownership review soon.

[car_guy1998]

Voted yes!

EcoSport is one car which I still prefer buying over a used Brezza due to its build quality and torquey diesel engine.

If I want to get into the pre-owned way and have a budget of Rs.9-10L, will surely consider Ecosport just for its build quality and Diesel engine.

[libranof1987]

Voted Yes.

I have a '16 EcoSport AT that just got done with the 5 years/50k kms service (at 42k kms). While I am not amused by how the DCT has been mapped to the engine (to be fair, I've been spoilt by the GT TSI ), I have been a big fan of the vehicle itself.

Yes, it does have its share of drawbacks: rear is cramped and best for two adults and a child only, the suspension is stiff. That said, the car ticks every other box. It is kitted well (safety / convenience / comfort), seems built well and the styling has aged very well.

I do feel Ford let it down (as it did to other Ford cars) by the constant change in pricing and equipment. But at that price point, the EcoSport does quite well.

[batladanny]

Voted YES!

This car makes more sense used due to Ford's feature deletions over the years. The 2017-18 facelift models are the sweet spot with them having all the new post-facelift tech without being affected by the deletions and rejigs that happened later.

[Thermodynamics]

No

Vehicle is good especially the 1.5 dragon, however I wouldn’t buy a used car in commuter segment. Since higher segment cars depreciate faster, it is more VFM to jump a segment or two.

[vb-saan]

Voted Yes!

I remember the criticism this little car received when it was launched ages ago – lacks the Ford DNA, steering is more like that of a Hyundai and so on. But car went on to become a rare success story for Ford India, and is still a better buy when compared to some of the younger competition in its segment.
A really good VFM car to buy new or used. If latter, I will go with the 2018+ iterations though; always liked the 1.5 diesel, but that dragon petrol is extremely impressive as well.

Only gripe – I did not like them moving the indicator stalks to the right side!

[evilmessiah]

An easy one and a no-brainer. Voted Yes. My engine choices would be either the 1.5 diesel, 1.0 Ecoboost or the 1.5 Dragon with the slushbox. A remapped diesel would be really nice. Especially desirable would be the higher end variants (especially in the S guise) with the Sync infotainment system and some nice creature comforts. The Figo I have been using has been easy on the wallet in terms of maintenance and spares and I haven't heard of the Ecosport having high maintenance costs either. A logical upgrade for someone like me.

[jagzrk]

I already have this car but had the same dilemma when buying in mid-2018 whether to buy used or new.

Strictly voted for No, because the price premium used compact SUVs and SUVs command is just insane. There is no way I'm paying close to 80% of a car's value when I'm buying a used car. When I got my Ecosport, nicely maintained examples 3 to 4 years old were all going for 8.5 lac plus. Anything below that was not maintained well, at all or was the first batch of Ecosports.

Hell, even when booking XUV300, all pre-owned ones were quoting more than 80% of a new car's value.

If you can pay 80% of a car's price to buy a pre-owned vehicle, that too for a sub 20 lac car, surely you could wait a little and stretch 20% to buy the same car new, or just take a loan anyway because new car loans interest < used car loans.

Pre-owned "only" makes sense when the car has depreciated to close to 50% of its value which leaves us the only options - low ground clearance vehicles and market duds which never sold too well.

Edit: I'm not sure but I think many people are voting for Ecosport or focusing on the strengths of Ecosport, but the question is - Will you pay close to a new Ecosport's price to get a pre-owned one?

I have the experience of 2 pre-owned vehicles that have been absolutely fantastic:
-Honda City ZX'06 bought in 2014 for 2.7 lac (including Sequential CNG Kit) which had a few thousand rupees of maintenance but still running strong in 2021.
-Nissan Micra bought in 2017 for 2.8 lac, served for 4 years with absolutely no repair bills except an AC gas top up and usual servicing.

Would expect such deals if buying used even if the car is a little older, look for a known reliable one and buy at less than or close to 50% of it's new price.

[iamahunter]

Voted No.

Not because its a bad car or something. Its because a well maintained sample would cost you just a little less than a new one.

Better go for a new one.

If maintained well, it does have a good resale value.

[arindambasu13]

Votes yes, but if budget does not allow for a new one. I have always purchased my cars on the three factors : performance, practicality and reliability, plus good looks. For me the Ecosport ticks all boxes, and since my budget permitted it I picked up a new TDCI top end S version. Otherwise, it remains a rock solid pick and if you get a well maintained example, pick it up eyes closed. Especially in diesel form even though the petrol engine is also a very good pick.

[Raghu M]

Voted a No. Doesn't make sense to buy these crossovers that command over 80% cost value even after 3 to 4 years of ownership. The older ones are shabbily maintained and have most likely clocked more than 50 to 60K on the odo and are ready for regular replacement of costly spares. The old platform and very stiff suspension do not make it an ideal family car. I prefer more space inside and the Ecosport is strictly for 4 adults. Not my preference.