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-   -   Ford EcoSport : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/136854-ford-ecosport-official-review-569.html)

Thanks very much for that info.:) Will follow your advice.
I normally get this done at Westend Tyres near Panampilly Nagar.

Personal recommendation - DBS Tyres, Edappally (just before Dhe Puttu). Most of the BHPians are regular there and they are the best in Cochin. Meet Mr Debin (technician) who is an expert in this.

Thanks - will check them out.

I'm posting an extract of the service bill yesterday on the tyre part.

To this - I'd add getting the side-walls/balancing/alignment checked if you happen to hit either the kerb, a speed-breaker or a pothole unexpectedly at significant speed.

That makes my family from the rarer end of the spectrum - I own a blue, and my dad has recently picked up the chill :)

I think Chill is a wonderful colour for the Ecosport. Understated yet classy.:) There was no way I could get one of that colour combined with the AT - else I might have opted for it.

The EcoSport will be offered without the exterior spare wheel in Europe from May 2015.

Link to Team-BHP News Article

Understandable. Reviews in the UK have crucified the EcoSport for its 'wannabe' looks by putting the spare on the tailgate. And the interior plastics were also of a poor quality, another fact picked up by those same reviewers. Ford needed this to reboot the EcoSport's poor UK sales.

I don't think Ford will offer the EcoSport without a tail-mounted spare wheel in India, for the following reasons:

• The obvious reason - we Indians like it! (or at least, enough people to keep Ford's cash registers ringing!)
• Since the spare is not being relocated elsewhere, they cannot legally offer a car without a spare in India (according to the CMVR). Practically also, owners will be insane to drive a vehicle without a spare.

However, I do hope that for future buyers, Ford offers the improved interiors, Sync and suspension in India.

Interiors: hard plastic is good from the point of durability, but the design/screwing together is bad. The door plastic just flexes.

suspension:
Short wheel base + soft suspension = uncomfortable when turning, more ecosports turning turtle.
short wheel base + hard suspension = firm ride, decent handling.

So nothing can be done about this, IMHO.

Also, the headlights too. The stock high beam is totally useless. I am planning an extensive long trip and a bit hesitant to take the ES instead of the Fiesta(old) owing to the poor road illumination.

Good analysis. I guess that is why they had to make the ride a bit firm.

As regards the headlamps, the old Fiesta had pretty good throw and illumination. I'm surprised that the Ecosport does not fare well on this count. Any idea how the new Fiesta's headlamps are?

The old Fiesta and the new Fiesta have double barrel headlamps i.e. separate bulb for high and low beam.

The Ecosport uses the single bulb H4 headlight design. So far what I have seen is that dual barrel always gives better illumination than the single bulb design.

A question for EcoSport owners: does your user manual prescribe running the AC at least once a week to keep it in running condition? The manual for the old Fiesta and Figo does have such a mention.

And since the Ecosport has climate control, I'm not sure how one can ensure the compressor is switched on, for example, when the temperature is set to 23 degress and the outside temperature is considerably lower, as in the case of many cities in northern areas.

Hi BHPians,

We've already got a thread running on power enhancement in the Ecosport TDCi. But how 'bout one for the more enthusiastic of the Ecosport's- the Ford Ecosport Ecoboost?

Prologue

Our garage consists of a Hyundai i10 and a Volkswagen Polo 1.2 MPI. Our i10 is nearing 7 years of use and is becoming quite rusty( literally). My Polo has already become infamous in this forum. All it takes is a peak into this link:

http://http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifying-car/25959-article-how-modify-tune-your-car-15.html

Anyways, let me save you the trouble of reading about my shortlisting and selection process. The point is, we wanted an enthusiasts car. Period. And we certainly did not want to repeat the ignorance displayed while choosing a car like last time. So, the Ford Ecosport Ecoboost it was, almost.

This one litre three pot motor has been receiving accolades from all over the world, but there has been no shortage of brickbats for the turbo lag either. We took a comprehensive test drive of it ( how we got the car for a test drive is a story in itself), only to confirm that the engine was only half awake till 2000 rpm. Post that figure though, there was no looking back.

Since we were completely sold on getting a fun to drive car, the diesel, though considered, was declared only adequate to drive, it was removed from the shortlist.

Unfortunately, quite a chunk of our driving is in the city, and the true potential of the motor cannot be unlocked. However, we do get the open stretch of road regularly as well, and thus the Ecoboost could certainly not be an irrelevant choice for us. Frequent road trips to Chennai also ensure that we would get enough 'fun' with the car.

Coming to its Achilles heel, we just have to do something about it. Else it may end up a deal breaker. After all, a million rupee car ought not to have blatant faults like this. Thank god, though, this is a turbocharged engine, and remaps do show significant improvements in power output.

Remapping:
The fact that this engine is turbocharged and that it produces a mind blowing 125 bhp ensures that a remap would definitely be worth the money. Perhaps a 25 bhp increment is guaranteed. If the tuner is pestered some more, even higher figures may be possible! All turbo-lag will hopefully be eradicated, and city driving would become child's play. Peak horse power could touch 165! What fun!

Cold air intake:
It is not a very invasive process and won't cost much. The power gains,though marginal, would be useful for bumper to bumper traffic. Seems useful enough to consider.

Disc brakes:
Now I feel this is probably the most complicated upgrade, but I have a feeling it will come in handy, given the proposed 160 odd horsepower. What are the things I should keep in mind while doing my shopping ? What diameter of the brake rotor would be ideal for the given application? Are any companies recommended over others, and will the brakes be reliable on the long run?

Suspension upgrade:
I think the ride and handling is lovely the way it is. This car is never going to see the racetrack anyways. So I don' t think it is required. But I have seen some owners going for suspension upgrades as they feel the stock suspension 'cannot handle the power increment' . What does that really mean? Does it mean I might be forced to upgrade the suspension ?

Are there any other mods that you would suggest? It is quite visible that I am not just concerned about the low rpm performance. I would definitely like a bump in power at all rpm's.

Note: I am not considering a free flow exhaust as the power will probably be more than adequate with the mods proposed. Also, I am in no mood to void my warranty.

I would like to make it clear that I have not booked the car yet. These are all my plans for the car, if I acquire it.

Thanks ,
Turbo_asd

Yesterday, I went to Lathangi Ford, Bangalore to get both FSAs addressed, per the EcoSport recall.

The SA (Febin) at Lathangi told me that they've not received a specific tool from Chennai to remove the fuel hose, so the FSA "S1403 FUEL TUBE AND VAPOUR TUBE REPLACEMENT" would have to wait for a few weeks, and they'll call me back. Given that this is a preventative action for long-term rusting, I'm ok to wait, thought I'd have preferred that I was informed about this when I made the appointment the previous day.

The work for FSA "S1411 RCM CONNECTOR WIRING" turned out to be far quicker than the 2 hours that were originally stated, it took only about 30 minutes (for the rewiring, and OBD-II diagnostics of the RCM). Speaking to the service technician Prasanna, he said all Ford technicians in Bangalore were trained in a Metro Ford facility in Bangalore by someone who took the training from Chennai. He also mentioned that he's gotten used to the work which is why its so quick.

Lathangi Ford continue their nice policy of allowing people to wander around in the service bays, and interact with the SAs and technicians.

Things that I learnt during this process:

• RCM stands for Restraint Control Module, and covers the airbags, and seatbelt pre-tensioners
• The RCM sits under the cell-phone holder area between the front-seats
• There's a lot of empty space around the gear lever, beneath the console. I wonder why manufacturers don't offer extra cubby-holes

I also managed to snag some pictures of the rewiring instructions:

You can see that the pinout changes are either swapping or mirroring the positions, which might indicate how the problem might have originated in the first place.

While I was there, I met the owner of a diesel EcoSport (Amit), who'd come for the RCM FSA. Given that both our cars were a rather rare blue, I took this opportunity to take a photo of both of them. Amusingly enough, while I'm a member of Team BHP, I've not put any sticker on my car (I like the clean look), whereas he's not a member but has a LTD sticker proudly plastered on his car.

Note: my car on the left has not been washed since September, thanks to 3M treatment and Jopasu's duster! After this, I went straight to 3M HSR for a wash and wax.

Turning on the defogger will turn on the compressor, even if the AC button is kept off. This i have seen in the manual AC of the lower model.