2021 Ford EcoSport diesel: Purchase & ownership review

Very easy to make those overtakes on 2-lane state highways, just a drop a gear and floor it.

BHPian Shanksta recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

"Why are these guys raving about a 7 year old Ford?" I was thinking to myself. I was tired of the Ford fanboy comments on Tata Nexon content in various social media platforms.

January 18, 2021

I had hardly driven a kilometer but the decision was made. My first ever NEW car was going to be the Ford EcoSport Diesel. Bye bye Nexon.

3 Months Ago

Since October 2020, I was 99.99% sure and had decided I was going to book a Tata Nexon Diesel XM variant in Tectonic Blue sometime in May 2021. I woke up watching Tata Nexon videos in Youtube, followed multiple owners groups on Facebook, read up on every single Tata Nexon related thread on Team-BHP. I was chanting "Vocal for Local" even subconsciously in my sleep. I had even decided that I was going to chuck the steel wheels the XM variant came with and get Momo Massimo alloys the day I take delivery of my car. At this point one may ask "How come EcoSport then?"

A: "I had never driven the EcoSport until now!"

Likes:

• Solid build quality. Adds immensely to the feel good factor.
• Lots of cubby holes and storage spots throughout the cabin.
• Amazing grunt from the engine post 1900 rpm, keeps pulling relentlessly. Don't let the 99 bhp value on paper fool you.
• Steering feedback is very good despite being an electric unit.
• Handling is very good for a tall car and the car sticks to the road as intended while driving a bit spiritedly.
• S-I-L-E-N-T cabin. The NVH is very good, can easily cruise long distances.
• Huge 52L tank gives a good range if driven normally.
• Well kitted Titanium variant feels VFM. Traction Control, Hill hold assist, ESC, Electric brake assist, sunroof, the good instrument cluster from the Sport variant, Alloys, projector headlamps, fog lamps, leather wrapped  steering, arm rest, boot lamp, start-stop button and rear parcel tray. All this for rupees 65k (ex-showroom) over the Trend.
• All controls in the cabin feel ergonomically placed to me.
• Loving the Beige bits on the interior, makes the cabin feel airy.
• Smart touches adds to the experience viz. ORVMs open/close upon unlocking/locking, smart entry, detailed customizable car menu in the MID.

Dislikes:

• The factory paint has quite a bit of orange peel. Could have been better executed.
• Interior space management could have been better. Strictly a 4-seater plus max a 10 year old in the rear middle.
• Stock tires get the job done. But feel a little noisy and a tad skittish around corners.
• Ford's everchanging feature list every quarter. I got bland silver alloys, the 2020 Titanium had an option of gunmetal Grey.
• The infotainment unit is not bright enough under the afternoon sun and I have to move closer to read anything.
• Rear seatbelt buckles keep rattling, should have come with dedicated holders to prevent the same.
• Reverse camera quality is average at best (I am being very generous).
• Average fuel consumption displayed in the MID is off by at least 2-2.5kmpl always.
• No Split folding rear seat, it hardly costs anything to include.

January 16, 2021

I was casually browsing through the Ford India website as I woke up for the day, what immediately caught my eye was the feature list for the 2021 Ford EcoSport Titanium. It suddenly looked super VFM. I decided I will drop by both the Ford and Tata showroom today to test drive the respective cars. Little did I know that this visit would advance my car purchase scheduled during the second half of 2021 to the third week of January 2021.

First stop was Dhruvan Ford in S.Kolathur. I was the only customer when I walked in at 10:30AM. The test drive car was not available as it was being serviced and the sales consultant took down all my details and promised to bring the car home on Monday at 11:30AM. This was a bummer but I fiddled around with the display car and the initial impressions were solid build, cramped rear legroom (similar to my Punto), strictly suitable for only 4 adults and loved the dashboard especially the analogue dials in the instrument cluster.

Next stop was Lakshmi Tata in Guindy (previously Concorde). There were quite a few customers inside but enough space to maintain social distance. I was attended to promptly and once again there was no diesel Nexon available for test drive. However I drove the petrol for the feel of the dynamics and suspension. Nexon is a bit firm at low speeds, the interior was way more airy and had more space that the Ford, the seats were a bit better. The Turbo petrol was a bit noisy but pretty tractable. However I personally found the gear lever slotting action a bit long and the clutch a bit non-linear to use.

The sales folk at Tata asked me if they could bring the diesel on Monday however I promised to call them back. I decided to drive the diesel Ford before the Tata. I also visited Hans Ford the same day, my effort was in vain. As a bargain though I saw every single shade of the Ecosport at Hans Ford in person. Returned home and called it a day.

January 18, 2021

The sales consultant from Dhruvan Ford turned up at my home promptly at 11:30AM as promised with a Diesel S version in Canyon Ridge shade. I drove the car for close to 8 km and as mentioned in the opening post made up my mind within the first kilometer that this was it. Space be damned, this car was kickass to drive. The super sweet 1.5 litre mill was a joy to floor, the eagerness of the engine to rev and pick up speed was mind blowing. Clutch was light in comparison to my Innova, gearbox thought not perfect was way better than the notchy gearbox in the Punto. The handling was much better than the Nexon, although to be fair I never drove the diesel Nexon.

January 20, 2021

Sold the Punto to Ford Assured for a decent price I was happy with. I chose the sale amount to be transferred to my account and it was done promptly the next day.

January 23, 2021

Went to showroom and booked the EcoSport Titanium Diesel in Absolute Black. Was told a 90-day waiting period on paper, although my Sales Executive was confident we will receive the car within 60 days.

March 20, 2021

Took delivery of my EcoSport after a 56-day wait.

Below is me trying to justify buying a new car.

I was in love with the Fiat Punto since its launch in India, more so after I had the opportunity to drive a Linea owned by my dad's friend. I dreamt of owning a Fiat Punto and even made quite a few unsuccessful pitches to my parents on why they should buy their 21 year old college going son a Rs 8 lakh Rupees (no Active variant for me, only 90HP) hatch as a birthday gift, back in the day.

>>Rewind to August 2019>>

I was finally in a position to buy my first car, but there was a problem. I was not too keen in buying a new B1 segment or a base variant B2 segment car. Hence decided I will tread the used car path and buy one of the legends from back in the day.

I was still browsing used car websites on a daily basis and went through almost every listing for the following cars:

• Fiat Grande Punto 90HP
• Skoda Octavia 1.9TDi
• Mitsubishi Cedia
• Honda Civic 1.8 V MT

Every option except the Fiat went out of the list quite quickly when I realized that either the asking price was wrong or the mileage was uncomfortably high.

Long story short, in Oct 2019 during my daily ritual of browsing came across a listing for a single owner 2011 Grande Punto 90HP with 75k on the ODO. Turns out the listing was by my dad's friend that was into the used car business. Went over on a weekend, drove the car, loved it and bought it. Car was not perfect however few reassuring facts was car was single owner, it had 98pcd HRS H412 alloys which showed that the owner cared about specs and went the extra mile to procure the correct pcd alloys. Michelin tyres. Serviced yearly at Fiat dealership with the last service being done 4 months prior at VTK Fiat.

After getting the car I was in for a surprise, car had age related wear which included a leaky gearbox seal, leaking steering rack. Got those refurbished along with an all fluid change service and also preventively servicing the right side driveshaft as it showed potential signs of leakage in the future. The timing chain was in pink of health and also the workshop I went to confirmed that I had bought a neat example, albeit the age related wear. Post this, I clocked 6k km in 3 months with no issues, I was loving the Fiat to the core, it was everything I had hoped for and wanted. Super reliable!

The Fiat also introduced to me to a whole new side of car ownership, owning a car from a manufacturer that was no longer present in the market. I had established a Mechanic/FNG to take care of my car. I had discovered buying car parts online, I had discovered digging deep through old forums from across the world to find solutions to problems, I was reaching to out to people on FB groups.

Mind you this is all very new for me as my only other automobile experience for comparison is the Toyota Innova that we also own. Worlds apart.

Anyway everything was going good in life, I dreamt of keeping the Fiat till the end of its RC validity and driving it lots. However the universe had other plans, 2020 happened.

With the car being parked for long periods, quite a few niggles and issues started popping up.

• Front windshield sealant had cracked somewhere and was letting water in during monsoon (couple of drops every minute).
• 1-2 cms diameter rust-related paint bubbling on the left rear wheel arch, below the passenger side ORVM and on the roof, near top of the windshield.
• Frequent mould formation in the interior, which kept reappearing despite a 3M germikleen session and also me wiping down the interiors with diluted distilled white vinegar.
• Front suspension needed an overhaul. Car felt normal on flat roads but nosediving while braking and suspension not settling down as before on bad roads.
• Left headlamp beam leveller motor went kaput and left headlight was permanently pointing at position 5.
• The instrument cluster screen died and no amount of phonecalls helped me get only the LCD (which costs 1-1.5k in Delhi). The entire unit costed 16k or a replacement LCD alone costed 5k.
• Remote key unlock button was not working.
• AC gas leakage.

As you can see it was just a bad phase for an otherwise perfectly running car.

I initially decided to get all the major issues sorted out and keep the car till end of 2022. But then I felt felt it made more sense to sell the Fiat now when the used car market was peaking due to the pandemic, avoid another 2 years of depreciation and to use the money meant for repairs for the new car that I would buy sometime in mid-2021.

While the head agreed, it was very hard for the heart to let go of the Punto. They just do not make cars like this anymore. Period.

After 14 months I sold the Punto for 78% of the price I paid or rather looking at it this way-> it costed me 3586 Rupees a month minus Diesel, Insurance and Maintenance.

Continue reading Shanksta's ownership experience for more insights, information and BHPian comments.