2018 Ford EcoSport S Roadtest Review
The EcoSport has been one of the biggest seller for Ford, in India, this is the compact SUV that paved the way for success to the American car maker and help it garner good numbers and a huge fan following. Ford gave the EcoSport a major refresh few months back, the 2018 Ford EcoSport comes with a lot of revised styling and features loaded. This was the model update that also introduced to the world the All New made in India Dragon Series engine.
Now Ford has decided to bring back one of its finest engines to the EcoSport, the world renowned and six times award winning EcoBoost Petrol engine sourced from Europe powers the newest trim the EcoSport S. We drive the 2018 Ford EcoSport S around some scenic ECR roads of Chennai trying to Boost our spirits with the EcoBoost.
Exteriors
The basic styling and design on the EcoSport S remains the same with some changes being added. Basically the feature list of the Titanium + are all present on the EcoSport S with more stuff being added to it. Some of the most significant changes to the EcoSport S are, the front grill now gets a blackout look which is not exactly black but comes in dark glossy metallic grey finish. The headlights get full HID and come with smoked look on them. Fog lamps on the S get black bezel on them. The EcoSport S comes shod with 205/50 R17 spec Bridgestone Ecopia tyres mounted on 17 incher all new sporty smoke alloys that look nothing short of stunning and also adds a lot of road presence.
The EcoSport S also gets black painted roof along with roof rails and an electric sunroof/funroof as Ford likes to call it. The design dynamics as mentioned remains the same overall on the front, sides and the rear. The bootlid comes with a special S badge in red that makes makes this model stand out from the regular EcoSport.
The dark theme gets carried across the exterior styling. The EcoSport S looks extremely sport and catchy in flesh when viewed from all angles especially the front, and front three quarters.
Interiors
The cabin area on the EcoSport S gets a lot of tweaks and updates just as the exteriors. The SUV now comes with orange accents on the fabric seats as well as instrument panel, door panels, dashboard to break the monotony and add to the cabins premium appeal. The seat upholstery comes in part leather part fabric which again adds a lot of sporty, breathable and different feel to this version of the EcoSport. The Instrument cluster also gets a major tweak, now in place is a larger 4.2 inch digital information cluster along with tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS). The Speedo and RPM dials get chrome rings around them adding a lot of premium element into the cabin.
The leather wrapped steering comes with neat looking orange stitching adding to the overall orange and black theme inside the cabin. The center dash retains the lovely looking 8 inch touchscreen color infotainment system which is a joy to use and comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto along with Voice command and other connectivity on it. Rest of the interiors remains the same with the generous 342 liters of boot space that can be further extended when needed by folding down the 40:60 split rear seats.
Engine – Transmission – Drive
The world renowned 1.0L EcoBoost Petrol engine makes a comeback to the EcoSport. This engine has been international voted as the engine of the year six times in a row since 2012. This 3-cylinder 999cc engine comes with 125PS @ 6000rpm and belting out 170NM of torque between 1500 – 4500rpm. This in an extremely torque engine. Ford also claims an overall fuel efficiency of 18.1KMPL on this tiny Booster of an engine. This EcoBoost engine comes mated to a six speed manual transmission.
On the move the EcoSport S with the EcoBoost heart feels very spirited and smooth, only if revved very hard do you feel slight vibrations on the gear shifter which is not very disturbing. There is no evident turbo-lag at any speeds whatsoever. The engine feels highly refined with loads of torque, no way that you can tell this is a three-cylinder unit. The 6-speed all new transmission feels extremely light and positive between shifts. Performance is linear and the gear ratios are well spaced, not much of shifting between gears needed to stay in the power zone.
The new 6 speeder transmission is a big plus point on this variant with butter smooth shifts. There is no change in the suspension tune and brakes over the other variants. The vehicle feels very confident and stable at high speeds, we touched speeds of 150 kmph and the EcoSport S felt super sturdy.
Ford has also introduced the EcoSport Signature Edition which comes with all features including the electric sunroof as the S version and Blue accents instead of the orange as on the S and there is no black roof for the Signature Edition. On the EcoSport Signature Edition you have the 1.5L TDCi Diesel with 5 speed manual and 1.5L Dragon Series Petrol engine with 5 speed manual and automatic transmission option.
Verdict
The Ford EcoSport has always been a fun car to drive, now with the current trend shifting towards petrol cars once again the Chennai based car maker has brought back the award winning EcoBoost engine with the EcoSport S. The car is super fun to drive, comes loaded with lot more features over the Titanium trim and yes also has the Sun/Fun roof to give you one more excuse to get some Sun and fun with the EcoBoost heart into your daily life.
