Almost all of us at Team IAB have seen a Ford EcoSport test mule plying on the roads and we are well versed with the proportions of the car, exterior wise.
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At the Geneva Motor Show, however, we had a very good opportunity to touch the car, feel the general build quality, feel how the door shuts and opens, quality of materials used on the inside, check out the boot space and of course, sit at the rear seats and experience the sort of legroom this sub 4 meter mini SUV is proposing.
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The car on display had the 'EcoBoost' badging. However, the display car did not have an engine underneath its hood. It was purely meant for unveiling purposes only and Ford's 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine was located separately for viewing purposes. In fact, Ford told us that this was one of the first EcoSports made from the Chennai plant.
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The way the doors open and close feels pretty good. It feels just the way the new Fiesta does in terms of overall build. Doors opened, we moved in to the drivers seats. The seating position feels fine and if you adjust the seats and the steering, the visibility outside is quite good as well.
In terms of interior plastic quality, it is certainly short of Volkswagen levels. Some bits and pieces like the interior door handle feel well executed in design, but fall short on quality.
The instrument cluster and the dashboard is identical to the Fiesta. This EcoSport features the manual transmission.
Moving on to the rear seats, the legroom can only be termed as 'decent' - it isn't all that great, neither is it all that bad either for a sub 4 meter vehicle. If we were to give you a comparison for the rear legroom, the Swift Dzire seems to be the ideal match.
The boot is pretty big and the lateral door employs hydraulic arms to open and shut.
Now, the only thing left for us to do is to experience the engine and the driving dynamics of the EcoSport!
