The bike is off! We drive the new Ford EcoSport

The Ford EcoSport I was able to drive early. The Fa report on mein-auto-blog was released in December 2013, there were six months until the small SUV was to be admired by the Ford dealers. The criticism of the baby SUV was clear:

A lot of gray, a lot of plastic. You notice the price pressure on each of the four door panels and across the nose of the driver.

After only 17 months, Ford is pushing the facelift of the Ford Ecosport, because - that much is clear - In the segment in which the small SUV from Cologne is moving, the tree is burning. Compact SUVs? Everyone wants to have. No vehicle segment is growing as quickly as the compact SUV segment. But besides Opel Mokka, Nissan Juke, Renault Captur and other competitors in the market, the EcoSport in its first serve was above all the model with "the impractical tailgate and the lousy workmanship in the interior!" At Ford you heard the criticism from the media and the first feedback from the early customers and responded with a facelift.

First test: Ford Ecosport “S” - model year 2016

In the press release, Ford speaks of a thoroughly revised ecosport. According to the list, the starting price is € 17.990 and the spare wheel is no longer installed in series. That still sounds like a very ambitious price. But if you, as an interested customer, click on the "Ford Ecosport website“, Then you discover a starting price from 14.990 €.

According to Ford, 50% of all customers loved the spare wheel on the rear door. It gives the small SUV such a masculine off-roader look. A certain seriousness in his mission should be clarified. And by the way, there was not another place for the spare wheel. Who belongs to the 50%, who rather found the spare wheel annoying, will be glad that it is gone now. The other 50% need to order the spare wheel as an option. Also a clever solution.

A good tire is always a start!

But Ford has done more than adjust the look. The chassis has been retuned, the front stabilizer is firmer, the damper tuning has been improved and the power steering has also been revised. The new top model “Ecosport S”, which Ford has now placed above the Titanium, is particularly exciting.

In addition to the visual points - the Ecosport S is available in a contrasting finish with a black roof, black 17-inch wheels and black mirrors - it is the choice of tires that says a lot about the ambitions. Ford only equips the Ecosport S in series with special Goodyear EffincyGrip tires. And so that the chassis, tires and compact SUV fit together properly, even the ESP tuning of the small Cologne SUV was adjusted.

EcoSport S - S how fun

There is a new 95 hp diesel in Ecosport, but unfortunately not in the first test. I was able to drive the “freshly made” Cologne with the 125 HP EcoBoost turbo engine. The three-cylinder turbo engine no longer needs to be mentioned separately. Umpteen times Engine of the year, this 1.0 liter turbo combines the virtues of “economy and fun” in a 125 HP engine. In the EcoSport S and the Titanium equipment there is also the 140 PS variant of the three-cylinder. For the first test, however, only the 125 hp engine was available.

Runs adult

A good tire makes a big difference. The EcoSport S gains a lot of sovereignty through the premium tires and the improved set-up. Of course you still sit too high on narrow seats, but this is a “compact SUV” and not a full-size SUV. In any case, you shouldn't venture into the terrain with the EcoSport. Although it looked - especially with the spare wheel on the tailgate - as if it were a very "tougher”. But all EcoSport have front-wheel drive, Let's stay on the highway.

Here the EcoSport has won neatly. The suspension tuning can convince, the driving noise is tolerable to good. Only the insulation of the three-cylinder is still below average. And so the defiantly aggressive sound of the EcoBoost always remains in the foreground. The damping and the rolling noise of the Ecosport, however, have massively gained through the remaining measures.

The 1.0 EcoBoost propels the 1.337 kg EcoSport to 12.7 km / h in 100 seconds, and it's over at 180 km / h. On average, the EcoSport should be satisfied with the 125 hp engine with 5.4 liters of petrol combined over 100 kilometers. During the first trip in the “Bergisches Land”, 6.2 liters remained as a minimum result on the clock.

The interior, however, remains bleak!

Anyone who had hoped that the EcoSport, made in India, would also experience a change in the interior after the “rapid model upgrade” will be disappointed. Much gray. Lots of black. And only hard plastic with the haptic look of a toolbox. In addition, there are gaps that suggest an incorrect configuration of the plastic injection molding machines and many places where one discovers a lack of care in the processing of the plastic parts. All other Ford models show that you can do better at Ford. Improvements urgently need to be made here. Once again!

Conclusion

The Ecosport can be ordered as an “S” from the end of the year and, in addition to the current engines, there will also be a 140 hp version. But this only in the “S” and in the Titanium. The current base price of € 14.990 applies to the Ecosport in the trendy equipment and the 1,5 liter naturally aspirated engine with 112 hp. That's cheap, yes - but the better offer will be the “S” with the EcoBoost three-cylinder.

Unfortunately, this “S special model” cannot demonstrate any new value in the interior either, but the remaining details - and thus the premium tires and the successful chassis set-up as well as the more convincing standard equipment - simply fit better with the idea of ​​the “lifestyle SUV ”. If already EcoSport? Then right! 

The vehicle registration document for the Ford EcoSport