OD Garage: Ford EcoSport TDCi fleet introduction
Our latest EcoSport is here and this time it's a lovely shade of blue. To recap, our previous test/long-term cars have had an assortment of issues ranging from brake problems to electronic gremlins to an unfortunate meeting with a tree (when the Ford driver forgot to yank up the hand brake as he dropped it to us, resulting in a smashed rear windscreen). And our last car simply refused to start one morning. To be fair we did have a hand in one incident when we managed to damage the sump after inadvertently running over a stone divider. Hopefully our run of bad luck will finally end with this one.
On a much needed positive note, this is a pretty new car as against all the previous ones which were media test mules that had taken quite a beating. It immediately felt smoother and more refined than before. The long Easter weekend meant throwing some bags into the back and heading for Goa. Over the 1500km weekend that included 300km of driving within Goa I got 13.7kmpl on the highway and 13.5kmpl in the city. I'm actually quite pleased with those numbers considering it was brisk driving all the way. Ease off and that figure should crest 16kmpl on the highway.
The new Ford thankfully didn't display any electric glitches like our last car and the drive was enjoyable thanks to the great sound system and comfy cabin with plenty of storage space and charging points. Driving the EcoSport is a joy but it really does need some more bottom end torque, especially on the ghats. An EcoSport with Duster levels of grunt and ride quality would be a fantastic machine. Hopefully that remapped ECU from Race Dynamics we've got our eye on will improve matters.
The EcoSport rides well but it doesn't like broken roads, of which there are plenty between Nipani and Sawantwadi before the super smooth Goan roads begin. As a result rattles have sprung up over poor surfaces with the rear parcel tray making quite a racket. Nevertheless, besides these rattles I have thoroughly enjoyed the EcoSport. So much so that I want to make it my daily driver.
Rishaad Mody