ECO FRIENDLY (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

The EcoSport, Ford's most compact SUV, still has an appeal for the right kind of customer. Jonathan Crouch reports

Ten Second Reviewword count: 32

The Ford EcoSport uses tried and tested Fiesta mechanicals to offer buyers a small SUV with added ride height and chunky good looks. Now it's got a trendy 'Active' lifestyle variant too.

Backgroundword count: 147

Ford didn't rush into bringing us a supermini-based Crossover model. Indeed, the market was awash with the things by the time the brand brought us its own take in this genre, the Fiesta-based EcoSport, in the Spring of 2014. Even so, there were signs that all was not quite right with the product planning. Early buyers questioned the car's refinement, its driving dynamics, its interior and the need to drive around with a huge great spare wheel hanging off the back of the tailgate. Fortunately though, Ford was listening. So, the brand updated the car in both 2015 and 2016, before fundementally changing it in 2018 to create the version we're looking at here. As before, the chunky looks offer up a bit of Amazonian attitude, even if in truth, this car is more Cbeebies than SAS in its take on hostile streetlife. Let's check it out.

Driving Experienceword count: 262

The EcoSport range is now based around Ford's 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol engine, mainly offered in 125PS guise, but also available in 140PS form in the mid-range 'ST-Line' version. You can now only have manual transmission and front wheel drive. The news that an EcoSport is based on a Ford Fiesta should certainly set you off in a positive frame of mind when it comes to the drive on offer. The issue though, is one of exactly what would happen to a Fiesta if you gave it a relatively lofty 190mm ride height, 136kgs of extra weight and a chunky high-riding body. After all, even Ford's chassis engineers aren't miracle workers, something which is fairly evident from the driving experience served up by this car. To be fair, the Blue Oval brand has much improved it, tweaking the springs, dampers and steering of this revised model in order to make it better suit European roads. And there have been some wins as part of that process. The consistent and well-weighted steering for example, is way better than before. Plus the brakes are impressive, the shift change of the 6-speed manual gearbox is slick and highway cruising is pretty refined. Ultimately though, what could be achieved here was rather limited by the high, boxy shape, a big contributing factor to the way the car feels uncomfortable with fast cornering or sudden directional changes at speed. It also rides quite stiffly on its firm suspension. Still, it's nothing you couldn't live with and most likely buyers won't want to drive on their door handles anyway.

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