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

By Jonathan Crouch

The Ford EcoSport gets a last throw of the dice in this lifestyle-orientated 'Active' form. Jonathan Crouch checks it out

Ten Second Reviewword count: 52

With the success of Ford's latest compact SUV, the Puma, you might have assumed that Ford's previous contender in this segment, the EcoSport, would be put out to pasture. Not a bit of it. The brand continues to sell this car - and has widened the range with this lifestyle-orientated 'Active' variant.

Backgroundword count: 101

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. Since then, it's sold quite well, but never as well as the Blue Oval brand would have liked, despite a far-reaching update in early 2018 that changed over 2,360 parts. Today, the company's emphasis is on the similarly sized Puma model in this segment, but before the EcoSport finally departs, we've been given this trendy 'Active'-spec version. Is it worth a look?

Driving Experienceword count: 257

The EcoSport Active only comes in front-driven form with the core engine used in this model range, Ford's innovative 125PS 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol unit. It makes 0-62mph in 12.7s on the way to 112mph. 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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