When I concluded my retrospective on the first generation Escape last month I noted Ford’s current absence in the expanding mid-size pickup and subcompact crossovers segments. For 2018 Ford will have filled one of those holes, and like the Escape it will be arriving years after the competition, although this time its late introduction only applies to the United States.
The Escape successfully grew into its own by adopting the styling of the extremely popular Explorer. This time around Ford is largely using the same playbook, with the refreshed EcoSport borrowing design themes currently used on the Escape, Edge, and Transit.
As demonstrated by this humorous ad, Ford did the same thing for the first generation EcoSport, which debuted in 2003. I’d say it looks quite a bit like the third generation Explorer.
While the Ecosport is popular in South America and India, its caught some flak from European auto critics for its lack of on-road refinement. I imagine Ford has rectified this problem with the refresh.
What Ford couldn’t do was engineer a vertically opening tailgate with the current design, which was built for a mounted spare. I suspect Dearborn just wanted to get the EcoSport here as fast as possible and some compromises had to be made for that to happen. Will this turn away customers? I could understand if car shoppers decided to go elsewhere after realizing this setup couldn’t work for them. Then again, the Rav4 got away with a similar configuration until its current generation, so maybe it won’t have much of an impact.
Upon its introduction, the Escape was available with a class leading V6 engine, which put out 201 horsepower. These days Ford is more concerned with amenities, and likely the consumer is as well, so the class leading features now reside inside the cabin. The optional Sync 3 system is displayed on an 8 inch touchscreen which Ford claims is best in class. There is also an available B&O Play sound system with a total of 675 watts going through 10 speakers, including a subwoofer. According to my research that wattage figure is also best in class, as the BeatsAudio system in the Renegade “only” puts out 503 watts.
I just hope this is the first and last use of the “floating screen” motif in a Ford.
I’m surprised to learn they’re bothering with Federalizing a heavy facelift rather than just jacking up a Focus hatchback a la Subaru Crosstrek as a stopgap model until a completely new generation of Ecosport. (Not crazy about the name, either – couldn’t THIS be the new Bronco?)
I think this is a lot smaller than the Focus – A jacked up Focus pretty much IS what the Escape is already. This is more like a jacked up Fiesta from a size perspective.
Yup, but the Fiesta’s tiny inside and the compact-car-based Subaru competes (quite effectively) with dedicated-body subcompact SUVs. It’s all about having a sportier image than a RAV4/CR-V/Escape with a higher H-point than the standard sedan/hatchback.
Anyway, as this sits it’ll probably sell like warm bread.
Actually, I’m grateful this isn’t the new Bronco. I was really hoping it would be more truck-based. Now we know it’ll probably be a 2-door SUV version of the Ranger, considering that both are going to be built in the same plant. I’m personally quite fond of this fan-made concept that’s been floating around, as unlikely as it is to ever be built.
That’s a pretty cool retro mash-up. Way nicer than the corporate blandness of the featured SUV.
Do we know the Bronco will be a 2-door? For all intents and purposes, the 2-door SUV is dead. If anything, it’ll be closer to the 4-door Ford Everest. Some people are saying it’ll just be a rebadged Everest, and some think it’ll be a completely brand-new design.
I forgot about the Everest. But considering that Ford already has the Escape, Edge, Explorer, Flex and Expedition, all 4-door crossovers or SUV’s, *another* 4-door seems like it’d be a bit redundant. “2-door Everest” would have been a better way to word it in my original comment, I suppose.
It’s not an issue of redundancy if 4 doors are for all intents and purposes obligatory for the segment. Besides the non-Unlimited Wrangler (which makes up a minority of Wranglers sold), the last 2-door SUV was, what, the 2005 Blazer?
That rear door is better (from this perspective) than the RAV4’s since it opens the correct way for the US market…Otherwise it’s a bit (OK, a lot) on the homely side. It sort of reminds me of the Buick Encore which is selling better than all expectations. If they can make money on it, bring it over.
And yes, those “floating screens” have got to go in everything they are found in, not just this Ford.
I think the interior looks very nice. I generally dislike the posh interiors that most new cars have since it’s just going to get dirty and look terrible anyway, which is probably why.
The passenger vent does look a bit awkward, and I agree about the touch screen. I would take a standard radio over that floating iPad any day.
Posh? Ford?!
Only the top trim Taurus, Flex, Explorer, Expedition etc. have interiors I’d call plush. The Ford products less than these have horridly bland interiors.
Don’t forget the current cash cow, the F-Series. I used to consider Lariat “luxury,” but now that we’ve got King Ranch, Platinum, and Limited above it, it’s just “nicely appointed.”
That was the “etc.”. 🙂 I just couldn’t remember which was which.
These have been on sale in the UK for a few years now, and it is one of the most bizarre looking cars currently available. The proportions are all off; its too tall for its width, the flanks are too heavy relative to the glass area, and the wheels and arches look tiny relative to the car. To top it all, most I’ve seen have a boot-mounted spare wheel, which makes it look even worse.
I fully agree. It’s a clumsy looking crossover between a CUV and a SUV. What a treat I never see them.
I hadn’t even heard they were going to sell this in the U.S. until now. Kind of fugly in my opinion though. Most subcompact CUVs have somewhat ungainly proportions, but visually this appears to be one of the worse iterations. The interior looks of average quality for its class, but I’m growing tired of Ford’s current interior design language that’s been around since the current Focus debuted back in 2011. Meh
“Watts” as used in audio equipment advertisement is about as meaningless as hp ratings on vacuum cleaners/shop vacs.
Trust me, I know. My guess is those stats are meant to get the blood pumping in the nether regions of the millennials these are meant to be sold to. Case in point: the Fusion and Escape optional sound systems have wattages at a fraction of the EcoSport.
I bet touchscreen size will be another discriminant. Tesla’s must be class-leading.
“Watts” as used in audio equipment advertisement is about as meaningless as hp ratings on vacuum cleaners/shop vacs.
The FTC stepped in during the 70s and required power to be stated as watts, RMS, over a specified bandwidth, at a specified distortion level, though I think that reg only applied to home audio as I saw pathetic little car stereos at the same time that were rated at 40 watts or more. Receivers that had been rated at 240 watts, suddenly became 35 watt models.
We may have been deregulated again, as I have been seeing some suspicious ratings myself lately.
Oh yay. Anther stubby, lumpy, tippy truck wannabe.
It’s the hot niche right now. But no one’s making you buy one if you don’t want it.
Exactly. I have no interest in it, but my little self is not buttering Ford’s bread.
I’ve read that the car will be imported from India.
How does this fit into Trumponomics!!! =;-}
Here’s the UK and US link with some more info:
http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/EcoSport
http://www.ford.com/suvs/ecosport/?fmccmp=lp-future-top-hp-2018-ecosport
That “floating iPad” dash, if it’s well built, will be much better than the current one, WIDELY panned by the press because of poor fit and finish… The new center stack upper section resembles the CitroĂ«n C4 Cactus because of those air vents…
This car was a hit when introduced here in Brazil 13 years ago and still was the best-selling in its class until the launch of the Renegade and HR-V a year or so ago. Currently it sits on the 3rd place often going to 4th behind the Renault (Dacia) Duster.
I’m a Ford guy but I can’t stand this car. It’s reliable, rugged for the crappy roads and streets we have here, hold well its value et. al., but it’s just ugly, and I don’t think this new front-end did it any good.
The 1st-gen EcoSport was a nice CUV, its proportions were right and its boxy design were right, it was the right car at the right time, Ford nailed it and basically invented this segment, but 13 years later, the current EcoSport is almost the same size of the original one and I think it’s too small and too narrow even for the Brazilian standard, I can’t imagine this car on USA.
I remember when the 1st EcoSport was launched in 2003, Bill Ford had one as his daily-driver in Dearborn, IIRC it was a red 2.0 16V 4WD with leather seats, a configuration not available here yet, and since then there were talks about the EcoSport being exported to the States “next year”. It only took 13 “next years” to Ford launch the car in the US, with a whole lot of better options established already. Sometimes Ford is like the Microsoft of the car industry, coming late to a segment that they invented…
CC effect – I stopped to study one in the parking lot out back a couple of hours ago! They’ve been available here in New Zealand for a while now, but I stopped to study this one because it was white – I reckon if a car looks good in white, the design is sound, but if it doesn’t… I was on the fence about the EcoSport’s styling, but in white it looked like an ill-proportioned blob with a too-tall front end. ‘Oh dear’, I thought, and then a Mazda CX-3 drove past, proving that it is possible to design a super-stylish tiny SUV…
I don’t like this new design shape manufacturers are making. This ford, the chevy captiva. What is the point? A short, narrow SUV with limited interior space. Maybe they make sense for the narrow streets of Paris or Calcutta. But they don’t make any sense to me.
What’s the point of this vs the CMax? And, the naming seems like a repeat of the Freestyle/Freestar/Taurus X fiasco. EcoSport or EcoBoost?? “Yeah, I’d like a new F150 with one of those EcoSport motors. That’s got more HP than a V8”.