Ford EcoSport Review--THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE CUTE!

Max Landi reviews the latest introduction into the sub-compcat crossover space, the Ford EcoSport. Sold in other markets and brought to North America to fill the need for even more utility vehicles. Starting at $20,000 with a 3-cylinder turbo or 4-cylinder option, plus the ability to add AWD. The EcoSport from Ford has just enough room for 4-passengers with a useful cargo area but a swing-out door instead of a conventional hatchback. With Ford getting set to kill of sedans, is this the right answer?

[@lorid3047]

First time I saw the ecosport I laughed at it. I had an escape for 15 years. Well she finally died so off I went car shopping. After a ton of test drives and side by side comparisons to believe it or not I bought the 2018 2L 4w titanium and have no regrets. I absolutely love it. Love love love it.

[@jtralongo1]

An excellent review. The reviewer is knowledgeable, clear and concise, has a good on camera personality and really hits on the little things most reviewers overlook. Someone nominate him for American Top Gear.

[@10tenman10]

I would move up a segment and get the Escape. Worth the difference.

[@Gagandeep-su2kc]

Actually this car was designed primarily for the Indian subcontinent where tight dimensions and SUVish looks were an instant hit among the people and not to forget really affordable pricing which started just around 12k CAD but this was almost 5 years ago...I don’t know what Ford was thinking when they brought this car here.

[@ivanlowjones]

Gagandeep Singh And I thought your people only drove Toyota or Honda minivans. "The More You Know".

[@Gagandeep-su2kc]

J High Lol...The Indian car scene is much more diverse than what rest of the world sees on the silver screen...It’s the third largest car market in the world...The Canadian car scene is peanuts in comparison....

[@ivanlowjones]

Gagandeep Singh And yet Southwest Asians are notoriously bad drivers on this side of the pond.....lol. You'd think the third largest car market in the world would produce more competent drivers....smdh :^)

[@MarcoGamer640Productions2012]

Gagandeep Singh Well it sure is selling. My mom got one, and I’m seeing many on the road now.

[@ldnoida001]

Gagandeep Singh no point getting into an argument with an arrogant Canadian!

[@ldsharma3484]

Fairly good review. However, why the emphasis on hard plastics? It's a cheap car so some cost cutting will be there which doesn't affect it's performance or safety. What would I do with soft plastic? Keep staring at it maybe.

[@landon390]

I really like the journalist doing the review!

[@devonnewest7990]

Max, soooo beautiful where you are! Nice review as always. I wonder if that rear doors opens the other way in the UK?

[@jackwoodstra6486]

My 2020 EcoSport SES is the Best Little Car I have ever driven That is saying something for a Ford

[@tomstewart440]

I drove the Titanium version today from Corner Brook To Gander. Used 3/4 of tank of gas. Small tank lends to short range compared to other vehicles this size. Did like the interior fit and quality. NAV system quite good as well

[@joserosa5342]

Im keeping saying this again. That car was not meant for tall people. In India the average is not 6ft tall or more. The car was designed for not tall people. That's why it wasn't in USA first release.

[@edweagle]

Just think, at some point people at ford were in a meeting where the front design of this car was discussed... And people said yes

[@flakeu]

I can't believe somebody taught it was a good idea to name this car ''EcoSport'' when it's not eco nor sporty vehicle.

[@danilocar2010]

flakeu EcoBoost... Probably came from the same dude! Follows the criteria you mentioned.

[@JohnnyScav]

flakeu Exactly my thoughts. Now imagine pay 80k for a car like these. Yep that's what we pay here in Brazil.

[@swanblake]

flakeu agree so much!

[@swanblake]

Jonny Scott obviously there is conversion that is needed as its not $80k USD over there, correct?

[@JohnnyScav]

Blake Swan yeah sure but if you consider that if you live here you get paid in the current currency and the time you have to work to get this amount of money it's 5 times more than in US/Canada, its is the same thing buy a 80k car in US/Canada, but not the same quality as we see. Kinda sad if you ask me.

[@kellingtonlink956]

Thanks for the video. Not my kinda thing (the CUV), but I liked the video. Congrats.

[@ldnoida001]

166 bhp is not too powerful? That’s a tiny car. Calculate the bhp/tonne.

[@CooookieMonster2]

A must have for your Grandparents.

[@dinfreitas]

Very informative but let me say the video seems quite unpolished - lots os dark areas, unstable shots, repeated scenes from the outside. Not the Motormouth I like. The presenter is doing fine, keep the good work.

[@bosse641]

A 2 door would look very nice.

[@YasumotoUS]

Huh. US pricing is around $25k for the top trim, using ford's web site configuration tool. Considering that you can have (for now) a Focus ST in the same price band.... That's a tough argument unless you need the step-in height or AWD... assuming that the AWD is any good.

[@mrubuntuking5257]

The argument, if you're one of those very loyal Ford buyers who won't touch Chevy, and still thinks foreign cars are made overseas (while American companies don't do that) and unreliable plastic crap, setting aside that this was last true in the 70s, is that Ford is cancelling the Fiesta and Focus. It's the same car lifted a bit, but they can make more money by charging more for it if you need this size of car. Also, the dealer makes more money on interest when the buyer has to get an 8-9 year payment plan on a crossover instead of a 5-6 year one on a smaller car. An OEM with a base as rabidly and unconditionally loyal as Ford would be insane *not* to cancel their lower margin models and force people to step up into pricier crossovers, especially considering the MPG difference is 2-4 MPG now. If gas prices rise again even to post-Katrina levels, that goes from costing an extra $5-10/month to an extra $15-20, hardly worth rolling negative equity into a smaller car over. Not that it would matter, since Ford buyers who were raised in "Ford families" are simply never going to touch any other brand regardless of the fuel economy of Ford's lineup, but it does provide another argument Ford can make to their shareholders for getting rid of the cars. Ford just makes more money on an EcoSport vs Fiesta, Escape vs Focus, Explorer vs Fusion, and Expedition vs Taurus, and is probably going to increase their profit margins enough to compensate for the very, very few customers that they stand a serious chance of losing to another brand. They can take the same car, lift it, move the rear window back a bit, put plastic cladding on the bottom to hide the gaping hole under it, and charge $5-10k more for it. Not onlyare the margins higher on the cars themselves, but with creative financing they can probably *decrease* monthly payments while raising interest rates, which will leave the vast majority of people thinking they paid less for the crossover than its less expensive car equivalent, while making Ford even more money. It's a no-brainer.

[@dygardion9130]

The rear end seems unfinished, like they wanted to make it longer but stopped

[@tbecherrypicker4700]

Get the Ford Escape with the 2.0 ecoboost instead.

[@jackwoodstra6486]

I have never had a four cylinder car that runs at 2000 rpm at 60 miles per hour

[@10tenman10]

Personally I would look at the Corolla hatchback before this vehicle

[@TalismanPHX]

Good review, Max. Brutally honest. The interior space is truly sized for Asians... more diminutive stature. The rear seat is tiny, and the seat cushions on the rear bench felt like concrete. For a few dollars more, I'd move up to an Escape or even a Renegade. And Newfoundland looks beautiful, but very bleak.

[@mgrella63]

Im buying one soon

[@grandemage]

Dear Ford Canada, I refuse to call this the "Echo-Sport," it's Eco-Sport, like your Ecoboost... That is all, Rant over... lol :P

[@damariuseaton6678]

They should put the Ford Escape's 1.5 Eco Boost engine in this.

[@ESHANTBHANDOOLA]

4:44 hahahahah same happens with me lol

[@Jimmy-gd5ho]

I think the Kona is the only winner in this category

[@whosdondada]

Jimmy both are ugly

[@markmason4132]

The alarm is crap I bought one last week and it's a night mare,Google it it's common.Nice car I do love driving it.

[@sergevivier2861]

Max, the roads throughout Atlantic Canada are very bad. I recently drove to Cape Breton Island, NS and they were terrible in New Brunswick they are worst and that is why people are buying trucks.

[@aayonce4]

He is so handsome!

[@johnnylau77]

Wow this car is not cheap. Good for city driving. You should do this in the city downtown

[@gayxman5353]

Nothing could make me drive this car even if they gave it to me.

[@Driver-UK]

You don’t know what your missing I’ve just gone from a VW Touareg V10 5.0 litre Twin Turbo To a Ford Ecosport 998 cc 3 cylinder turbo st line auto in uk absolutely brilliant fantastic car .

[@directreply350]

33k!!! Fuck that!!

[@parikshitmandloi7857]

India Mai kab launch'hogi

[@Jimmy-gd5ho]

Thank you for pointing out the negatives. I find Zach usually only has praise for the vhicals he test. Cheers

[@alexwttc]

i have the manual transmission in uk and bit more powerful the st version

[@chadwickv2]

Yay! You're in my city!! The car is.. meh.

[@scrambler69-xk3kv]

Shame he did not know that the three cylinder would turn out to be a hand grenade engine. They do not hold up at all. many hoarer stories on You Tube about it, and all of it's problems.

[@LauDanielS]

Makes me think of a midget bodybuilder for some reason.

[@palebeachbum]

The first time I saw this vehicle in person was at an auto show and I literally laughed at the sight of it. The proportioning is that awkward and ugly. Combine that with crappy Ford reliability and you've got a real turd on your hands. Hyundai Kona over this all day.

[@nickolastiguan]

What an awkward looking vehicle

[@BTC909]

Plenty of better choices for the same money.

[@lukatron5498]

Until the wet belt goes snap at 40000 miles and oil pump belt looses all it's teeth

[@rafarga1980]

I’d rather the presenter talk about how he perfectly sculpt his fabulous eyebrows than the mediocre car 🙃

[@serkanister3620]

Good review but ugly vehicle

[@nickr3441]

Seen acouple of these in Ontario. Really ugly SUV, actually most sub compact SUVs are

[@gummyrabbit]

The wheels are too big...

[@jonmay6495]

Its a better then the old one in the UK that was very bad one still not the best Nissan new Kicks looks cool but in FWD only not a good

[@jsiszero]

$33K Ford Fiesta... lol

[@estebanposadaduque6415]

.... likable handsome reviewer ....

[@drwaqasmubarik]

Good review on ugly and boring car.I would rather go with Mitsubishi eclipse cross(though the back of it resembles Aztec)

[@davidjym]

Ford really needs to rethink the rear cargo door in order for people to take it seriously. We've seen this impractical design before with an older generation of the RAV4. The exterior design is just so out of proportion and not as gracefully designed. A locking fuel cap door would also help especially when gas prices are on the rise and people are literally stealing gas from people's cars.

[@obits3]

Ford really missed an opportunity to keep the spare tire like the original RAV4 all in the name of CAFE standards.

[@runforit420]

Another Ford product with huge A pillars that block visibility.

[@hsvcommodore4111]

This is about The third Facelift of this car, Ford tries to get People in The ecosport instead of The Fiesta in Europe, But Nobody wants this uglie thing!

[@swanblake]

HSV Commodore thank god your market isn't as dumb as the North American market. We buy pure garbage as long as it has a tall ride height

[@TheMikeCunningham]

Uh... It is literally selling like crazy in Europe.. so much so that they moved production there.

[@vlogospheer]

If these transmissions are as shitty as the world renowned pieces of shit they put in the fiesta/focus then stay away at all costs.

[@Nikiaf]

This car is a weird hybrid of a Fiesta and an F150. It's way too aggressively styled for such a small car, and yet suffers the same problem as all the other lifted subcompacts out there. It gives you a taller driving position, but almost nothing else. This thing is absolutely not capable off road, it doesn't even seem to have much ground clearance meaning it won't exactly be a snow king either.

[@mehftv]

Nikiaf but it sits high, so it will sell.

[@geethsan1567]

It's a really tiny car. It's a car built for tiny streets out in Asia. I wish manufacturers just stop investing in bringing a unnecessary car in and rather develop their existing cars.

[@justindavis5983]

this wins the most hideous looking car contest...

[@dsgrts]

How could a company making cool cars like the Raptor and Mustang make such an ugly car like this?

[@swanblake]

Yeonhoo Kim see the new CEO. Explains everything

[@PHFilms3]

This guy’s reviews are not good. Sorry to be so negative but Zack is much better. Also P.S it’s ECO sport not ECHO sport

[@jeffmorse645]

No, its echo-sport.

[@swanblake]

Ugly car. Very underwhelming offering. Can definitely tell this was developed for the Indian market and not at all the North American. Weak engines, horrible hard plastics everywhere, expensive, ect. They were late to the market and could have studied the competition and brought out an actual decent offering. Instead they did this lazy cash trap hoping to sell 5o women for the ride height. Just mailed it in.

[@iamarya2k21]

Agree with you! It is ugly and not fit for any other market other than India(Because of SUV/Crossover craze and low price) and some other Asian countries.

[@cassiocm]

Another missed opportunity by Ford..... Give it another decade and they will surely head the Mitsubishi way.

[@slofiz5336]

1liter engine and only gets 21mpg SMH

[@richardsnyder3900]

I am averaging 31 mpg on my 1.0 with a.c. running live in north Fl.

[@obus7800]

No MANUAL...not INTERESTED!

[@jeffmorse645]

Shame, isn't it? It would probably be a good bit of fun with one.

[@obus7800]

I don't like automatics that "hunt" up and down for the right gear. I also don't like the fact with a modern automatic you are only making a "suggestion" to a control module when you move the selector...you don't actually control anything if something goes wrong...with a manual you can always depress the clutch to stop a runaway vehicle. Drive by wire accelerators and transmissions only give you the illusion of control.

[@obits3]

I think the SES can come as a manual.