Ford Ecosport | 1.5P | 10,000 Kms | Review: When Love and Hate Collide


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Disclaimer : With Little blogging experience, i have attempted to do the best i can. Apologies if content appears offensive or irrelevant. I plan to cover the 10K kms review in 3 sections, below is 1st of the 3 that focuses on buying experience

It all started with the urban discoveries promo email in my inbox; was it the greed to win the car or the pride to test one before others would, i am not sure what got me interested. I was the 8th participant to sign up for the contest, had the right story (i still believe) and support (votes) - fought tooth and nail to be in the game. However! as luck would have it, I didn't make it to the first shortlist.

It was more painful than a break-up to recover and it wasn't really the loss, it was frustration of not knowing the reason for the loss that was killing. I was never a fan of Ford products, after the contest experience, i lost whatever little respect i had for the organization; I felt that they were not transparent about their policies and they wouldn't care about genuine customers. Little did i knew that all of my feelings would actually get validated with the delivery experience that many customers in the forums underwent. So that's Hate !

26th June, 2013 - Video(read Ecosport) killed the Radio star(read Duster): pricing, features, comparos every aspect of it made many SUVs look a few generations old. The excitement in all possible media channels revived my interest back in the vehicle. Battling however, with this excitement, was my ego (hurt from the bad experience of the contest), holding me back from exploring Ecosport further. It was the ego scoring over excitement till i learnt from a colleague that he chose Duster over the Ecosport. He however hadn't cancelled his pre-booking for ecosport and offered it to me. I guess that was the trigger where the excitement took off. I was all set to test drive the car.

Love at first sight? 30th June of 2013, 10 am in the morning (see this as the first available opportunity) I was at Talera ford showroom. The crowd surrounding the display vehicle at 10:00 am was unprecedented. I must admit that the first impressions were mind blowing. I would have oggled at Ecosport for atleast 30 minutes, every curve [;)] , every dimension, every posture of hers. Seemed like in these 30 minutes, she strategically was building an electromagnetic field to pull me closer.
O Boy! Irresistible it was, i was desperate to lay my hands on her. After about 37 minutes of wait, i could touch the steering. The feel was sensual, once i 'turned it on', it reciprocated to every push of the paddle. The drive was indeed orgasmic.

If Love is said to be blind, this case would eventually be termed as of cataract. In the interim,I spent time creating a need in my head that certainly matches with the specs that Ecosport has to offer. One can notice (Join Date on the left) that TAI membership was a step in the direction. I had to justify its existence or its expense to my own self as the others, in any case, would just see through. Not that it would be my first car, second, third or fourth for that matter, the persistent me however found that sweet spot somehow. Decision was done, i had made up mind to procure the sea-grey automatic variant.

I thought i had buried the hate from the contest deep down somewhere - Ford gently reminded me of it when the dealer (Planet ford) refused to acknowledge the pre-booking and didn't provide any preference/commitment on deliveries. I have to admit that neither me nor my colleague who originally made the original booked were treated well. Well who cared ? Ford didn't, they had enough and more customers pouring in. The walls of this forum were painted black from horrific stories of bad customer service by Ford dealers. Ford allowed this to happen

13th July of 2013, While i know why, not sure how i chose to make a fresh booking at Talera Ford. Eventually this decision paid off. Since their showroom was close to where i put up, i would show up every now and then (atleast once in a week) to check for progress on deliveries. At times, just to observe the excitement of owners taking deliveries. I would notice that certain variants have a faster delivery time than the others. The variant i had chosen, was somehow at the bottom of production priority list. I started having second thoughts on the model, later color, and finally the car.

Confused as i was, i started considering XUV as an alternate. In one of the rapport building sessions with the ford dealer i happened to mention this change of heart. Was i double-crossing? , even if i was attempting to, the sales team didn't allow me to do so. On 5th September 2013 (+53 days from booking) gave an offer that was too good to miss: They somehow had a Kinetic blue P ambient in stock and i could own it with no wait and the amazing 5.59L price ( A day before the 1st price hike came in to effect [clap] ).

Within no time i managed the finances, PDIs,VIN, accessories were finalized - i registered the car on 16th September 2013 and drove it home on the 18th. Not in my wildest dreams did i think that buying a car would transform into an affair, and this my friends, is just the beginning.

I am conscious that fellow TAIns looking for technical information on the car may be a tad disappointed with this emotional story. I promise to meet their expectations in the next update : When i share details on how i was able to customize the exteriors and interiors at unexpectedly low costs

Sneak peek of what you can expect in the next section :

Experience across terrains thru these 10K kms
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Custom black interiors

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Custom MMI interface (DIY) with BMW style dial interface (WIP)

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Simply ooooosum [:)]rajiv..
Nice write up ..how u did the custom MID?? Will this mod void the warranty ??even I own a ambiente . Cos f the warranty issues I didn't do any mods.please suggest
 
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Simply ooooosum [:)]rajiv..
Nice write up ..how u did the custom MID?? Will this mod void the warranty ??even I own a ambiente . Cos f the warranty issues I didn't do any mods.please suggest
Hi Sooraj, thanks. I don't believe it would impact any warranty as it interfaces with ecosport on 2 counts : 1. To charge itself thru the charging point and 2 pick instructions from obdii to trigger custom actions

While it is WIP, I will share broad construct by weekend
 
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Great coverage Rajiv the interiors do look awesome have you changed the seat covers as well or are these original seats from Ford
 
Thread Starter #11
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Great coverage Rajiv the interiors do look awesome have you changed the seat covers as well or are these original seats from Ford
Thanks, i have retained original seats/covers and covered them with custom stitched covers. I had to install headrests in the rear seats as they don't come as default in ambient variant
 
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Wow[clap]. Interior looks premium with the custom MMI and black seats. First pic really brings the best of blue for me as I have earlier known them to be very flashy. Eager to know about the Custom MMI[:D]. Waiting for the rest of the story too.
 
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Hi Rajiv, congrats on your ES making 10K. Wish you many happy miles ahead.

Can you throw more light on DIY MMI Interface , how is it configured and installed?
 
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Wow[clap]. Interior looks premium with the custom MMI and black seats. First pic really brings the best of blue for me as I have earlier known them to be very flashy. Eager to know about the Custom MMI[:D]. Waiting for the rest of the story too.
Thanks Karthick, not sure if the earlier posted pics bring out the body work carried out to match with black seats. The center console and lower dash/side trims are more visible in this view

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sun kissed

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The interiors look stunning. The quality and fit and finish of the seats and steering cover looks top class.

Eagerly awaiting the details on how this was done and also the cost involved.
 

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