Test Ford Ecosport ST Line 1.0 EcoBoost 125 HP

This week we have had the opportunity to test the Ford Ecosport. A small SUV with various lights and shadows that make it an original car. Specifically, we are testing a unit with the finish STLine and with the only engine currently available: the gasoline 1.0 Turbo Ecoboost 125 HP associated with a manual change.

This model has been on the market since 2018 without modifications, except for the Active finish that came out at the end of 2020 with a somewhat more country design, greater ground clearance and various extra protections. However, it is exactly the same in the rest of the sections, including the front-wheel drive, the gearbox and the engine.

The design of the Ford Ecosport

The Ford Ecosport is an SUV of Meters long 4,01, 1,76 meters wide and 1,65 meters high. In addition to having a battle of 2,52 meters. That is to say, that by dimensions it competes with cars like the Seat Arona, Skoda Kamiq, Citroen C3 Aircross, Nissan Juke or Opel Mokka.

As for its design, the Ford Ecosport is a simple car that does not attract too much attention despite being an ST Line. This finish gives led lights for the short ones, halogen taillights, black roof bars, tinted rear windows and 17-inch two-tone wheels. Perhaps if it makes it stand out a little more, the metallic blue color that the brand calls Desert Island and which represents an extra outlay of 763 euros.

Su silhouette is somewhat more cubic than we are used to in current cars. Especially in the nose and in the rear, which has the roof with a very slight drop to the far back, leaving a little inclined glass compared to many other models.

So far everything normal. However, this last characteristic of its silhouette causes the most important peculiarity of the Ford Ecosport: opening the trunk. Unlike all the competition, the hinges are on the left side so the gate opens like any other door. A very different solution that after trying it for a week implies serious limitations on the use of the trunk.

The Ecosport cannot be parked with the rear against the wall if you plan to use the trunk. At least, if you don't have plenty of space to open it because the garage space is especially large. With a wall nearby, there will hardly be a gap to put or take out packages. But what's worse, the same thing happens when we park in a line, because if the car behind us is close, we won't be able to have the entire loading spout either. A circumstance that, to make matters worse, is not in our hands once we leave it on the street.

Interior of the Ford Ecosport

Once we open the driver's door, what first becomes apparent is that the unit we tested is a STLine. Especially for details like the leather-style seats with red stitching, sports steering wheel Leather style with matching stitching, as well as the parking brake and gear shift knob.

As for the interior quality, in the Ford Ecosport everything is reasonably well put together, although the materials are of a poor quality. The plastics are hard on most surfaces and if there is any trim, it is the usual piano black, which looks pretty at first glance but gets dirty and scratched too easily. That is the case of the dashboard, with the small visor that is on the hole for small objects.

There is also a hole in the center console and another in the center tunnel in the form of cup holders. The armrest also has a small space to put your mobile phone, wallet or similar objects. Lastly, in the doors there are spaces designed to fit a bottle and a few other loose items, but their depth outside of the bottle hole isn't great and it's easy for them to slip out if too many get in.

Somewhat better multimedia system

At technological section It is noted that this model will be discontinued soon and therefore has not received any updates. The central touch screen has somewhat reduced definition and fluidity and its design is somewhat outdated if we compare it with current competitive models.

This outdated update is also noticeable in the driving aids that are included in the Safety Package. These are the blind spot detectors, the automatic switching on of lights with control of long and short beams, front parking sensors, rear view camera and fatigue detector.

They all work but it is noticeable that they are not very polished in details such as: that sometimes the front detector takes a while to warn, the camera has a low resolution and the transition between high and low beam is not efficient enough and bothers other drivers. On the other hand, you can not put any fault with the detectors of fatigue or blind spot.

Behind the leather steering wheel, the instrumentation is classic but well resolved and with more than enough information for the driver. In addition, it shows everything in a simple and clear way, something that has not been achieved with much more modern digital instrumentation, such as the Citroën C5 that we tested a few weeks ago and that you can see in this video:

Back row and trunk?

The rear seats of this SUV are sufficient, although they are not the best compared to alternatives from other brands. Of course, the seats are also comfortable in this second row. Where we can give it the worst grade is in the trunk since it only cubes 334 liters, which is below most competing cars.

Behind the wheel of the Ford Ecosport

In this section is where we have found more virtues when testing the Ford Ecosport. Based on the fact that we are in an SUV of the B segment of a generalist brand, it must be recognized that it fulfills its function very satisfactorily. The seats are comfortable and the sound insulation is within expectations. in a car of these characteristics.

You can do road and motorway trips with some comfort. Its suspension has a fairly neutral balance between comfort and dynamism. Although the 17-inch wheels of the ST Line finish do take away some comfort when overcoming certain bumps and speed bumps.

The steering stiffens up enough on high-speed journeys and conveys some information to the driver about what is happening to the front end when driving on twisty roads. In addition, although the body rolls within what is expected in an SUV, It has very noble reactions and no rebounds when a certain dynamism is required. Something that not all competitive cars can boast of. In that sense, it is better, for example, than a Seat Arona or a Peugeot 2008.

The 1.0 T 125 CV gasoline engine

Again here we have found many more lights than shadows in the Ecosport. Although we are talking about a three-cylinder engine with only 1.0 liter displacement, is far above other competitive engines with these characteristics. For example, a 1.0 CV 110 TSI like the one we tested with the volkswagen taigo (you can see the video test here) have more vibrations and lower performance. Its only advantage over the engine of Ford It's just that the turbo lag is a bit less.

Its power is 125 CV and its maximum torque is 170 Nm of torque. The latter figure is somewhat low, but that move easily enough this SUV. In addition, this engine torque is found in a very wide range of the rev counter: between 1.400 rpm and 4.500 rpm. Which allows you to drive without using the gear lever too much if you prefer and which further accentuates the feeling of going with a bigger engine and more cylinders.

With the Ford Ecosport it is capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in 11 seconds and reaching 180 km/h. Not surprising figures, but more than enough for a car of this type. Their mixed consumption approved according to the WLTP cycle It is 6,2 l/100km, a figure that we have come very close to during the test.

Breaking down the consumption obtainedIn the city we have always been around 7,9 l/100 km. Always with the Start/Stop activated and doing some section through little-traveled crossings. On the highway, this consumption has dropped to 5,1 liters and on the highway (where aerodynamics is penalized the most) we have registered a consumption of 7 l/100 km according to the on-board computer.

Conclusions

As we already warned at the beginning of the article, the Ford Ecosport is a peculiar car with great strengths and weaknesses. Among its virtues are the noble reactions of its chassis and its solvent engine despite being a three-cylinder. Its shortcomings are the side-opening gate, which reduces its practicality in certain situations, and its somewhat obsolete driving aids.