WE LIKE Sync user interface, well-appointed interior on SES model
WE DON’T LIKE Engines that sound like they’re begging for mercy
This is a shareholder-value vehicle, not a customer-value vehicle. There’s a mini-ute profit war brewing, and Ford can’t afford to be Switzerland, so the company has gone to battle with the aging army it has, not the cutting-edge army it surely must have wanted.
We look forward to discovering flashes of Expedition/Navigator brilliance in the EcoSport’s replacement, but for now there’s little to recommend a tall, tippy, gawky-looking, ironically named, developing-market trucklet that’s woefully short of both eco and sport.
Several editors nevertheless managed to find nice things to say. Human sequoia Zach Gale was pleasantly surprised by the spaciousness and cushy armrests in the tall, upright rear seat, gadget-boy Stefan Ogbac appreciated the Sync 3 system’s ease of use and instant responsiveness, and Kim Reynolds praised the EcoSport’s dynamics on our figure-eight course. It even traversed the tilted-slab L.A. Interstate 110 replica with reasonable suppleness, making us wonder if that was because its wheelbase was shorter than the slabs.
But these pleasantries were outnumbered in our logbooks by less flattering critiques. “It’s poor on gas, noisy, and ugly,” Scottish straight-talker Gordon Dickie declared. Noted Angus MacKenzie: “The engines drone, and there’s a lot of diagonal pitch in corners.” Ogbac observed, “Everything screams ‘built to price,’ yet it can hit $30,000 when fully optioned.”
And on the off-road course, where the 1.0-liter front-driver struggled mightily in shallow, snowlike sand, Christian Seabaugh so flustered the poor thing that it threw this very unusual warning: “Power reduced to lower engine temp.” His EcoSport summation expresses our collective sentiment: “Ford of North America didn’t take this vehicle seriously, so why should I?”
READ ABOUT 2019 SUV OF THE YEAR CONTENDERS:
| 2018 Ford EcoSport SE (FWD) | 2018 Ford EcoSport SES 4WD | |
| Base Price/As tested | $23,995/$25,685 | $27,875/$28,345 |
| Power (SAE net) | 123 hp @ 6,000 rpm | 166 hp @ 6,500 rpm |
| Torque (SAE net) | 125 lb-ft @ 3,500 rpm | 149 lb-ft @ 4,500 rpm |
| Accel, 0-60 mph | 11.2 sec | 9.9 sec |
| Quarter-mile | 18.2 sec @ 76.7 mph | 17.4 sec @ 77.0 mph |
| Braking, 60-0 mph | 128 ft | 132 ft |
| Lateral Acceleration | 0.74 g (avg) | 0.77 g (avg) |
| MT Figure Eight | 29.3 sec @ 0.54 g (avg) | 28.7 sec @ 0.56 g (avg) |
| EPA City/Hwy/Comb | 27/29/28 mpg | 23/29/25 mpg |
| Vehicle Layout | Front-engine, FWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV | Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV |
| Engine/Transmission | 1.0L turbo DOHC 12-valve I-3 /6-speed automatic | 2.0L DOHC 16-valve I-4 /6-speed automatic |
| Curb Weight (F/R Dist) | 3,054 lb (62/38%) | 3,390 lb (58/42%) |
| Wheelbase | 99.2 in | 99.2 in |
| Length x Width x Height | 161.3 x 69.5 x 64.8 in | 161.3 x 69.5 x 65.1 in |
| Energy Cons, City/Hwy | 125/116 kW-hrs/100 miles | 147/116 kW-hrs/100 miles |
| CO2 Emissions, Comb | 0.70 lb/mile | 0.76 lb/mile |
The post Ford EcoSport: 2019 Motor Trend SUV of the Year Contender appeared first on Motor Trend.
from Motor Trend https://ift.tt/2QcjYX7
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