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TheFordEcosport isthelatestentranttotheMalaysianminiurbanSUVsceneandZachary
Ho pulls one out of the driveway to see if it canGo Further.
66 | FireFlyz
Car
Review
P h o t o & W o r d s :
Z a c h a r y H o
I
n
case you missed it, the mini
SUV was a familiar sight on local
roads. From the Daihatsu Feroza
to the Suzuki Jimny to the Perodua
Kembara to the Toyota RAV4, they
were seen dashing along city and
country roads. A shift in consumer
trends however, saw the mini SUV take
a mini holiday.
It did show itself here and there in
the guise of the Suzuki SX4, Perodua
Nautica and Peugeot 2008, but not quite
significantly yet. With the EcoSport, Ford
is aiming to make this segment hot again,
in a cool way.
LOOKS
Ford’s latest design trend is far from ugly
and the EcoSport doesn’t sway from that.
On the road, it gathers its fair share of
admiring gazes. It sports a face that’s
dominated by an enormous trapezoidal
grille, which, coupled with the slim
headlamps and adjoining slit, visually
raises the vehicle’s appeal. But it’s not all
optical illusion; the EcoSport has a high
ground clearance of 200mm and one of
its touted abilities is its capability to ford
(get it?) 550mmof water. If you’ve noticed
the amount of rainfall we’ve been getting,
you’ll realize this pretty useful feature
Going Big on Small
alone is a good reason to buy one.
At the back, the covered spare wheel
hangs off the tailgate like a proper SUV
instead of sitting under the car. This
arrangement allows for more room for
the suspension, fuel tank and cargo space.
And because of this too, the tailgate,
which is hydraulically assisted, swings
open to the side as opposed to upwards.
It’s a convenient feature for the vertically
challenged but do remember to allow
some leeway when backing up to a wall.
Another noteworthy feature is the tailgate
release which has been smartly integrated
into the rear lamp cluster.
POWER
The EcoSport shares the Fiesta hatch-
back’s 1.5-liter Ti-VCT engine but because
it has to move more bulk, it has been
retuned with slightly lower horsepower
and a bit more torque. The difference
isn’t much but every little bit helps move
the EcoSport along smoothly. Honestly,
the engine’s performance won’t set your
heart racing but it’s hardly a sloth. It revs
eagerly when you need to execute an
overtaking maneuver but starts to sound
coarse when you get close to the redline.
Both variants (Trend and higher-spec’d