The first Ford EcoSport was launched in Brazil in 2003. Designed to capitalise on a growing demand for small off-road style vehicles, it was based on the then current Fiesta and Fusion and immediately found favour making it one of the best-selling vehicles in the Brazilian market. Sales soon started in a number of Latin American markets where the car also proved popular. When it came to planning a replacement Ford concluded that there was a potential market for a car of this type in other geographies and so the second generation EcoSport was developed as part of Ford’s global program. Design and development was undertaken in Brazil, but the new model was actually first show-cased as a concept in India at the start of 2012 before a production model appeared in July that year. Brazil was the first market to get the car, but within a few months, the new EcoSport was launched in China and once production was underway in Chennai, also on the Indian market. Sales were strong, which probably helped Ford believe that the car could also do well in Europe and the US. Ford launched the EcoSport in Europe during 2014, with a limited first batch of 500 units arriving in the first quarter of the year. The car was not well received, with the press castigating it on many fronts, and in its first year in Europe, Ford only managed to sell 11,000 units against over 100,000 for each of its main competitors, which was not quite what Ford had envisaged. The car was revised in 2015, to try to make it more suitable to European tastes, and plans were put in place to build it – to European standards – at the Craiova plant in Romania. Production there did not start until 2017, but it showed that, not for the first time when Ford launch a sub-par product (think 1990 Escort) they do generally work hard to try to fix the worst of the issues during its life, and anyway this market segment was growing fast so it was one that could not be ignored. In parallel, Ford were pressing ahead with a US launch. The car was show at the 2016 Los Angeles show and I remember having something of a disagreement with the stand staff there on how to pronounce the name of their new car. They called it “echo-sport”, which just seemed odd to me, as it is not spelled that way and the whole idea of the name, I though, was that it sought to combine economy and sportiness. The car that was shown on stand there, not actually going on sale until early 2018, was a facelifted EcoSport with a new front end, new bumpers, and with added equipment including a high-mounted touchscreen and incorporating the much-praised Ecoboost engine. Whilst European sales did show a marked improvement once these revised cars were on sale, finally exceeding the 100,000 units a year, the car has only enjoyed moderate success in America. Not surprisingly, they started to appear in the rental fleets a few months after sales started, and so finally, some years after introduction, I got the chance to see for myself how good the EcoSport really is, when I spotted a photographically friendly bright red example parked up at the Hertz LAX facility. It turned out to be a fairly new car, which is far from always being the case with US car rentals in the current chip-supply post-Covid era.

Ford offer the US market EcoSport models powered with two familiar engines, the 1.0 litre Ecoboost or the 2.0 litre four cylinder unit that sees service in the Focus and Escape (Kuga). The test car had the former. I thought this should prove to be a Good Thing, as the Ecoboost is well regarded for being a smooth, refined and powerful engine that makes cars like the Fiesta and Focus feel quite lively. Sadly, that really did not prove to be the case here. Apparently there are 125 bhp on offer, but I rather wondered where some of those brake horses were. I think the gearbox has a lot to answer for. It made early gearchanges, especially in the lower gears, which the meant that either acceleration was particularly sluggish, or you had to work the engine hard to get better performance out of it. Whilst bemoaning the transmission, it also proved too easy to overshoot R when shifting. Net was that the car felt sluggish and really struggled with even quite modest inclines on the canyon roads where I took this car. Worse still, the engine proved noisy, even at low revs. I did not go on a long freeway journey, but I learned enough to know that this would not have been a relaxing experience. In total I covered 195 miles with the EcoSport and it took 6.3 gallons to refill it which works out at 30.95 mpg US or 36.98 mpg Imperial, a decent enough result. There is a standard stop/start system, which I did leave enabled, unlike most Americans who turn such features off.

This being a Ford, you would expect it to be good to drive, with excellent steering and good handling and road-holding? Wrong! The steering in the Ecosport is most un-Ford like, proving to be extremely light and completely devoid of any feel. Whilst this made it easy to manoeuvre in the city, out on the open road, it robbed this Ford of any joy on the canyon roads. The handling is pretty un-Ford like, too. There’s nothing really wrong with it, with predictable safe handling that heads towards understeer as speeds increase and ample grip, but you won’t be actively seeking a bendy road in this car. At least the ride proved OK. Higher spec EcoSport models, such as this one, come on 205/50 R17 wheels and the suspension is on the soft side, which probably explains the ho-hum handling, but it does mean the car does decently well on the less than well-surfaced roads of LA. There were no issues with the brakes. You still get a conventional pull-up handbrake between the seats. Visibility also presented few problems, and the inclusion of a Blind Spot Warning system was certainly helpful. The same cannot be said of some of the other safety features which generated a lot of annoying warning bongs.

Despite efforts to improve the perceived quality of the interiors of their cars in recent years, Ford has never been a class leader in this respect, and the EcoSport certainly is not going to wow anyone in this regard. There are plenty of hard plastics, though they do look decent enough, and maybe in a car which is aimed more at utility than luxury, this might be acceptable. To try to emphasise the tough go anywhere looks, there is a dash mounted grab handle in front of the passenger. Higher spec EcoSport models get a nice leather-wrapped steering wheel. There is a simple instrument cluster, with two large dials for the speedo and rev counter which are clearly marked and easy to read. Between them are a smaller pair for fuel level and water temperature and a rather old-school style trip computer display. There are auto lights operated by a rotary control on the dash to the left of the wheel and auto wipers on the right hand stalk. The steering wheel boss has audio repeaters, cruise control and trip computer selection buttons on it. The infotainment screen is perched up high on the dash where it is easy to see and reach. Based on Ford’s Sync 3 system, it has a touch operation but there are still plenty of buttons for common functions as well. In Titanium spec you get integrated navigation as well as Apple Car Play and Android Auto and – slightly unusually for a car in this class – there is a 4G LTE WiFi HotSpot. Titanium spec includes a nine-speaker Bang and Olufsen sound system, and the sound quality from this was good. Lower on the centre of the dash are the controls for the automated climate control.

In the top spec Titanium trim of the test car, you get leather seats, though the quality of the material used is not particularly nice. Adjustment for the driver’s seat is electric and as well as a telescoping steering wheel, there are height adjustable seat belts, so getting the optimum driving position is easy. Getting comfortable proved harder, though, as the seats seemed particularly lacking in shape and form and were simply not that nice to sit on even for relatively short distances. At least there is a feeling of space here, thanks to the tall styling and the sunroof which is also part of the Titanium spec means the cabin feels light and airy.

The rear seats are set quite high, but thanks to the design of the car there is still plenty of headroom available. This is not a terribly large car, so expecting to fit three adults across the width of what is quite a narrow car is a bit optimistic, but there is ample space for two. Even with the front seats set well back, there should be enough legroom even for the taller person, thanks to quite an upright seating position. There is a drop-down central armrest and as well as pockets on the doors, there is a single map pocket on the back of the passenger seat and there is a power outlet.

Somewhat unusually, the Ecosport does not have a conventional tailgate but rather a side-hinged door. Early models had a spare wheel mounted on this, but that has now been banished to inside the car (or deleted completely in favour of a can of gunk). It took me quite a while to figure out how to open up, until eventually I spotted that there is a small release button hidden in the rear in cluster the rear. Whilst it was not a problem during my test, the disadvantage of a side-opening door is that you need a lot of clearance at the back of the car, which you just don’t get in confined areas or urban parking. There is actually a decent sized boot, one of the larger in its class. The floor is adjustable. The rear seats are asymmetrically split, but when they fold down, the resulting area is not flat. I found the parcel shelf to be particularly awkward to remove. Inside the cabin there is a very pokey sized glovebox, and the armrest cubby is also very narrow and not terribly useful. There are also some small door pockets.

The US market 2021 Ford EcoSport is available in four trim levels: S, SE, SES and Titanium. EcoSport S, SE and Titanium models with front-wheel drive are powered by a turbocharged 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine (123 bhp, 125 lb/ft of torque). All-wheel drive is optional on those trims and standard on the SES. Every all-wheel-drive model gets a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine (166 bhp, 149 lb/ft). Both engines are paired to a six-speed automatic transmission. The entry level mode is the S, and it Is not particularly well-equipped. The standard spec includes 16-inch alloy wheels, cruise control, power windows and locks, a six-speaker audio system, two USB charging ports and a 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot. The SE builds off the base S model with a number of additional features. Changes include LED running lights, fog lights, body-colour door handles and trim, roof rails, keyless entry with push-button start, automatic climate control, a sunroof, tinted rear windows and heated front seats, satellite radio, an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system with integrated navigation system, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration as well as parking sensors (alert you to obstacles that may not be visible behind the vehicle when parking). There are couple of options packages available. The SE Convenience package gives you a 110-volt power outlet, ambient interior lighting, a blind-spot monitor with rear cross-traffic alert (warns you if a vehicle is in your blind spot during a lane change or while in reverse) and a seven-speaker audio system. The SE Appearance package comprises 17-inch wheels, a power-adjustable driver’s seat and leather-wrapped steering wheel. The SES is the most stylish member of the lineup, with lots of gloss-black and dark-coloured accents. In addition to standard all-wheel drive and the 2.0-litre engine, the SES comes with all SE features, adding not just the SE Convenience package but also black 17-inch wheels, sport-tuned suspension, a heated steering wheel, leather upholstery with cloth inserts, a power-adjustable driver’s seat, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, heated exterior mirrors and rain-sensing wipers. Like the SES, the EcoSport Titanium includes all of the SE’s features. In addition to the standard SE Convenience package, the Titanium includes 17-inch wheels, chrome and metallic exterior accents, a heated steering wheel, leather upholstery, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, heated exterior mirrors, rain-sensing wipers and a nine-speaker Bang & Olufsen audio system.

Whilst the EcoSport of 2021 is, by all accounts, a much-improved car compared to the first ones that arrived in Europe and received a barrage of criticism, this is still not a very impressive car. The combination of weedy engine and ill-matched gearbox make it sluggish and noisy and the vague steering mean that it is no fun to drive. Whilst space inside is OK, that is no good if the seat comfort is only borderline acceptable as I found to be the case. Higher spec models have quite ambitious pricing too, so unless you really like the slightly butch styling, you would be well advised to look elsewhere for a compact SUV. Even in the US there are several other options, and in Europe there are rather more of them, almost all of which would be a better choice than this EcoSport.