The Big Little Jump

The Ecoboost Is Back, And There’s Another Surprise In Store For The Ecosport 

- Raunak Ajinkya

A new EcoSport? Not quite, but it’s worth your time, none-theless. Why? Because it’s just a bit more than the run-of-the-mill facelift or update that we’re seemingly inundated with, and that’s primarily because of one word — EcoBoost. Where this story gets interesting is when Ford decided to bring the 1.0-litre three-cylinder EcoBoost back into the running with the facelifted EcoSport. There were, indeed, a fair few questions directed at a bamboozled lot of Ford technicians when the facelifted EcoSport debuted only with a diesel option. That’s now been rectified.

I’ll throw some numbers your way first: the 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine petrol makes 123 bhp and 17.3 kgm, which is identical to what the one we used to have. Ford says that nothing’s been tuned, no fettling’s been done, and it is very much the same engine that we’re used to. This time, however, there’s a new 6-speed manual transmission. The diesel sticks to the 5-speed manual. And the only way you can spec your EcoSport with an automatic ‘box is if you get it with Ford’s 1.5–litre petrol engine.