[Econobox]

Just found this snippet from Deccan Chronicle about the EcoSport and three things we may not know about it.

Aerodynamic pillar-kicker on the D-pillar to remove any chance of an air vacuum occurring at the rear when the car moves.

1-litre Ecoboost Engine is small enough to fit in an A4-sized paper! Yup, it's that tiny, but can still produce 125PS of power.

Boron Steel Construction is four times stronger than normal steel but it's lighter and used in key areas for increased safety.

 

[GoGreen]

That main thing that stood out to me was that the 1L was A4 paper sized! That's incredible. I would love to take a photo with a piece of paper sitting on top of the engine and pretty much covering it haha. That's cool lol

 

[workingclasshero]

I'll have more confidence in that body once i see it being tested but so far everything going for it is good enough for anyone to buy it on impulse. Yes there are alternatives on the market but so far Ford has been doing a lot of things right lately on top of that the EcoSport is already sold and successful in other parts of the world.

 

[GoGreen]

Always love to see the EuroNCAP testing videos and the likes to see how the car crunches up in the events of different types of collisions.

 

[WeeSUV]

The front bumper will still collapse in the crash as they're meant to crumple, what will test the Boron steel is a side crash test to see how much cabin intrusion there will be. If Boron steel is really that great, is it being used currently in a lot of Ford vehicles?

 

[GoGreen]

Really not too sure, they primarily focus on talking about their use of aluminum rather than safety aspects with Boron steel. This is the first time I'm actually hearing about Boron steel.

 

[workingclasshero]

Fiesta and Fusion has it, I remember seeing cutaways a few years ago that displayed the various metals. Both models are doing very well in terms of safety. Plus this is some light weight steel which contributes to the better fuel mileage they get.

 

[GoGreen]

Wonder how it compares to Chromoly or Titanium and what not?

 

[WeeSUV]

Both Chromoly and Titanium comes at an increase in cost so neither material will appear on an affordable model like the EcoSport. Not sure about titanium, but Chromoly steel is used when you need more strength than what mild carbon steel can provide. Not sure how it stacks against Boron steel.

 

[Econobox]

That's getting into very technical details that most people won't really care all that much about. What's interesting is the engine since a modified version of it is in a Formula Ford racing car. Does that mean there's huge tuning potential for the one in the Ecosport?

 

[workingclasshero]

Cost might just mean they use less of that special blend of metal since it can help them on the marketing front and with being sustainable for the fact it will shave off some weight thus contributing to improved MPGs

 

[GoGreen]

In regards to the engine, it could just literally be bare block and heads that are used. Doubt they'll share any other components than that. Translating that to power potential and tuning capabilities, far different.

 

[Econobox]

Well they can't just hand out the Formula Ford racing car engine to everyone who buys an EcoSport. That's why it's a modified version, but still pretty powerful since the article says it can compete against cars with higher displacements.

 

[GoGreen]

123hp is far from what I would call pretty powerful. It may perform almost like a 1.4L MultiAir but... I mean it's not much.

In regards to competing with cars of higher displacements. The engine is only a minor part of that equation considering the race car is the most important part. Speed is relative to power:weight

 

[WeeSUV]

We'll just have to wait for a shootout between the Ecosport and other cars in the same segment. Power isn't everything when it comes to cars, I'm more interested in the torque output and where most of it lies on the power band.

 

[GoGreen]

A shootout with these would be as equally ridiculous as a shootout of minivans. You'll be putting them through "competition" in things people will never do with them.

 

[workingclasshero]

A shootout outside of the traditional sense sure, as long as that means a city shootout. That I would be interested in. For this they should get some millennials, their prime target group

 

[GoGreen]

Maybe a shootout of "how much can we fit in the cargo area with the exception of 4 passengers total" or something in that sense.

 

[WeeSUV]

More for acceleration rate than anything since that's what matter most when merging onto freeways. But a comparison test outside of the typical drag race should be done, especially in terms of cargo space and practicality.

 

[Econobox]

The EcoSport will just be featured in one of those more generic comparison tests like how it performs on rural roads, city driving, practicality etc. Nothing too performance oriented since it's not really designed for that.