Ford ES First Hand Report
@ carageous,
Good work, keep it up.
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@ all,
Sorry for not putting my feedback on ES as said. The reason being my internet went kaput. :( We have private telephone exchange coupled with private cable broadband service in our society & some card malfunctioned because of which several connections malfunctioned & my port was also in same card :(.
But now as it is up & running, here is my take on ES -
I had gone to inorbit mall in last week of April this year alongwith my parents (though they were not that interested but I said to them that my gut feeling says I will be able to drive ES, so they accompanied). Kept the visit professional so as not to take me casually; first called up Ford local dealer, got the names & their representative at the mall, went to mall in odd hours after taking half day at office (planned it almost 3 weeks in advance for ES) & once I reached there, spoke with the representative after giving him reference of the person at showroom & he in turn introduced me to that lady (girls) who were trained by Ford. Spoke with them prima facie after which they didn't bother giving details which are already here on TAI & we straightway headed inside the car or CUV (compact utility vehicle). I was very happy when I found that steering wasn't touching my thighs. Had this not been the case, the next minute I would have walked out.
The good :) -
* Good GC,
* Compact & hence suitable for city use,
* Rather than fancy stuff like in XUV, they have given very useful features. Some of them are -
# Height & reach adjustable steering wheel. In normal circumstances, steering was touching my thighs, but thanks to reach adjust, I pulled steering more towards my side & whoa, it increased inclination angle thanks to which steering didn't touch my thighs. This is the only vehicle in sub-15/17L bracket in which I was able to sit on driver seat without any issue with steering wheel,
# Steering mounted controls & some other synchronized with microsoft software,
# The boot space increased due to spare wheel on rear door/boot door,
# 60:40 split seats,
# Integrated rear door handle in tail-lights gives nice touch & rear door operated electrically with a small press-button switch,
* The ingress-egress was also good for car of its size for front doors,
* Descent legroom in front & rear (for sub 4m size),
* Looks are indeed very nice. It doesn't give feel that it is sub 4m vehicle from front & rear. Only from side, it looks small,
* Multiple engine options claiming to provide good FE. I think 1.0L ecoboost & 1.5L diesel will be best sellers. Only those wanting auto trans will buy 1.5L petrol,
* The diesel will be a variable geometry (VGT) which is far better than Fiesta Classic,
* No need for step (or whatever that long plate is called as in case of Safari) to get in & out and I am sure girls will be happy with it. Ingress-egress is similar to Innova in case of height,
* The view from cabin is good, mainly due to its height. However, don't expect it to be as good as Storme, but better than Duster,
* Electrically adjustable ORVM (manually fold-able) with integrated turn lights,
* Fantastic substitute for B+ hatch,
* 16" wheels are welcome,
* Ford is giving key for removing spare tyre so that it is not stolen from outside. This key though is not normal key but a small rod with slits inside it. The slits are unique & hence it can't be used to remove other ES spare tyre. You can therefore consider that the spare tyre is quite safe even on boot door,
* Nice use of chrome, the front use of chrome gives it bigger than real look. It looks bonsai of Audi Q series :P,
* ES is a unisex CUV. Even if cute girl drives it, it will still look good. 2 in 1 micro-truck
![[:D]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Big%20Smile.gif "Big Smile [:D]")
The bad :( -
* Rear glass is small for comfort, should have been atleast 2"x2" bigger,
* Rear doors are small, not for my liking,
* The width of ES is quite less. We had deliberately taken Dzire to inorbit mall so that I can feel immediate difference in cabin space between the two & I found that Dzire from inside is much bigger than ES. The only thing which compensates it is the height. I felt the width of ES = i10,
* The absence of rear armrest in ES was also uncalled for. Ford should have given it atleast in Titanium, the same model which was showcased at mall,
* The driver side arm rest is too less in length, I felt either it should have been longer or atleast located in bit towards front. I managed to hardly keep half of my arm on it. It will be therefore more useful only when you are driving with single hand on steering, or you opt for auto trans model of ES,
* The boot space is quite less. Though ford managed to give something better after putting spare tyre on boot door, the boot lacks depth. The boot space in Dzire is much better,
* The under-thigh support is horrible. This was even more in my case & was observed as both, front as well as rear seats,
* Rear seat is strictly for 2 persons & 1 handbag. This is again due to less width,
* The size of the seats are quite narrow. The seats of Dzire are much more comfortable by all means, better thigh support & better width too. The internal cabin space is less than Honda Jazz,
* I would have preferred body colored rear bumper.
My final verdict -
There were free-lancer girls exclusively trained by Ford to explain prospective buyers about ES. This was a big advantage for me as I asked that girl to do all the adjustments, like seats position, steering adjustments, folding of seats to accommodate more luggage etc. for me & she did it comfortably. My intention here was to see how comfortable & smooth is the operation. If a girl can do it, then anyone can do it with ease.
On personal note, I wanted a car as substitute for my CBZ bike. Strange ? Let me explain. I can't drive any car under price range of 15-17L & therefore even for small things like buying fruit, going to nearby square (chowk) or in offices where parkings are small, I had to drive CBZ bike. Now it looks really odd if you take out full size sedan & go & buy fruits from local fruit vendor who is close by. For the gym too, I had to go on my bike as taking big cars there looks more of show-off.
It is here where ES comes in, it is small, doesn't attract attention like full size premium sedans, & does almost everything which you need to do in a city, carry some stuff, is compact for parking & doesn't look small like hatch either.
When I complained about poor under-thigh support & small width of ES to my parents, they said, OK, go & buy Range Rover then.
![[lol]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Laugh.gif "Laugh [lol]")
The real meaning was stop complaining & don't compare ES with big size cars/SUVs !!
The other reason why I am happy is ES is quite affordable. This vitamin M issue coupled with ability to drive without steering probs with unique looks are sufficient for me to shortlist this CUV. If on-road price is as per my expectation, then surely it will be on top of my list in this segment as it can well be power packed VFM in its segment, far better than duster.
Price it right, & I am in baby.
Attaching some pics to get you the idea of ES. Also note that I haven't taken any snaps of interiors as I was informed that the launch vehicle interiors will be upgraded ones & better than demo vehicle. The overall cabin quality will be improved, though the size of switches, seats, stalks etc. will remain the same.
Let me know if you have any further queries. I will be glad to answer those.
![[;)]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Wink.gif "Wink [;)]")
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for sure. Hope the top end does not try to chase Duster price, that will be blunder for sure in India where cost is divided by number of seats plus the boot space!
![[:)]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Smile.gif "Smile [:)]")
) as it will help cut the loudness & good for office use. Orange looks more like party animal. ![[anger]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Anger.gif "Anger [anger]")
I would rather buy Storme & hire a chauffeur !! Hope Ford doesn't go over board with response it got, else ES may well be next new Fiesta in terms of sales :P. 
