Infotainment, comfort and practicality

It may be small, but the Ford EcoSport offers all of the SUV seating position and good all-round vision you expect of this type of car. The front door opens wide and allows unfettered access to the seat, which can be adjusted manually for height. It also slides back a long way from the reach and height adjustable steering wheel, so even very tall drivers can feel at home in the Ford. The Titanium and ST-Line models have cloth upholstery, but the Active model gains part-leather trim for a more upmarket feel. In any of these models, the seats are firm but supportive. Further helping the driver’s time at the wheel is Ford’s excellent Quickclear windscreen that defrosts or demists in next to no time, and there are reversing sensors and camera to overcome the high tailgate window line.

The main dials are simple analogue items for speed and revs, and nothing at wrong with this set-up. In between them is a smaller digital display for trips computer information, and there are steering wheel buttons for the stereo, phone and cruise control that are all standard in every trim level of Ford EcoSport. In the centre console, there are easy to understand and use rotary dials and some buttons to work the heating, and a pair of USB charge ports.

Above this lies the Ford EcoSport’s 8.0-inch SYNC infotainment touchscreen that has DAB radio and can be hooked up to your phone via Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. While it’s not as cutting edge in style or functionality as some others in this class, the Ford’s screen is easy to read and the menus are easy to follow. It also responds in good time when you tap on an icon to switch screens or change radio station.

There’s nothing particularly fancy about the rear seat accommodation, which is far from a criticism. Instead, the Ford EcoSport concentrates on providing a reasonable amount of space by class standards for passengers back here and two adults can certainly travel in some comfort thanks to acceptable room for head and legs. The doors also swing open wide to help when lifting younger children into their seats, which are held in place by Isofix mounts on the two outer chairs. Seat pockets and door bins provide some storage.

Heading round to the boot, the Ecoboost has its one major stumble on the practicality front. This is the side-hinged tailgate, which open to the left. That’s great if you live in a country where left-hand drive cars are sold, but for the UK where we drive on the right, it’s a hassle. This is because, you have to walk all the way around the open tailgate every time you want to load or unload something rather than having the open door shelter you from the traffic on to the right of the car. Also, with this arrangement it requires you park with plenty of clear space at the back of the car to allow access to the boot. If it hinged from the top, this would not be an issue.

However, when you get past this, you find the Ford EcoSport’s boot is a generous size with 356-litres of luggage space when all the seats are in use. Tip the 60-40 split and drop rear seat back down and you can free up as much as 1238-litres of capacity. The rear seat doesn’t fold tumble completely flat, but there’s lots of room and the load sill is lower than a lot of other SUVs in this class.