First drive: the new, less rubbish Ford EcoSport Titanium S

What's this?

A Ford EcoSport that has thoroughly bucked its ideas up, that's what.

I'm right in thinking the EcoSport was never Ford's finest effort, right?

You are. Ford's supermini-sized crossover has been so roundly condemned for its pound-shop materials, delinquent manners and hiccupping ride, it's been taken back to finishing school and had a proper going-over. This is the result. 

So what's new?

Quietly, Ford binned the cumbersome spare wheel from the EcoSport’s tailgate, so the boot door no longer weighs more than the rest of the car. It’s now much easier to reverse park in town, which is where little crossovers like this are supposed to succeed.

However, the tailgate is still a left-hinged swingy-door, not a roof-hinged boot, which still isn’t particularly helpful in the tight spaces city parking provides.

The many grilles and odd, Chihuahua-on-tippy-toes styling stays too, but Ford’s now topped the range off with a posher ‘Titanium S’ trim grade, which offers lavish frippieries like black alloy wheels and more kit inside. Plush.

Is it still unpleasant to be inside?

The heated-everything winter pack and Sony hi-fi might get buyers thumbing the EcoSport brochures once more, but what’s more important is the list of changes Ford has made to ensure the test drive doesn’t end with said prospective owner diving out at the first bus stop.

Lets start with the little things. The steering wheel is now covered in leather, not Happy-Meal-toy-plastic doing a bad impression of dead cow. It’s shiny leather, but a better first impression anyway.

Overall panel fit has been improved inside, so the dash no longer has gaps you’d lose small children in. It’ll even let you plug a USB cable into the relevant socket without the whole orifice disappearing into the plastic abyss. These are all features new to EcoSport drivers.

The rock-hard seats still appear to have been accidentally based on the half-scale clay design model, so anyone over four-foot-nothing might find them a bit lacking in support, but overall, it feels more like a Ford in here now. Not great, but passable.

Does it now handle like a Ford should?

What, like a Fiesta? No, it’s not that good, but then very few little cars are. However, there’s now less of a sense the EcoSport is going to tip over, thanks to stiffer anti-rolls bars, new suspension gubbins, and a 10mm ride height drop.

Just to be clear, the old EcoSport never actually came close to doing an impromptu barrel roll, but its disconnected steering and lollopy body control just made it feel like you might be cheek-to-cheek with the ground if a corner tightened when you weren’t quite on the ball.

It was uneasy. Not at all like a Ford. That’s all gone now. Much more stable, and trustworthy. It’s quite agile, really, because it’s so light.

What about the engine?

The 1.0-litre EcoBoost turbo is on top form once again. Our test car used the 123bhp state of tune, but Ford will soon be plugging in a warmer 138bhp version of the same engine, as used in the tasty sub-ST Fiestas.

It’s a great little engine, this, with bags of urgency and torque about it, a willingness to rev without vibrating the bonnet off its foundations, and a cheeky thrum too.

Except, thanks to a skip-load more soundproofing, the noise is now polite, not intrusive. It’s done little to quell the raging tropical storm of wind noise that still attacks the Ecosport’s pillars and mirrors at about 65mph, but hey, count your blessings here.

The other downside is: 52.3mpg and 125g/km ain’t much to write home about for a dinky supermini on stilts.

So, the bad car’s come good then?

It’s still not great, but it’s much, much better, and it’s reasonably cheap. This loaded up EcoSport is £16,445, which makes it competitive, if not a bargain.

Genius engine aside, we’d still have a Captur (or just a Fiesta, thanks), but at least the EcoSport is no longer an embarrassment to the Ford family name.