Ford India has recently reported a decent growth in its sales in September, 2013 on the back of EcoSport's success. Soon after the launch of this vehicle in the Indian automobile market, customers and car enthusiasts were attracted towards it because of high affordability, utility and appealing interiors as well as exteriors. So far, EcoSport has done fairly well in the market and rates high among other contenders of the compact Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) segment. Industry experts are of a view that the unique design of Ford EcoSport has made it a snug fit for city drives. Owing much to its varied capabilities, a lot of prospective customers get attracted towards this compact utility vehicle; however sometimes they get struck while choosing between diesel and petrol variant.
If we just follow the current situation of Indian auto market, it can be said that the diesel variants are increasingly being more favoured by the domestic customers as against the petrol options. The sale numbers also reveal that diesel options are more in demand. Incidentally, out of the total sales, the contribution of diesel engines account to almost 55 per cent. This favouritism can be attributed to the general notion that diesel variants are more efficient than petrol engines and that the price of petrol has seen repeated hikes in the last few couple of months. But, are we really supposed to blindly follow this suit while ignoring other aspects? Well, a number of domestic buyers would try to compare most important aspects of both, petrol and diesel versions and then conclude with 'Ok, this is what I want' at the time of placing order.
On similar grounds, we can also check which one is a better drive-away option between the two given choices namely Diesel EcoSport and Petrol EcoSport. Experts believe that comparison must start with price, as affordability matters a lot for a common prospective buyer. In total, there are six petrol versions of EcoSport including the two EcoBoost petrol variants. The base price of petrol variant starts from Rs. 5.82 lakh. Also, the price of petrol versions fitted with 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine starts from Rs. 8.13. On the contrary, the price of the base diesel variant starts from Rs. 7.01 lakh while its top version comes for Rs. 9.37 lakh. Here, if affordability gets a top priority, then the Petrol EcoSport will be an apt choice of the customer. Notably, the variance in prices of diesel and petrol versions is Rs. 1.19 lakh and analysts believe that the margin (price difference) is huge and deserves consideration.
Coming down to the most important aspect of any vehicle, we can also have a look at the engine specifications of both, petrol and diesel variants. The displacement of the petrol engine is 1499 cc while that of diesel engine is 1498 cc, which is only a little significant. The peak power output that can be generated by the petrol engine is 110 bhp at 6300 rpm. On the contrary, the diesel engine is able to generate a peak power output of 89 bhp at 3750 rpm. Similarly, the petrol engine can produce a torque of up to 140 Nm at 4400 rpm while the diesel engine has a peak torque output of 204 Nm at 2000-2750 rpm. Here, it is quite interesting to see that while power of petrol engine is higher than its diesel compatriot, it has got significantly less torque output. The diesel engine is able to provide a torque of 204 Nm at low 2000-2750 rpm, which does mean that one gets the maximum torque as soon as the vehicle starts rolling on the road.
So in light of the above discussion and considering that features like dimensions, wheelbase, front & rear suspensions, steering type and front as well as rear braking system are same, it would be wise to leave the decision to customers that which option they find best between diesel and petrol engine options of Ford EcoSport.
