The starting price is for the Ford Freestyle petrol Ambiente variant with the new Dragon 1.2-litre 3-cylinder motor. The range-topping diesel Titanium + priced at Rs 7.89 lakh. The very attractive pricing gives good breathing room to the EcoSport Compact SUV and takes on its rivals from Hyundai, Toyota and Maruti Suzuki head on. The Freestyle is based on the Figo hatchback and debuts the new Dragon 1.2-litre 3-cylinder motor. The diesel retains the 1.5-litre unit with a class-leading 99bhp. The manufacturer had already commenced with the online bookings of the crossover on April 14 at a booking amount of Rs 10,000 which was limited to 100 units.
The car is based on the Figo platform and looks beefed up with new plastic body cladding, higher ground clearance, additional features and slightly updated design. It must be admitted that Ford has done a great job in incorporating the crossover look on the Figo, the design definitely looks grown up. Changes in design include a new mesh grille, bonnet design, fog lamp housing, alloy wheels, rear bumper design, turn indicator lights relocation in the headlamp console and the addition of roof rails.
The Freestyle also gets black colour treatment for headlamp and rear view mirrors like on the Figo S. Inside, the only major change is the incorporation of a new 6.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system which comes with the SYNC 3 system that is Apple CarPlay and Android Auto Compatible. Ford has also introduced an all-new 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder Dragon petrol engine which makes 95bhp and 120Nm of peak torque. The car also gets an option of 1.5-litre turbo-diesel motor that produces 99bhp and 215Nm of peak torque. The top variant gets a reverse parking camera, sensors and six airbags, while the standard safety nets include ABS, EBD and dual airbags.
The Freestyle is offered in four variants – Ambiente and Trend for the petrol engine and Titanium and Titanium+ for the diesel. The car rivals the i20 Active, Etios Cross, the Cross Polo, Avventura and more recently the WR-V. Revamping a hatchback into a crossover has nowadays become an essential business for manufacturers. And while Hyundai, Toyota, Fiat and Volkswagen weren’t particularly successful at getting this game right, Honda seems to be selling a healthy number of WR-Vs for us to assume that the Japanese may have cracked the code. And now, the Americans are jumping on to this bandwagon of hatchbacks-turned-SUVs with Ford launching its new Freestyle.
Ford Freestyle | Prices, ex-showroom | |
Variants | Petrol | Diesel |
Ambiente | Rs 5.09 lakh | Rs 6.09 lakh |
Trend | Rs 5.99 lakh | Rs 6.99 lakh |
Titanium | Rs 6.39 lakh | Rs 7.35 lakh |
Titanium+ | Rs 6.94 lakh | Rs 7.89 lakh |