Ford EcoSport VS Holden Equinox

The EcoSport is marketed as a five seat, five door small SUV, or compact SUV, but really the rear compartment particularly, is designed best for two occupants. 

ISOFIX points are located in the rear but there are no provisions for charging or for ventilation, while in the front the sheer lack of dimension of the EcoSport means the driver and passenger are seated quite close together. 

In terms of storage there are a handful of very small oddment bins scattered on the centre console, along with two cupholders line astern. All four doors can take small bottles and there are another two cupholders in a rear pull-down armrest.

Probably the most distinctive - and probably most annoying - feature of the EcoSport is its rear tailgate. Instead of a traditional top hinged style, the EcoSport uses a side opening door with a single strut, with a full size spare wheel mounted to the rear of it. 

Finding the switch to open the door itself is hard enough, especially if you've never done it before, and the door itself is surprisingly heavy. As well, if you park the EcoSport in the wrong place you simply won't be able to open the door to access the boot area fully.

It's an anachronistic design in a world where practicality rules, and this will make or break a buying decision for a lot of people. Thankfully, Ford has responded, and will offer the EcoSport without a rear door-mounted spare wheel from the middle of 2018.

The cargo area itself has 743 litres of space with the seats up and 1178 litres with them down - isn't too bad in terms of floor space, although it does narrow up quite significantly when you get to the seat backs. 

Ford, though, has added a split-level floor that's designed to provide a flat loading surface when the two rear seats are tumbled forward. Oh, and you have to lift the seat bases up and away before you drop those seat backs, too.

Passenger accommodations are okay at best. The fitment of a sunroof to the top spec Titanium model doesn't do the car any favours, particularly in the rear, thanks to the deeper roof lining needed for a sunroof. If there is a taller driver up front, then you’ll need to find a very small rear passenger as legroom all but disappears, while fitting three across the rear really isn't an option for even a moderate journey.

ISOFIX seat points are provided for two baby seats, while the driving position itself is more than adequate with fair visibility. Something to note though, the porthole provided at the base of the A pillar to give the driver a slightly better view really does nothing at all thanks to the thickness of that pillar. 

The steep windscreen, a long dash, and slightly bulbous bonnet also means that front visibility, particularly when parking, is quite difficult and it's very hard to get a sense of where the front of the car actually is.

Ford's SYNC 3 system does provide an excellent interface for all operations with phones, media, and satellite navigation, though as mentioned the buttons on the steering wheel are quite numerous and very small, so a little bit of tactility is needed to operate them. 

Other than that, the rest of the main controls are pretty straightforward with a traditional automatic gear shift and manual handbrake.

The multimedia system is operated via a small screen that sits proud on the dash, while all instruments in the EcoSport are reasonably well labelled. The majority of buttons are clustered around the steering wheel and can be hard to discern their function given their lack of size. 

The top-spec Titanium offers a black leatherette style interior treatment, which is reasonably well presented… but the sheer volume of harder plastics does let the side down.

There are two USB ports up front but none in the rear, and the 12v points are very well hidden. 

You'll find five seats aboard the medium-sized Equinox SUV, and there’s no third-row option available in this particular shape. The US-designed and Mexican-built Equinox presents well enough when you jump aboard, with plenty of subtle and not so subtle curves, creases and folds adorning the front of the cabin. 

The ergonomics in current Holdens aren’t quite as resolved as they once were, given that its cars are now plucked from other markets rather than being designed from the wheels up for local use. The Equinox, for example, is sold in several other markets and this does lead to knock-on ergonomic differences as GM attempts to create a one-size-fits-most profile. 

For example, the indicator and wiper stalks are awkwardly positioned behind the steering wheel. The steering wheel itself is oddly parallelogrammed in its profile, and its very thick rim makes it more difficult for small hands to get comfortable with it. 

The seats themselves are very short in the base, too, and don't offer a lot in the way of lateral support. They’re also mounted high in the Equinox, pushing drivers and passengers towards the roof, while the sunroof that's fitted to the LTZ-V drops the headlining down to uncomfortably low levels, both front and rear, for taller occupants.

Luggage space is an excellent 846 litres, which beats the CX-5, Tiguan, Nissan’s X-Trail and Mitsubishi’s Outlander.

Both front and rear seaters are treated to heated and vented seats, while the second row can be dropped with the tug on the lever in the boot area. However, we found it necessary to pull out the weirdly large centre seat headrest in order to get an almost-flat cargo area of some 1798 litres (or one large mountain bike with wheels on) to work with. 

Second rowers get a pair of USB ports and a 12-volt charging point, and even though there’s a 230v household socket in the rear of centre console, we couldn't actually make it work with an Australian-spec plug. 

The door pockets are very small, and the front doors can only hold bottles in reality. It’s a similar story for the rear. There's a map pocket behind the passenger seat, but not behind the driver. There are two cupholders in a centre fold-down armrest, and there are also ISOFIX baby seat mounts on the outside seats.

A space-saver spare wheel resides under the boot floor, under what has to be noted as quite poorly executed plastic trimming. 

When it comes to rear seat occupants, three can sit across the second row quite comfortably, although as mentioned, rear headroom is a little compromised for taller passengers thanks to the sunroof.