Chris M Wants a V-10
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Focus estate 2.0TDCIHad a snowy and wet journey from Surrey to Plymouth and back last week in the company's newest pool car, an 07-plate Focus Ghia 2.0 TDCI. Mercifully I was allowed to bring it home on the Friday night since this would allow me to set off from home early on Monday morning, instead of having to go to work and wait for the garage to be unlocked and the Focus removed, just in time to catch the morning rush-hour traffic (and as it turns out, to find a garage first to put some fuel in it). It also gave me the chance to wash it on Saturday so that at least I had a clean car to commence my journey.
As it happens, having it for the week-end was also beneficial as it allowed me to investigate why the car was pulling to the left, especially under braking...... all 4 tyres were at different pressures, only one rear one being correct! Having let some air out of one of the fronts, and put some air into the other two, I was left with a very enjoyable and comfortable car in which to undertake my journeys. The car had around 11500 miles on the clock when I set off (we bought it used through Ford's scheme) and I added around another 500 miles. The interior is nothing special, black dominates.. but why no climate control on a Ghia-spec car? I had to juggle the temperature control knob repeatedly for the first few miles of each journey. The design of the alloys didn't appeal to me, and they were a pig to clean due to their design. There's also a flaw in the central locking design (IMHO) - the fuel flap is locked in place by a pin, so if you get out to fill the car up, open the filler then lock the doors, you cannot close the filler flap until you next unlock the doors! Stupid design problem; Volvo do this much better with a 20 minute (or thereabouts) delay on the solenoid that locks the fuel flap so you can safely get out to fuel the car and lock it before you open the fuel flap. Anyway, with little luggage or a couple of heavy bags, the ride is comfortable and it's a quiet place to be. There is sufficient adjustment of the steering wheel and seat to suit most people, and sufficient legroom for rear-seat passengers with the driver's seat set for my 5ft11 frame. Another of my gripes concerns the lack of a proper spare wheel; there is a space-saver - again, not really good enough for a Ghia-spec car. Wet roads for almost my entire time with the car meant that I could not get near its limits but it certainly appeared more than competent. Overall I have to say that I was very impressed and if I were looking for a medium-size estate car, this would be very close to the top of my list.
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cbeaks1
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Chris- the easyfuel system now standard on Focus gets rid of the refuelling issue.
To be honest I always lock the car after I walk away rather than as soon as I get out anyway.
In a long line of bad alloys I agree that those are about the worst.
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PG
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It seems that Ford are not the only people playing silly with specs. I was horrified to see that on the GT Golf mk6 that Autocar tested last week, climate control was an option. On a £20k car.
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Guitar Zero
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Why does everyone get het up over climate control ?, as long as the car has air conditioning, I couldn't give a monkey's bucket whether it has climate control or not
Climate control is the ultimate expression of FG and is techy bum wipe of the highest order - all you need is a turny knob to make the air warmer or colder and a button to kick the A/C on.
Climate control wasn't standard on any of the pre facelift Focus ST models either - Ford made you pay extra for it and rightly so.
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SpecB
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| Guitar Zero wrote: | Why does everyone get het up over climate control ?, as long as the car has air conditioning, I couldn't give a monkey's bucket whether it has climate control or not
Climate control is the ultimate expression of FG and is techy bum wipe of the highest order - all you need is a turny knob to make the air warmer or colder and a button to kick the A/C on.
Climate control wasn't standard on any of the pre facelift Focus ST models either - Ford made you pay extra for it and rightly so. |
I find I have to keep fidling with either or both the temperature and fan to keep the car comfortable and still never get it right. Very rarely have to touch the climate.
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Humphrey The Pug
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I have climate in the Scenic and like it, but TBH if I didn't have it I wouldn't be that bothered, however on certain specs of cars it should be standard, ie Ghia Fords, purely because they are the highest spec so should therefore have climate as standard.
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Matt
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The 306 had AC with an auto setting, but I never used it. Some climate systems do look much better than the manual knobs though.
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Martin
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| SpecB wrote: | | Guitar Zero wrote: | Why does everyone get het up over climate control ?, as long as the car has air conditioning, I couldn't give a monkey's bucket whether it has climate control or not
Climate control is the ultimate expression of FG and is techy bum wipe of the highest order - all you need is a turny knob to make the air warmer or colder and a button to kick the A/C on.
Climate control wasn't standard on any of the pre facelift Focus ST models either - Ford made you pay extra for it and rightly so. |
I find I have to keep fidling with either or both the temperature and fan to keep the car comfortable and still never get it right. Very rarely have to touch the climate. |
I agree, it also looks much better than the basic system in most cars. It's something I wouldn't do without on my car.
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Blarno
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AC? Climate? Pah, that's what windows are for! 
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Chris M Wants a V-10
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The easyfuel system prevents you from fillling up with diesel at the Truck Pumps, saving time on some busy forecourts :-(
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Martin
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| Blarno wrote: | | AC? Climate? Pah, that's what windows are for! |
I'll remind you of that when (if!) it's stifling in the summer. At least you won't be getting sweaty bollocks, having eaten them recently 
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Blarno
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I used to run a leather-equipped 405 with knackered AC, I know what summer can be like!
Windows and sunroof open, towel on the driver's seat, job done!
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Chris M Wants a V-10
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Well, I certainly got more mpg that Gooner's 1.6 on the drives to Devon and back, and possibly on the few local miles that I did too. The 2.0D certainly has plenty of power and torque, and I did not notice any flat spots (our pool car has a 6-speed manual gearbox). I echo the comments about the cruise control switches though; finding them at night is impossible other than by feel.
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Frank Bullitt
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Re: Focus estate 2.0TDCI | Chris M Wants a V-10 wrote: | | Another of my gripes concerns the lack of a proper spare wheel; there is a space-saver - again, not really good enough for a Ghia-spec car. |
Not really sure why a space saver is a problem or, to take it further, why cars higher up the range should get a proper wheel? On the basis the FG models have wider wheels their impact on packaging is worse, not better, than the base models. I've used a space saver a few times and it's fine, perhaps if I had a 200 mile motorway journey to do I'd feel different, but they aren't the end of the world. I have a full-size spare (a second hand wheel - the A2 comes with tyre shit) and it takes up loads of space.
Can't say fiddling with the A/C and blower in the smart ever gets on my nerves either!
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ALF
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| Guitar Zero wrote: | Why does everyone get het up over climate control ?, as long as the car has air conditioning, I couldn't give a monkey's bucket whether it has climate control or not
Climate control is the ultimate expression of FG and is techy bum wipe of the highest order - all you need is a turny knob to make the air warmer or colder and a button to kick the A/C on.
Climate control wasn't standard on any of the pre facelift Focus ST models either - Ford made you pay extra for it and rightly so. |
Depends if you are a fiddler or not - personally I am, and want something where I just have to adjust one setting - the temperature. Likewise I don't want adjustable dampers on a non-competition car, just a setup I know I like. Too much choice is a bad thing, for the unhinged...
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Guitar Zero
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Does that mean you are pro CC or not ?
I find CC intensely fiddlesome and I never get the intended result. On long journeys I like to adjust the temp as I get hot or cold - having a turny knob that has an immeadiate effect on the temp of air being blown in my face is peasy.
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Martin
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| Guitar Zero wrote: | Does that mean you are pro CC or not ?
I find CC intensely fiddlesome and I never get the intended result. On long journeys I like to adjust the temp as I get hot or cold - having a turny knob that has an immeadiate effect on the temp of air being blown in my face is peasy. |
You sound like my wife! She is always messing with CC temperature, where as I just leave it to do its job and the only thing I have to do is decide whether the AC needs to be on or off. Very peasy!
In our Megane, it decided whether it needed AC (based on the temperature) and would turn that off and on as well.
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DaveGibson
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I've found the CC in both the Rover 75 and IS to be set and forget. There's nothing simpler than that.
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Bob Sacramento
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I've always found a/c a complete faff - you're always fiddling with it, being too hot one minute, artic cold the next. Climate control is in no way FG. I think I alter the temperature twice a year on mine , 21 deg for winter, 20 deg for summer. Never touch it otherwise.
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PG
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| Bob Sacramento wrote: | | I've always found a/c a complete faff - you're always fiddling with it, being too hot one minute, artic cold the next. Climate control is in no way FG. |
+1
And in the Jag (as in most cc cars), if you suddenly want some cold air on your face, you just hit the relevant vent switch and the climate flicks off and you're back to direct control. What's not to like?
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scamper
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How can CC be fiddlesome? Once set to your desired temp it reglates the cabin temp so you should not get hot or cold, GZ?
The impreza i thought only had a/c, however it appears to what can best be described an non-digital climate control - there is a manual temp dial and the fan dial has an auto setting.
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Frank Bullitt
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Climate control also leads to Tina Turner Mode On steamy windows Tina Turner Mode Off unless it has a humidity sensor; in the winter it's not uncommon to have to turn the fan up a little in order to clear the windows rather than blasting with the super-screen clearer every few miles.
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Bob Sacramento
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| Frank Bullitt wrote: | | Climate control also leads to Tina Turner Mode On steamy windows Tina Turner Mode Off unless it has a humidity sensor; in the winter it's not uncommon to have to turn the fan up a little in order to clear the windows rather than blasting with the super-screen clearer every few miles. |
That's funny because I've always found the complete opposite.
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Pkh72
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I had CC on the Octavia that i had and whilst it was a good system i personally found it no better than the basic air con that is in the Focus.
So long as my car has some form of air con i haven't got an issue with it, but i doubt i would pay extra for climate.
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PR
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I prefer climate to manual AC as it eliminates the need for constant fiddling. I seldom need to fiddle with it during a journey.
What I do miss in the 1-series that was such a good feature on the Compact is the air mixer, which enabled you to adjust the temperature of the air flow from the face-level vents independently. So you could have warm air to your feet and cooler air to your head, which was quite useful. Once or twice my feet have got a bit cold in the 130 while my top half has been fine.
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Mark
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Re: Focus estate 2.0TDCI | Chris M Wants a V-10 wrote: | | but why no climate control on a Ghia-spec car? |
I've got a Focus 1.6 Ghia 4 door (MY'08/facelift) here in Damascus and it came with climate control as standard.
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SpecB
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| PR wrote: | I prefer climate to manual AC as it eliminates the need for constant fiddling. I seldom need to fiddle with it during a journey.
What I do miss in the 1-series that was such a good feature on the Compact is the air mixer, which enabled you to adjust the temperature of the air flow from the face-level vents independently. So you could have warm air to your feet and cooler air to your head, which was quite useful. Once or twice my feet have got a bit cold in the 130 while my top half has been fine. |
My old S40 had this as did my dad's 850 and it is useful. Mine doesn't and neither does his S80.
My wife's Suzuki has a similar sort of thing. Put the old fashioned temperature slider thing on the white bit in the middle and it sends cooler air to the face and warm to the feet. No climate or air in that either.
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.
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| SpecB wrote: | | No climate or air in that either. |
Really? Have Suzuki managed to encapsulate actual space into a humble Baleno? Was that on the options list or standard!
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SpecB
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| Torque Junkie wrote: | | SpecB wrote: | | No climate or air in that either. |
Really? Have Suzuki managed to encapsulate actual space into a humble Baleno? Was that on the options list or standard! |
It does have a blank plate where there would be an AC button. Whether the now rather asthmatic 1.6 could handle it or not is another matter.
Edit: I was tired last night and have only just got that - very good!
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Twelfth Monkey
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Surely CC is just air con with a tiny brain? I prefer it, and have no idea what all the fuss is about.
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