New Focus Owner

[Msut01]

Just collected my new Focus 1lt Zetec in Midnight blue with larger alloy wheels.

Perhaps now is the best time to share some of my findings before I get settled into ownership.

Good bits

1)The car is very lively to drive, its by far the most powerful car I have owned with plenty of torque and a very slick 6 speed gearbox.

2) All round visibility is very good, the wipers work from the centre to the edges almost totally wiping the screen. De misting is very quick and warming up takes only a few hundred yards

2) The seats were a bit uncomfy with raised edges (sports seat) but over the last couple of days have adjusted to my larger body, no problem there.

3) The suspension is nice and soft round town, soaking up the bumps and pot holes.

4) The radio is a good with plenty of sound adjustment available. I have loaded a 16mb usb stick with all my music and installed it in the socket inside the glove box. The unit detects it on Aux and will select files and songs via the audio controls. It also easily connects to my Sony phone blue tooth and syncronsynchronised phone settings and numbers.

Bad bits,

1) My hand will not fit between the hand brake and centre consul. I have adjusted to hooking my fingers under.

2) My hand will not fit in the door closing handle.

3) The chrome trim round the windows reflects in the wing mirrors

4) The ride is soft but on the open road is a bit choppy. I dont notice much now so it may have bedded in, It made my passanger feel travel sick at first.

5) Fuel consumption. I did expect a bit better. Its 43mpg on a good mixed route. 36mpg round town and 28mpg in the city of Leeds. Its just the same as my Fiesta, Escort,Corsa, Maestro,Metro, Mini, Imp etc However these had amost zero emission technology. Im not too dissapointed and driving changes should see an improvement. The big differenece is the old cars had none of the drive and power of this new Focus.

Overall I'm impressed and pleased with my new car.

[jimrex]

Glad you are enjoying it despite the niggles. I agree the handbrake design is too fussy, but after 15 months of ownership it doesn't bother me any more - I still get passengers commenting on how weird it looks though! The chrome parts do reflect sunlight, but they are more of a matte effect than the ones on my Fiesta which glare in the sunlight.

With regards to your expected economy, it will pick up when the car is more broken in... and if you're anything like me, you would have been shall we say 'enjoying the power' of your new car ;)

[artscot79]

43mpg is the max any testers or owners have had driving economicaly so dont expect much more than that many owners have contacted the newspapers as 36to43mpg is less than expected and average i get the same from a 1.6 ti vct other than that enjoy

[2011fiesta]

Good review. Can we have some pics now? :D Inside and out.

[Loz Cheung]

2) All round visibility is very good, the wipers work from the centre to the edges almost totally wiping the screen. De misting is very quick and warming up takes only a few hundred yards

1) My hand will not fit between the hand brake and centre consul. I have adjusted to hooking my fingers under.

5) Fuel consumption. I did expect a bit better. Its 43mpg on a good mixed route. 36mpg round town and 28mpg in the city of Leeds. Its just the same as my Fiesta, Escort,Corsa, Maestro,Metro, Mini, Imp etc However these had amost zero emission technology. Im not too dissapointed and driving changes should see an improvement. The big differenece is the old cars had none of the drive and power of this new Focus.

Glad to hear you're impressed and pleased with your new car!

I think 'What Car' have been running one too and recorded 38.2mpg after their first 1200miles or so? Managed to get it to 52mpg on a long gentle motorway run more recently though but they estimate high 40s or so for those kind of stints :)

My engine seemed to take longer than usual to break in so hopefully this wont apply to you too!

The car is great at warming up but I have noticed that the front windscreen mists up quite easily. Where the wipers dont go over also fog up as well at the sides of the windscreen so your a-pillar ends up being effectively an inch thicker on both sides

The handbrake is definitely wierd! ive had a few comments from people on that too! any lower and it'd be like driving a land rover defender...

Nice to hear that you find the performance lively too :D Proves how gutless the regular 1.6's are...

[RZetecS]

hi there habe you got the standard stereo or did u uphrade to the ford DAB Nav. Also how good is the stereo for bass etc and do you know how many watts it is