MK4 1.5 Ecoblue Titanium Review

[James]

It certainly is a very safe and good handling car. In truth no Focus has handled that well in mainstream form since the mk1.  The mk4 changes that it seems. It has beaten many sport cars in the above tests:-)

[James]

The supposedly more nimble Ford Fiesta doesn't do quite as well🙄 but still did pretty good. I want the new St line Focus now 😁

[Guy Heaton]

St line x handles amazingly well, I'm still getting used to it coming from a soft saloon.

Could do with the 200bhp 1.5 though.

[James]

I'd be interested in how well the mk4 drives compared to the mk1. Maybe I'm looking back with rose tinted glasses and all that but that car drove and handled extremingly well for it's time. The steering in my old mk1 was way better than my current car. I have a soft spot for the mk1 Focus😁. Love them.  

[Guy Heaton]

I've had both, well focus MK1.5, and they both drive better than any other mainstream hatch of their generation.

Having had the use of a modern a class also for an afternoon, it is not as supple as my St-line, it's more crashy.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

On 7/10/2019 at 8:23 PM, Guy Heaton said:

 

Could do with the 200bhp 1.5 though.

Why not get yourself the full fat ST next time - you know you want to!😀

3 minutes ago, Guy Heaton said:

 

Having had the use of a modern a class also for an afternoon, it is not as supple as my St-line, it's more crashy.

.....and of course the original A-class failed the moose test!

[James]

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Why not get yourself the full fat ST next time - you know you want to!😀

.....and of course the original A-class failed the moose test!

Yeah didn't turn upside down or something 😁

 

[Guy Heaton]

If they make an st auto that would be interesting.  I think they have the 2.3 with auto in some of their us vehicles.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

1 hour ago, Guy Heaton said:

If they make an st auto that would be interesting. 

I understand the 8 speed auto will be available on the 2.3 petrol a few months after initial launch😀

[Eric Bloodaxe]

10 hours ago, James said:

Yeah didn't turn upside down or something 😁

 

It did indeed. I think they had to recall it for various mods and fit ESP as standard.

[Rattus]

On 7/10/2019 at 8:23 PM, Guy Heaton said:

St line x handles amazingly well, I'm still getting used to it coming from a soft saloon.

Could do with the 200bhp 1.5 though.

Hi Guy,

Yes, totally agree on the handling (and power comment!).

I have had mine since Jan 9th although it is the second one after we rejected the first and then had a demo one for a month! They do handle so very nice.

I would be interested to hear if you have had any problems with yours? I have just started a new thread about the stop/start and keyless entry. Maybe its just mine!!

[Mark-UK]

Coming from a Nissan Micra I find my new Titanium X 1.5 diesel very quite, and doing my normal day to day driving getting 61mpg (nearly always in ecomode) which is OK but not in the league of the 76mpg from the Nissan (110 mpg on a long run), yet to take the ford on a long motorway drive to check the MPG. I too was disappointed with the 10K service interval, in 2019 I expected 18K at least.

As for the door cards, your spot on. If you push them they creak, my did so even when driving down a bumpy road, so annoyingly I took the car back to have it checked out. Now the garage said they couldn't find a fault, but as I suspected just taking the cards off and on sort it out no noise when driving now.

[Mark-UK]

Just an update to my last post, the auto/stop start has activated less and less over time, when I first got the car it always came on, now it's a very rare occurrence, Tonight a warning message Hill Start Assistance malfunction and the auto hold on the brake is not working, will take it in in the morning , see what they say.

[TOMondeo94]

Hey Dave,

Very informative list you have there, I hope your time with your new car has improved?

I have a Ford Mondeo titanium company car, I have a video review of it if you wish to see my car? 🙂

Thomas.

 

 

[Dee_82]

Ive had a Mk2.5 - 1.6 tdci  3.5 1l EB and now a 69 plate Mk4 1.5 TDCI

The mk2.5 was extremely noisy, she had a fat bum and you felt it when ever you did anything with her. I added rear disc brakes which improved it somewhat. got her mapped up to about 140 and she was a delight, there were one or two... modifications to her that helped this 🙂 

the mk3.5 is a little more cluttered but was a huge improvement over the 2.5, she handles well and with a new map she will be a delight to drive. not chuffed with the rear drum brakes and I cant be bothered with insurance hassle converting them so they will have to do. it has sync 2 which I will upgrade at some point to sync3

the mk4 is, ok, its cheap on the inside and thats saying something, it is a little noisier than its EB cousin but still significantly better than  the 2.5, no wind noise and tyre roar is acceptable, the audio is not good, sync 3 is great but its just not got great sound. the engine is underpowered on all but "sport" mode and even that is pitiful.  its a company car so im not going to map it but looking it up, there doesn't appear to be many options to get more out of the Chinese variant engine. brakes are snappy, clutch is noisy, oh and some idiot decided to stick a bloomin torsion bar on the rear, didn't realise that was the case but it is quite noticeable, ill not be belting this girl around hard so its not a problem but its worth keeping in mind if your wanting to have a little fun.

so far im not sold and couldn't recommend it. get a 3.5 and upgrade it to sync 3 and if your not bothered about limited insurance options, convert the drums

[CPoin]

I've had my 1.5 Ecoblue Vignale for three weeks now and done over a thousand miles, mixed through town, on and out of traffic, A roads and B roads. Found this post because I could not accept how bad a return I was getting on fuel. This engine promises so much economy, but so far it seems no more than a blatant lie from Ford and it's amazing that they can get away with it. I've had three diesel cars before this one. The first was a 05 MK2 Focus 1.6 TDCI. That routinely gave me 50mpg. The next was a 2016 Mazda 3 2.2d, a fun, large engine that gave me 52mpg. The last was a BMW 116d, a superb 1.5 diesel engine which was quick enough when it needed to be in sports mode, still not bad at all in normal mode (although everything else about it was bad). That gave me 55mpg. This current Ford engine, which is advertised as being more economical than any of those previous engines, I struggle to get above 48mpg. And I'm trying my best with the new Focus; while I've always been a pretty economical driver, I gave all my cars a good drive, but while this car is capable, it's expensive, so I'm constantly watching how much pressure I apply to the throttle. When I've driven it the way I've always driven my cars, which is to say to the presenting road conditions and within the law, I'm lucky to clock 45mpg. I've even got the air conditioning off, which I've never done before, I'm that desperate and disappointed. That my old 05 1.6 TDCI Focus could be driven with more spirit and better mpg 14 years ago than the new, more advanced equivalent model, is a disgrace. Part of me is hoping that there is something wrong with it; it has some electrical faults that need sorting and I'm kind of hoping fuel delivery is being compromised in some way. Or I'm hoping that it just needs considerable breaking in. I've seen long term tests where mpg has jumped from mid 40s to mid 50s 9ver 10k miles. But I shouldn't have to be clutching at such straws.

[DaveT70]

1 hour ago, CPoin said:

I've had my 1.5 Ecoblue Vignale for three weeks now and done over a thousand miles, mixed through town, on and out of traffic, A roads and B roads. Found this post because I could not accept how bad a return I was getting on fuel. This engine promises so much economy, but so far it seems no more than a blatant lie from Ford and it's amazing that they can get away with it. I've had three diesel cars before this one. The first was a 05 MK2 Focus 1.6 TDCI. That routinely gave me 50mpg. The next was a 2016 Mazda 3 2.2d, a fun, large engine that gave me 52mpg. The last was a BMW 116d, a superb 1.5 diesel engine which was quick enough when it needed to be in sports mode, still not bad at all in normal mode (although everything else about it was bad). That gave me 55mpg. This current Ford engine, which is advertised as being more economical than any of those previous engines, I struggle to get above 48mpg. And I'm trying my best with the new Focus; while I've always been a pretty economical driver, I gave all my cars a good drive, but while this car is capable, it's expensive, so I'm constantly watching how much pressure I apply to the throttle. When I've driven it the way I've always driven my cars, which is to say to the presenting road conditions and within the law, I'm lucky to clock 45mpg. I've even got the air conditioning off, which I've never done before, I'm that desperate and disappointed. That my old 05 1.6 TDCI Focus could be driven with more spirit and better mpg 14 years ago than the new, more advanced equivalent model, is a disgrace. Part of me is hoping that there is something wrong with it; it has some electrical faults that need sorting and I'm kind of hoping fuel delivery is being compromised in some way. Or I'm hoping that it just needs considerable breaking in. I've seen long term tests where mpg has jumped from mid 40s to mid 50s 9ver 10k miles. But I shouldn't have to be clutching at such straws.

Just as a quick update, the car is now nearing 8,000 miles and is freeing up a little bit. MPG has now risen to a slightly more respectable 54MPG.

Still bl00dy noisy though, if not worse.

[CPoin]

2 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

Just as a quick update, the car is now nearing 8,000 miles and is freeing up a little bit. MPG has now risen to a slightly more respectable 54MPG.

Still bl00dy noisy though, if not worse.

Thanks for replying, Dave. It's encouraging that you've seen some increase in mpg. That seems consistent with some of those long term tests of the 1.5 Ecoblue I've seen online. Other than the poor economy so far and the minor faults, it's a great car so it's a shame this issue is spoiling my enjoyment of it. It's the Vignale and I actually find it pretty quiet, even when cold. Tyre noise is the most bothersome thing. Engine has a bit of rasp to it which will take a bit of getting used to. Guess I'll have to try and put mpg out of my mind for a while and see what's happening in a few months time.

[iantt]

3 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

Just as a quick update, the car is now nearing 8,000 miles and is freeing up a little bit. MPG has now risen to a slightly more respectable 54MPG.

Still bl00dy noisy though, if not worse.

That's still poor mpg for a focus diesel. My heavy 2.0 tdci Mondeo gets better mpg. 

 

[xs2man]

31 minutes ago, iantt said:

That's still poor mpg for a focus diesel. My heavy 2.0 tdci Mondeo gets better mpg. 

 

Is it?  That's all I get out of my 2015 1.5 TDI TiTX.

[Dee_82]

I get 57.4 now ,thats driving in to and around South west London, which as anyone will tell you, is a complete pita.

Still, im happy with that, not so happy with the bouncy castle ride on its 16 by 205 by SIXTY!!! tyres and torsion bar. 

[iantt]

58 minutes ago, Dee_82 said:

I get 57.4 now ,thats driving in to and around South west London, which as anyone will tell you, is a complete pita.

Still, im happy with that, not so happy with the bouncy castle ride on its 16 by 205 by SIXTY!!! tyres and torsion bar. 

Didn't realise you had a focus 1.5tdci. your profile still shows your mondeo

[TomsFocus]

6 minutes ago, iantt said:

Didn't realise you had a focus 1.5tdci. your profile still shows your mondeo

After all the faults with his Mondeo I'm not surprised it's gone lol!  

 

Why chose the Mk4 Focus though...company car maybe?

[Wino]

Weve had our mk4 st line x 1.5 ecoblue for around 3 weeks now. It had 4.5k on the clock when we bought it so weve roughly done around 600 miles in it ourselves. After resetting the MPG when we picked it up its now sitting at 58Mpg compared to 63/64mpg in our Mk3 Focus. My biggest issue so far is the gearing mainly 5th to 6th which im thinking along the lines that you cant get into 6th unless your on the motorway or national speed limit roads hence the higher fuel consumption overall. No issue with the car itself as of yet  (fingers crossed). 

[CPoin]

24 minutes ago, Wino said:

Weve had our mk4 st line x 1.5 ecoblue for around 3 weeks now. It had 4.5k on the clock when we bought it so weve roughly done around 600 miles in it ourselves. After resetting the MPG when we picked it up its now sitting at 58Mpg compared to 63/64mpg in our Mk3 Focus. My biggest issue so far is the gearing mainly 5th to 6th which im thinking along the lines that you cant get into 6th unless your on the motorway or national speed limit roads hence the higher fuel consumption overall. No issue with the car itself as of yet  (fingers crossed). 

Really? I'm finding it will go into 6th quote comfortably very early on, certainly at 50mph, often lower. Hardly need to spend any time in 5th. Even on a country road it usually doesn't demand to drop a gear coming out of bends. Keep waiting for the engine to complain and the prompt to shift down to appear, but it doesn't, even when I think it should and shift down anyway.