Just got the car back from Fords for repairs to the tyre pressure monitoring system..   They reckon that they've sorted it out but I'll be checking it.

I've just filled up and, having now done 1200 miles, the car is returning a shade over 40 mpg.   Considering it's been pretty cold lately, I'm pretty happy with that.   It definitely on a par with my old Ecoboost 100 even though it is automatic.

Am I right in thinking that on paper, automatics are slightly less for MPG values compared to normal manuals?

That's right Yaz.   However this auto box is the double clutch type and it doesn't seem to make much difference.   My last Fiesta was exactly the same model / engine but was a 5 speed manual.   This one is a 6 speed auto and is giving me the exact same MPG.   The torque converter type gearbox can lose you 10% of you MPG.

I would expect that come the warmer weather next year, your MPG should creep up ~3mpg (purely going on my logs from my ST). The few minutes in the morning using the heated screens, or just the fact of having the heating up a few more degrees, chips away at the mpg over winter for me.

11 hours ago, Zico said:

I would expect that come the warmer weather next year, your MPG should creep up ~3mpg (purely going on my logs from my ST). The few minutes in the morning using the heated screens, or just the fact of having the heating up a few more degrees, chips away at the mpg over winter for me.

The last few mornings I've had to use heated screens front and rear as my car has been covered in ice.   As you say, sitting there with the car ticking over for a few minutes while the ice melts is not going to do the MPG a lot of good.

Absolutely delighted with the way this car handles in snow.

Haven't had a flake in the south east yet. We had a little last year and luckily I had put on brand new Michelin PS4's at the time so felt OK within reason.

We had about an inch day before yesterday Yaz and, in the middle of it, I had to take my daughter across town to fetch her car.   It wasn't forecast and there was no gritting and there were cars sliding all over the place and I saw one rather nasty accident but I had little or no trouble.

Working for highways, we still get told that if we don't need to travel then to avoid doing so in inclement weather. Luckily I live off of a main road which is always on a primary gritting route if the forecast surface road temperatures are set to drop.

I would have thought that your automatic would have had some issue in the freezing weather though. A few years back my father managed to get snowed in on our private lane by trying to get out in his Audi and crushing the ~1 1/2 foot of snow into a inch thick layer of compacted ice/snow .

1 hour ago, Zico said:

I would have thought that your automatic would have had some issue in the freezing weather though.

I was a bit wary of going out in it to be honest Yaz but I was really pleasantly surprised at the way it handled in the conditions.There had been no gritting at all anywhere in the city and there were cars sliding about all over the place.   I had no problems at all.

A little bit of cold weather...God help us in this country if we have the cold winters that mainland Europe get.

We’ve got a dusting of snow this morning when I woke up, and now still falling. Had to engage 4WD in the pickup to get up my street! A bit worried that I need to go out in the Focus later, not sure how it’s going to handle it. It would be today of course that my pickup is in the garage!

2 hours ago, Mavroz said:

A little bit of cold weather...God help us in this country if we have the cold winters that mainland Europe get.

I'm originally from Seattle WA, where the weather is almost identical to here in the UK and people there go absolutely crazy when an inch of snow falls. All the goobers in their giant four wheel drives start speeding all over the place thinking they can drive like crazy people because they have four wheel drive and just end up sliding all over running into poles, mailboxes and parked cars haha. It's quite amusing to say the least. My wife and I are in the midlands so we miss out on all the good snow here most of the time. 😞

Did you watch Bradley Walsh 'Breaking Dad' yesterday?  They did a snow rally stage in a Mk7 Fiesta!  

It was a manual though, and they'd also disabled the ABS as the wheels locked when they came to the finish line.

Our house overlooks a roundabout.  When we get snow I often see drivers of top-heavy 4x4s and SUVs getting an object lession in physics.

When there's no grip, there's no grip.

Absolutely! Often see when conditions are bad on the motorways and everyone is staying out of the outside lane...someone in a 4x4 or usually a soft-roader of some kind goes flying up looking like they're only just hanging on. Its more like skiing than driving!

I find my Ranger struggles when its slippy, as when its 2wd its driven from the rear, and it has a massive heavy engine up front to push. Changes everything when you switch to 4wd.

I'll miss the pickup for that alone probably 😞

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Did you watch Bradley Walsh 'Breaking Dad' yesterday?  They did a snow rally stage in a Mk7 Fiesta!  

It was a manual though, and they'd also disabled the ABS as the wheels locked when they came to the finish line.

Yeah, I saw that. Was it also 4 wheel or rear wheel drive?

1 hour ago, Guy Heaton said:

When there's no grip, there's no grip.

I think the majority of people in 4x4s have seen other, apparently identical, cars crossing mud/snow/sand etc and assume theirs will be just as capable...not realising the tyres make a huge difference!!  If you've got snow tyres on a 4x4 you'll be doing considerably better than someone on budget summer tyres regardless of the skill level!

I also live near a roundabout which is full of beeps during normal days because I think people just close their eyes and hope for the best, its not even a hard roundabout to understand!  It's actually far safer on snow days as they all stay at home!  I do have fun watching the drifters though, there are some properly skilled 'boy racers' round here!   

26 minutes ago, Mavroz said:

Yeah, I saw that. Was it also 4 wheel or rear wheel drive?

Hmm, not sure!  I can't see it being RWD but might have been 4WD.  I may have to watch it again on catchup to check!  

Edit - Nope, standard FWD, just found the place through Google! https://www.guideautoweb.com/en/articles/28563/ford-fiesta-rally-experience-at-the-team-o-neil-rally-school/

6 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Hmm, not sure!  I can't see it being RWD but might have been 4WD.  I may have to watch it again on catchup to check!  

Edit - Nope, standard FWD, just found the place through Google! https://www.guideautoweb.com/en/articles/28563/ford-fiesta-rally-experience-at-the-team-o-neil-rally-school/

I saw the Bradley Walsh prog and when I watched it it did drive like it was 4wd. 

1 hour ago, iantt said:

I saw the Bradley Walsh prog and when I watched it it did drive like it was 4wd. 

Yeah, I though that it maybe 4 or rear but as the link shows, it was definitely front wheel drive.

I am dubious that the 2nd run (young Walsh) was actually him driving from the aerial shots, the way the car was shown drifting through the gates, it looked very professional. I may be doing him a great dis-service as he may have great experience rallying or off road driving.

Looked good though, would like to give it a try.

If it was on TV, you can guarantee it wasn’t as it was portrayed. 
 

Likely the aerial shots won’t have been the person they indicated was driving. 

Just filled up after a week of bad weather including ice and snow and recorded 40 mpg.

Just filled up again and noted that the car was telling me I'd done 43.2 mpg.   In fact it had done 41.55 mpg.   It's about 4% out.