Had my MK4 ST Line Estate for a week and a bit now....

[Frowma]

Morning all, 

Well, I picked up my ST-Line X (1.5 petrol auto) estate last weekend and am thoroughly enjoying it.

She's a 2019 (August) so a smidge under a year old and came with 3100 miles on the clock, pretty much minty fresh, came from Ford Direct. Oodles of options, the only one it doesn't have by the looks of it is the electric tailgate.

This is the first estate I've owned, I must admit it took a while to get used to the rear window being so far away when looking in the mirror 😂 I've not tried the auto parking feature yet, not been in a quiet enough car park to play with it, however.....the reversing camera and excellent parking sensors are certainly much appreciated although I do like park a fair bit away from our destination and if possible on an end in the hope that I have the spaces to myself, I'm certainly not looking forward to the first parking ding.

I really like the adaptive cruise with lane keeping, a really strange feeling when I first activated it and felt the car driving itself round curves. The BLIS is something I didn't think I'd ever option if I had the choice but it's a great feature and in the short time I've had the car I wouldn't want to be without it. I was a little unsure of the colour before I picked it up, being biased as it is my car I really like it, the different shades it goes through on the angles in bright sunlight really look good, it's a very sparkly metallic too.

It's soooo big as well, I don't think it helps that I came from a Fiat Punto but blimey it's a big unit. The first morning I had it I went out with a hose and chamois to wipe her down and it took an hour just to do that!

This is our dog wagon so I bought a hatchbag kit for it, highly recommended even if a bit pricey.

A really nice drive, quiet, no rattle or squeaks, you wouldn't believe you were driving a wagon if you didn't know, I'm very impressed in this short period.

I really like the easy reduced alarm option when you turn the ignition off so you can leave the sunroof open and it won't trigger the alarm. The missus has an Alfa Guilietta, to lock hers without the sensors you have to remember to lock with the key in the lock and not the button.

The only things that bug me are it doesn't like to keep the driving options you set. If I set Eco or Sport mode it reverts back to normal every time it is turned off. The hill holder and start stop are erratic, sometimes they'll stay on for multiple off and on sequences then for seemingly no reason the stop start will be back on and the hill holder will be off 🙄

I really like the Ford Pass app, so cool to be able to control the car from the house, being able to start her up a few minutes before we're off out while I'm still inside the house is a novelty I've not yet grown tired of.

Oh... the other thing that bugs me is the TPMS, when I got the car all 4 pressures were different, by quite a bit too. I've been out to try and set them the same and the TPMS doesn't react in real time. I set them all to what I thought were the same from my pump but the TPMS didn't register any change, it wasn't till I drove it that they changed. I've got two the same but the other two differ by one or two PSI but all within the specs. I'm going out this afternoon to try it again!

I bought Heko deflectors as I've had them on my cars going back a fair few years now, the fronts were a bit of a fiddle to get in the right place and slightly block the amount the mirrors can fold in but I'm happy with them, the rears though... well they won't allow the windows to go up fully at all, doesn't matter how much I try, as soon as the window hits the base of the deflector it stops, so they're in the garage, probably never to be fitted.

The next thing for me to get is a set of window shields for when she's parked up to keep the sunlight off the interior and keep the inside cool.

[Guy Heaton]

Howdo.  Great write up.

I'd not use the tpms as an accurate guage, it's more useful as a warning of a puncture.

[TomsFocus]

Would be worth binning that chamois and getting a proper drying towel to reduce the risks of swirls in the paintwork.  

I really do like the STLX alloys...much nicer than the ST alloys imo!!  

[Frowma]

1 minute ago, TomsFocus said:

Would be worth binning that chamois and getting a proper drying towel to reduce the risks of swirls in the paintwork.  

I really do like the STLX alloys...much nicer than the ST alloys imo!!  

I've since got a load of microfibre cloths, the chamois is in the bin now. I've also ordered a snow foam lance and the like. 

[Guest]

I've had my ST Line X 182 Auto for a few months now and agree with everything you've said. Thanks for the heads up about the wind Heko deflectors. Think I'll pass on those. Love that colour - I went with Black though. Lol Agree that the wheels look great!

 

[Frowma]

Black was my first choice but the petrol 1.5 is quite rare so I had to go blue. Is yours newish, those wheels look like the black is gloss, mine are matt, I'd prefer the gloss, I think I might even get them colour coded!

[F0CUE]

The way to get the windows to set with the deflectors is first make sure they are pushed up fully. Then roll up the window and keep holding until you hear an audible click then the window sets in place. TBH though when it's windy you do get wind noise with the deflectors. 

[Sprawlsy]

3 hours ago, Frowma said:

Black was my first choice but the petrol 1.5 is quite rare so I had to go blue. Is yours newish, those wheels look like the black is gloss, mine are matt, I'd prefer the gloss, I think I might even get them colour coded!

The wheels on the ST Line X really are great, it would seem that 2020 builds (mine is a Feb build) are gloss.

[Guy Heaton]

My 2019 wheels are matt.  Oh and enjoy the 182 while you have it as the latest comment from Ford on Facebook is that there are no plans to replace it with an equivalent.

[Guest]

13 hours ago, Frowma said:

Black was my first choice but the petrol 1.5 is quite rare so I had to go blue. Is yours newish, those wheels look like the black is gloss, mine are matt, I'd prefer the gloss, I think I might even get them colour coded!

Built March 2020 so gloss - and polished with wheel wax because I had some in the cupboard. Lol.

 

[Frowma]

17 hours ago, F0CUE said:

The way to get the windows to set with the deflectors is first make sure they are pushed up fully. Then roll up the window and keep holding until you hear an audible click then the window sets in place. TBH though when it's windy you do get wind noise with the deflectors. 

I'm fine with jusy the fronts in place. I did put the rears in and pushed them up fully but there just isn't a big enough gap in the runner for both the window and the deflector to fit.

[Frowma]

4 hours ago, Nard said:

Built March 2020 so gloss - and polished with wheel wax because I had some in the cupboard. Lol.

 

Noice.....Now, mine from a distance look diamond cut but close up they're painted silver, are the 2020 wheels diamond cut or painted?

[F0CUE]

22 minutes ago, Frowma said:

I'm fine with jusy the fronts in place. I did put the rears in and pushed them up fully but there just isn't a big enough gap in the runner for both the window and the deflector to fit.

I had both on my mk2 but one fell off at the rear. TBH the rears were never the best. I deliberately bought just the fronts for my Mk3. 

[F0CUE]

29 minutes ago, Frowma said:

Noice.....Now, mine from a distance look diamond cut but close up they're painted silver, are the 2020 wheels diamond cut or painted?

It's Luster Nickel paint. 

[Acorn]

Had my focus since Feb this year very very pleased with it apart for one thing. This car has the auto dip headlight feature but I'm not impressed by the way it works. The previous Mondeo I owned had auto dip lights and was excellent.  The slightest hint of an on coming car and the lights would dip and the blue indicator light would go out, once passed the lights return to main beam and blue light would come back on. Come up behind a car and the lights would dip in plenty of time, simple and effective. The focus uses a different system of moving the lights to avoid dazzling on coming cars. The problem is when I activate the system the the blue light stays on all the time and I tend to get flashed by on coming cars but lights do appear to move., so I must be dazzling on coming drivers. I have taken the car back to the garage and they tell me the system is working fine. They even had it over night to test it in real life driving. The only time the lights do dip is when you come onto a road with street lights. The function is activated because an A comes up in the light indicator light. Its just that the system doesn't give me much confidence after using the Mondeo system. Has anyone else had the same issue?

Thanks in advance Nigel

[Frowma]

I've not yet driven at night, I did notice the first time I was in an underground car park, when I started the car the lights came on and moved all around before settling down, that looked quite funky. I know it's got the headlights that move with the steering but I didn't know about the autodip.

[Alex.S]

On 8/6/2020 at 11:56 AM, F0CUE said:

mine from a distance look diamond cut but close up they're painted silver, are the 2020 wheels diamond cut or painted?

Mine are matt and machine finish . Oct 19 

[simps100]

On 8/6/2020 at 8:54 PM, Acorn said:

Had my focus since Feb this year very very pleased with it apart for one thing. This car has the auto dip headlight feature but I'm not impressed by the way it works. The previous Mondeo I owned had auto dip lights and was excellent.  The slightest hint of an on coming car and the lights would dip and the blue indicator light would go out, once passed the lights return to main beam and blue light would come back on. Come up behind a car and the lights would dip in plenty of time, simple and effective. The focus uses a different system of moving the lights to avoid dazzling on coming cars. The problem is when I activate the system the the blue light stays on all the time and I tend to get flashed by on coming cars but lights do appear to move., so I must be dazzling on coming drivers. I have taken the car back to the garage and they tell me the system is working fine. They even had it over night to test it in real life driving. The only time the lights do dip is when you come onto a road with street lights. The function is activated because an A comes up in the light indicator light. Its just that the system doesn't give me much confidence after using the Mondeo system. Has anyone else had the same issue?

Thanks in advance Nigel

Coming from a Fiesta I noticed the same thing with my MK4 focus with the LED adaptive lights, but as you say I think it does move the lights to try avoid dazzling oncoming traffic but as you say it’s much slower to turn off the main beam.

I have just left it on - I have been flashed once and done a fair amount of night driving so I did assume it’s doing a reasonable job.

 

[Alex.S]

On 8/7/2020 at 10:29 AM, Frowma said:

I've not yet driven at night, I did notice the first time I was in an underground car park, when I started the car the lights came on and moved all around before settling down, that looked quite funky. I know it's got the headlights that move with the steering but I didn't know about the autodip.

I thought the new adaptive headlights weren’t connected to the steering? I wish I’d got LEDs but not these adaptive ones. 

[Comares2001]

There not they use cameras and sensors to adjust beam angles ,shapes and brightness . I think they are one of the best options if you do night driving.