Good morning,

 

I have been the proud owner of a 2006 plate Ford Focus Estate 1800 TD Ci Ghia for about 6 years.

Other than looking rather shabby now, (my car as well), I have to face the fact that it probably won't and shouldn't pass its next MOT without significantly more spent on doing so than it is reasonably worth.

 

Thinking in terms of a replacement, and having driven two marks of Ford Escorts, Nissans, a Toyota, Volkswagon etc, I rather prefer the size and handling of my Ford Focus Estate over these other brands / models. However, there having been a large range of specifications to choose from and seemingly few Focus Estates on the market, I'm not sure which spec of probably a 2017 model of Focus (c £11,000 - 12,000) would best suit my needs.

 

My Needs:

• I would be unhappy to lose the foot to the floor raw power which my current model gives, (without breaking the law btw).

• I once or twice annually tow a caravan, currently less than 1 tonne, e.g up a 1/12 gradient 2 mile long single track road en route to the Ross of Mull - from the A884 onwards with many steep hills to climb.

• I have two German Short Haired Pointers ( hence the estate) and periodically carry bulky loads.

• I would prefer to move away from Diesel to petrol, hearing that, apparently, deisel emissions are far worse than petrol and that my nearest city council - Glasgow, is planning to ban deisel cars before long from accessing the city.... and ... other than on holiday my work mileage has become a lot lower with foreseeably more regularly shorter journeys.

 

Is there a petrol equivalent in the Ford 2017 range of Estates to match, and possibly exceed my limit of about 1.1 tonne to max 1.3 tonne, towing capacity of my current Focus estate without losing the power and raw guts which mine has?

 

Looking at caravan forums, the debate swings both ways re 1.5 ltr petrol turbo engined cars e.g. matching the towing capacity of deisel engines in the braked 1.5 tonne and under towing weights?

 

Online sources naturally provide conflicting and subjective opinions as to the above considerations in general.

Ford UK have responded to my above request by suggesting that I contact my nearest dealership -  who may well simply offer me what they have in stock at the tiome of my visit, whether it's the best choice or not.

 

So far caravan owners advice as been that I'm looking for a twin turbo or TSi with a torque of between 230 and 260 at 1500rpm as a general rule?

 

Your advice and guidance would be very much appreciated.

I've changed my browser search string again, it now looks like I'm after a 2017 1.5 petrol Ecoboost, (which I now know is the turbo version),  in the 148 or 180 bhp models for towing? ... though I'm not sure whether Titanium etc ...

Looks like the 2ltr petrol version only comes with the higher spec models, which are of course a few thousand pounds more and I have other commitments which preclude me buying newer high end spec models at present.