Hi guys 

I've just purchased the car a week ago, I've realised I don't have the Sony head unit instead I have the standard spec unit. What's strange is I can't find any other titanium Xs with the lower spec unit. Is it because I have sat nav? 

 

Also I find the ride rather crashy, is this to be expected as it had 17 inch wheels. I'm a little dissapointed because I was under the impression it had a good ride. My other car is an 09 X5 M Sport with run flats and that rides alot better, which I did not expect. 

 

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The Titanium X normally has quite a soft comfort ride. I would suspect that a previous owner may have changed the suspension and fitted low profile tyres.

Don't know why you have the standard radio and not the Sony. What year is your car ? (Mk3 2021 models are very rare)

 

7 hours ago, unofix said:

The Titanium X normally has quite a soft comfort ride. I would suspect that a previous owner may have changed the suspension and fitted low profile tyres.

Don't know why you have the standard radio and not the Sony. What year is your car ? (Mk3 2021 models are very rare)

It's a 2011 model I just don't understand why it has the standard cd player. Yea I know the rear tyres are winter tyres, but even then I feel every little bump. I'd definitely say its firm its on git 17 inch wheels. 50 profile, confused if a previous owner has for some reason replaced with this unit. 

I thought the normal wheels for that model were 16" with something like 55x255 tyres. 

Again the Sony radio was the normal for that model even if it had Satnav 

Hi i have a 2013 reg Titanium navigator x which has  a sony head unit it has 17inch wheels as standard 18inc were optional,the ride is exellent especially after a mk1 ghia focus. Hope this helps Mike.

8 hours ago, unofix said:

I thought the normal wheels for that model were 16" with something like 55x255 tyres. 

Mk3 Titanium was 215/55/16.  Titanium X was 215/50/17.  Optional 18s were 235/40/18.  If you think the ride's bad on 17s, the 18s were ridiculous, always wondered who buys the top comfort model and immediately ruins it with those!  

The X5 is an SUV, you can't expect a small hatch to ride as smoothly.  The Mk3 did have a slightly harsher ride than the Mk2 though.  Mk4 is worse still.  I never drove a Mk1 so can't compare there.

As for the radio, the very early ones did get that headunit as it was the only one that worked with nav at the time.  It's not the basic unit because it has the nav & map buttons.

Yea that makes it more clear it is 2011 Mk3, I don't know if it's the tyre wheel combo just find it firm and unsettled. Also alot of road noise I don't know if it's just me, and yea I guess it's unfair to compare it to the X5 ride althrough I was lead to believe that the X5 is firm due to the sport suspension and run flats. Overall its a nice drive, just in terms of comfort. I didn't want to buy a golf as I find them very bland and boring, and they are not well equipped. 

Hey H4MP, check in your rear door panels, if they have a small circle next to the door handle that looks glued on(if I remember I’ll get a photo) you likely DO have the Sony head unit just not the fascia.

 

The ride for a Titanium X shouldn’t feel crashy (from having the same car) you may have aftermarket suspension? Considering it looks like your steering wheel is modded/wrapped. Also you have nav, which standard Titanium X as far as I’m aware shouldn’t. Titanium X navigator should, to me this indicates someone has messed about with it.

 

hope this helps!

On 10/24/2021 at 4:41 PM, unofix said:

I would suspect that a previous owner may have changed the suspension

 

1 hour ago, Foxxyblieu9 said:

you may have aftermarket suspension?

Yup !

10 hours ago, Foxxyblieu9 said:

Hey H4MP, check in your rear door panels, if they have a small circle next to the door handle that looks glued on(if I remember I’ll get a photo) you likely DO have the Sony head unit just not the fascia.

 

The ride for a Titanium X shouldn’t feel crashy (from having the same car) you may have aftermarket suspension? Considering it looks like your steering wheel is modded/wrapped. Also you have nav, which standard Titanium X as far as I’m aware shouldn’t. Titanium X navigator should, to me this indicates someone has messed about with it.

 

hope this helps!

Yea thanks appreciate that I'll have a look, Yea I don't like the faux carbon fibre on the steering wheel, apart from that it's a really clean car. Theres alot of road noise and the ride is firm to the point where my 6 year old said he doesn't like this car it's too jiggly. I will have to get the suspension looked at. 

On 10/25/2021 at 11:33 PM, H4MP said:

I didn't want to buy a golf as I find them very bland and boring, and they are not well equipped. 

Hated my Mk3 Focus so much I ended up selling it and buying a written off Golf with twice the mileage in under 6 months...  Much more comfortable and (so far) more reliable as well!    

You're right about the lack of spec though, even at top spec they didn't get climate as standard.

On 10/27/2021 at 9:20 AM, TomsFocus said:

Hated my Mk3 Focus so much I ended up selling it and buying a written off Golf with twice the mileage in under 6 months...  Much more comfortable and (so far) more reliable as well!    

You're right about the lack of spec though, even at top spec they didn't get climate as standard.

They are really poorly specced, my friends Tiguan R line, which is top of the range, doesnt have cruise control,  no xenons, no Bluetooth, no DAB, elec seats etc. The titanium X is really well specced. I just can't get over the poor ride and road noise. I'm guessing it has something to do with the tyre wheel combo as I have winter tyres on rear, the from one is budget and one is a run flat. Hardly ideal 

1 hour ago, H4MP said:

They are really poorly specced, my friends Tiguan R line, which is top of the range, doesnt have cruise control,  no xenons, no Bluetooth, no DAB, elec seats etc. The titanium X is really well specced. I just can't get over the poor ride and road noise. I'm guessing it has something to do with the tyre wheel combo as I have winter tyres on rear, the from one is budget and one is a run flat. Hardly ideal 

R Line isn't top of the range, it's 'sports spec' which is why it misses comfort options such as cruise control, but gets better looks.  Ford did exactly the same with the equivalent Zetec S.  The other problem is that so many things are optional on VW's, so it's impossible to find a used one with all the spec you want.

Poor ride & road noise is just standard on the Mk3 unfortunately.  My own Titanium was on the same 16s as I had on the Mk2 so it was nothing to do with the wheels, the Mk3 just is worse overall, the seats are very firm as well which amplifies the issue.  The ride was one of the main reasons I had to get rid of it.  I need a very smooth ride for health reasons and after 3 years looking (and several poor replacements), I still can't find anything in this segment with a better ride than my Golf.  Even the Mk8 Golf is worse sadly.

2 hours ago, H4MP said:

I'm guessing it has something to do with the tyre wheel combo as I have winter tyres on rear, the from one is budget and one is a run flat. Hardly ideal 

I would be getting the fronts changed as soon as possible. A run flat on just one corner is likely to affect the handling and the road noise. Much better to have all four tyres with a similar specification. 

11 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

R Line isn't top of the range, it's 'sports spec' which is why it misses comfort options such as cruise control, but gets better looks.  Ford did exactly the same with the equivalent Zetec S.  The other problem is that so many things are optional on VW's, so it's impossible to find a used one with all the spec you want.

Poor ride & road noise is just standard on the Mk3 unfortunately.  My own Titanium was on the same 16s as I had on the Mk2 so it was nothing to do with the wheels, the Mk3 just is worse overall, the seats are very firm as well which amplifies the issue.  The ride was one of the main reasons I had to get rid of it.  I need a very smooth ride for health reasons and after 3 years looking (and several poor replacements), I still can't find anything in this segment with a better ride than my Golf.  Even the Mk8 Golf is worse sadly.

For ride comfort depending on budget I would look at the newer Audi A4s, C Class or for lower budgets maybe citroen or Peugeot. I have heard the Honda covid 2014 onwards is smooth riding. I always thought focus was meant to be really comfortable

11 hours ago, pcaouolte said:

I would be getting the fronts changed as soon as possible. A run flat on just one corner is likely to affect the handling and the road noise. Much better to have all four tyres with a similar specification. 

Yea I need to it's just I've bought the car recently and the tyres are pretty new 

12 hours ago, H4MP said:

Yea I need to it's just I've bought the car recently and the tyres are pretty new 

Ford didn't supply the Focus with run flat tyres. If you were involved in an accident and had a run flat tyre fitted your insurance company might decide that you had altered the car from the original specification and could avoid paying a claim. I would get that run flat tyre changed as soon as possible.

12 hours ago, H4MP said:

For ride comfort depending on budget I would look at the newer Audi A4s, C Class or for lower budgets maybe citroen or Peugeot. I have heard the Honda covid 2014 onwards is smooth riding. I always thought focus was meant to be really comfortable

The Mk2 Focus was fairly comfortable in Titanium spec, I had one of those for 3.5 years.  Sadly I knew I could never drive the Mk2 ST which I'd wanted since first seeing an Electric Orange one back in 2006 lol.  I honestly don't know why Ford decided to make each Titanium worse after that.  Thought it was just me to start with but it never got any better and I've had similar complaints from other people about the Mk3/4 since, especially regarding kids in the back seats.

I've been doing tonnes of online research into smoother riding cars over the last few years but the reality is that modern hatchbacks just aren't designed for ride comfort, buyers are more interested in whether they can tether their iPhones to them and good the speakers are.  Most recently I bought a Focus Active Vignale (increased ride height and chunkier tyres than standard Focus) but the ride on that was still poor, somehow manages to be both really rough over poor surfaces and wallowy around corners or under acceleration.  The 'leather' seats are also rock solid which transmits every surface right through to the body.  Tried a Mk8 Golf Style (top comfort spec) but they come on 17s now and they were instantly noticeable and more harsh over bumps than the 16's I'm used to.  Don't need a saloon car so don't really want the extra hassle of a long bonnet & boot for parking & poor visibility junctions, but I have considered a C Class a few times.  Tried an A4 a few years ago but that was too firm, A3 was another that was too firm (made the mistake of assuming that to be the same as a Golf underneath).  The only car I can find that might be suitable is a very late Mk7.5 Golf in Match Edition spec...the last high spec Golf to come on 205/55/16s.  The facelift Match Edition got LED headlights, climate control and privacy glass on top of the usual Match spec (auto lights & wipers, cruise, etc).  Only trouble is it needs to be one with over 150bhp to get independent rear suspension for the smoothest ride, and I need a manual gearbox (again for health reasons).  The 1.5 TSI is pretty unreliable and has a common kangarooing issue - big problem for me healthwise!  So that only leaves the 2.0 TDI...  There's literally only one on Autotrader in that exact spec with a 2.0 TDI & manual gearbox. It's the other end of the country and well above my budget.  

I think the issue is smaller cars just don't ride aswell as the big saloons. I recently had an Audi Q7 with air suspension as a courteousy car, the ride was outstanding, literally magic carpet, again too big and too expensive. The seats are rather firm but they are supportive. 

1 hour ago, H4MP said:

I think the issue is smaller cars just don't ride aswell as the big saloons. I recently had an Audi Q7 with air suspension as a courteousy car, the ride was outstanding, literally magic carpet, again too big and too expensive. The seats are rather firm but they are supportive. 

It's a bit of a shame there aren't any small cars with air suspension as that would probably be ideal.  I have tried a Leon with adaptive suspension but even in comfort mode it didn't give the magic carpet feel I was hoping for.