Eric Bloodaxe

Interesting point. The system is supposed to cut off before it overheats (as below) but could it fail and cause damage without blowing a fuse? Never had one myself. HEATED STEERING WHEEL (IF EQUIPPED) The heated steering wheel button is on the climate controls. Press the button to switch the heated steering wheel on and off. Note: You can use the heated steering wheel only when the engine is running. Note: The system uses a sensor and is designed to control the temperature of the steering wheel and to prevent it from overheating. Note: In warm temperatures, the steering wheel quickly reaches its maximum temperature and the system reduces the current to the heating element. This could cause you to think that the system has stopped working but it has not. This is normal.

Hi Paul. Not heard of that on Ford or anything else tbh, even back in the days when steering wheel rims were usually some form of plastic. It is not unreasonable to expect the steering wheel to withstand a British summer (we have members on here in much hotter places!), and it seems a bit off for your dealership to claim it's not covered by warranty just because they have never seen it happen before. I'd push a bit harder and take it up with Ford Customer Service if you get nowhere. It would be interesting to see the damage if you are able to post up a pic of the wheel. As an aside, I've always suspected the steering wheel rim on the Mk 8 was not real leather anyway - the rim on mine feels nothing like the leather rims I've had in the past. I see on the latest price list the wheel rim is now described as "Sensico", but it claimed to be leather when I got mine.

Not at all, it's good to hear from other people's experiences, rather than find out the hard way!😀 My friend uses his i40 as a transport for piles of fishing gear (goes all over the place in pursuit of trout etc!) so I suspect as long as it holds all the stuff and keeps going, he's happy. I wouldn't have looked twice at a Hyundai/Kia until a few years ago, I've seen several similar comments on the Hyundai forums from people who now own one, so maybe they have upped their game in recent years. I'm in no hurry to do anything tbh, I normally like wandering round car showrooms (passes the time while the Mrs hits the shops), but can't be bothered at present with all the coronavirus measures. My existing car has had far less use than we expected anyway for various reasons, so no pressure. The i20n probably won't physically be in showrooms until early next year anyway, and if the seat is no better for me than the ST I probably won't even bother driving one.

Even if were feasible I suspect that all that tech would be a heck of a lot more expensive than, for example, Superchips Bluefin which claims 162 ps for £399.

Yeah, I got the impression from various reviews that the I40 (which I think has been dropped recently) perhaps wasn't their best car. That said, a chap I know has had one for 6 years (even though it's out of warranty now!) and he's been very satisfied with it. I've only looked at/driven an i30n so far and that seemed decently screwed together, though the "perceived qualty" (and I'm sure we all perceive that differently!) wasn't up to what you would find in, say, a Golf GTI (though I'm told the latest version of that, the Mk 8, has also slipped a bit). Whatever, Hyundai.are certainly not particularly cheap nowadays, they seem to be more pushing "good value for the price" but again, that's in the eye of the beholder. I'm interested to see what I make of the i20n.

Still only 5 afaik. I think it's their sister company, Kia, who do 7.

Going back to the i20n, reading various reviews I noticed that the different driving modes are referred to as the "Grin Control System" - sounds promising! 😁

Best wishes to you and your dad.

It was still showing on the latest (28 September) price list (standard ST-L only, not the X), but I notice Ford seem to have stopped pushing that version in their "Upgrade and Save" advertising and now the 125 is being promoted. Might be just "while stocks last" - we'll see if it disappears from the next price list (seems to be a new list every few weeks at the mo!😀)

Yes, those 5 pots (petrol and diesel) were lovely engines, As usual, gone way off topic so we'd better shut up before we get into bother!😀

Yes, I find that a bit odd as they've already dropped diesel altogether on the XC40 and I believe they intend to phase it out of the other models asap. Last time I seriously looked at buying a Volvo was the early 2000's, Back then a D5 for example meant a 5 cylinder diesel, which did seem to make sense!

Me too. BMW, Mercedes and Volvo seem as bad. They all seem to have a desire to denote the engine size/power on a badge, which worked to some extent when, say a BMW 330i was a 3 series with a 3.0 straight 6, now it's just a different stage of tune on their 2.0 4cyl! Similarly on the new 1-Series, a 128ti and 135i are both basically that same 2.0 four.

Good question. This is quite an old thread, started when the 100/125/140 were wet belt cam drive. I assume (but am not 100% sure - can anyone confirm?) that the 95 is a chain cam like the revised versions found in the other models, which are mostly now mild hybrid also. Performance on the 95 seems to be marginally down on the old 100 and emissions are worse than the 125 mHEV, which is notably quicker, only costs around £700 more at list, and is available from the base Trend model upwards. The VW group 1.0 turbo range also starts at 95ps and I suspect the Ford offering is mainly for marketing reasons.

The A1 40 TFSI S-Line Competition S-tronic (quite a mouthful) has the same 200ps drivetrain as the Polo GTI. There's no replacement for the old S1 Quattro though, which as you say was more powerful still.

I lurk on the Hyundai N-cars forum and opinions on the looks are split there too. I was quite impressed when I drove the larger i30n but don't need that size car now, so I reckon this could be worth a look. Tbh there's not a lot out there if you want a quick supermini with a manual box - Polo GTI and equivalent Audi A1 are auto only, Ibiza Cupra has never appeared, no sign of a Clio RS (and the last one was auto anyway). More or less leaves the ST and the MINI Cooper S, and now this.