catch

whatever you buy you should always fit the new tyres to the rear axle, with the ones taken off the rear axle put onto the front axle.

Tom I see you run a Golf, I was speaking to a guy who had run them for years and love them. Though he did say every new Mk he bought did not seem to be as good build quality wise as the one before it. I did not know the guy he just came down our road to jump start a mate of his Jag that had a flat battery. So no real conversation followed on from that comment. Any comments, and how do you rate the 1.4 in relation to the newer 1.5 has there been problems with the latter.

When I was eighteen I came into a little "Industrial Injuries" windfall. Well not a windfall exactly seeing as I had to part with the tip of a finger down to the first joint, anyway's it got me into the car buying market. I remember looking at a split screen Morris Minor, but settled on the A35 van with the collapsible back seat conversion. Lets just say the rear seat "ingognito" aspect of it appealed to me more 😎 We live on a square of 12 houses and two have Nissan Leafs as their only cars, they love them, I cannot wait until they become main stream. Mind you by the time they have a range of 400 miles we will probably only be fit to bomb down to Cornwall on a Shearings Holidays Coach. Tom Regards Honest John's real world MPG pages , yes I accept they are not the result of controlled trials. Whilst each individual who inputs data will have different journey mixes of milage speed, conjestion and roads travelled. It had to be better than the old system used by the motor industry. And speaking for myself a self confessed "data and numbers junkie" I have spread sheets on every aspect of living, Income out goings, investments etc, split into sub sections ( result of years running my own businesses, all new to me on setting up or buy as going concerns ) I'm of the belief that it is better the data tells you before the liquidator tells you. Obviously I do a spread sheet for the car. I have five full years of mileage / petrol data. I split holiday motoring data (boming up down motorways etc) from the rest which I call urban though it can include cross country trips 30 to 60 miles in duration. No commutes as we are retired so you could say it averages at around a 38/62 split Honest John figure for Mk 2.5 Focus 1.6 ........35.80mpg My motorway touring mileage has a spread of 38.74 to 40.46 mpg . Rural/Urban 32.5 to 36.80mpg which collectivly average out at 36.42 mpg so I find HJ data is near enough the mark for me.

Alex I was only interested in the Mk4 1.5 148bhp I like the look of it, I like the dash and the Honest John real world 45.2 mpg Mk 3.5 externaly is fine, I don't like the dash way to fussy and whilst visual opinions are subjective, no getting away from Honest John real world 39.5 mpg Guy and V I could not agree more, and yes V the less tech the less to go wrong, I have had Turbo's before and willing to get another. The plan was first set of new tyres I put on this car would be the last circa 2022, I swop out tyres at 3.0mm as a rule. Mind you as a lad I used to run a A35 van with a back seat conversion on remoulds 😯 mind you 0-60 mph in 31.0 seconds 🤣 Anyway over five and a half years of ownership present Mk2.5 has cost £420 in servicing, £165 in MOT's, £221 in repairs and renewals and £270 in set of premium tyres and it has depreciated by £5,032, What set the "should I sell earlier than intended" train of thought seeding in my head was the fact my trusty Tomtom GO 520 was not able update....and was suffering lazy connecting to sat's but seems OK for now. I like the Tomtom as I have it set to give an audible warning when breaking the speed limit and a cash register sound if I break it by 10 mph I think I will eventually go the 47.5 mpg 128 bhp Golf 1.5 Evo TSI Match Edition route, being the last of the purely 4 pot offerings before the 2020 Hybrid Golf is marketed and with Ford going 3 pot But will wait for the final run of Mk7.5's as they have just announced it will have LED headlights, 2 Zone Climatronic, and Winter Pack as standard, thats the wife's heated seats demand sorted then ☺️

Hi Guy thanks for your input, Good move regards the mortgage. Now I accept it is my fault for wandering off the initial thrust of the thread ...3 or 4 pot? I'm not disputing PCP plans will work for alot of people, especially peeps who want to borrow / drive new cars for a term of say a 2 to 4 years with the option to buy outright of just hand back to the finance company. Using the below linked example of how a PCP works, the finance company works out the expected depreciation of the vehicle over the contracted term and basically bills the borrower ( minus the deposit already paid ) that figure + interest on a monthly basis. I on the other hand dont get to borrow a newly registered car, but I do get to avoid having to finance the biggest lump of depreciation the vehicle will suffer in its entire life time before it is handed it back to the finance company. PCP plans ensure there is a massive choice of late model mint cars coming onto the resale market for which I'm eternaly greatfull as they enable me to buy at "Ballon Payment" valuations, so you could say PCP plans work for us both 😉 https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/car-finance/personal-contract-purchase/ PCP how does it work? Ok, so this might sound a bit complicated so here's an example to explain how it works... Let's imagine you sign up for a PCP over three years to buy a car with a ticket price of £18,000. You put down a deposit of £2,000 and the finance company calculates that the car will be worth at least £8,000 after three years. Here's how that would look... To 'borrow' the car you pay... Deposit: £2,000 Loan: £8,000 (£10,000-£2,000) plus interest Total: £10,000 plus interest To buy the car you pay... Deposit: £2,000 Loan: £8,000 (£10,000-£2,000) plus interest Balloon payment: £8,000 Total: £18,000 plus interest

So Eric thats what is was, me being a short @rse as well...the rationing! I tell you what though I struggled to clear me plate at the Queens Coronation street party 😂 Getting back on topic I think I'll stick with my Focus for now as the mileometer has just flicked over to 52,000, it's well shod and runnng sweet as a nut. I was offered £2,500 for it against a 2016 fully loaded Golf......nice motor but not keyless start like my 2011 Focus and the Focus has a bigger boot. If a low mileage motor is anyones bag try typing PF14 VRW into the check MOT history web site.....it will take some beating..

Appreciate what your all saying and I notice you have all got newish cars. But you have got to understand my prefered car buying approach, which over time has served me well. I've only ever borrowed money to buy property, and businesses. Everything else in life if I did not have the brass to buy out right it did not get bought, and that included cars. Now apart from once buying a 6 month old Ford Mondeo GLX, most cars I buy are usually 3 years old, and usually for half the cost of new. Current car is 8.5 years old and like all my motors never let me down never been strandered on a motorway.. Look when I was born and whilst a toddler there was still food rationing, I'm from a generation that does not need to have it all now. Don't get me wrong you makes your money and spend it how you want and why not. Just saying I retired when I was fifty one and have enjoyed ever minute of it, you cannot buy time. So I look for the potential for longativety in motors, these three pots may be really good and long lived, but I'll stick with 4 pots until I go Electric. Mind you I'm now measuring my likley life span by how many world cups I got left in me. 🙄

Thanks guys for your input much appreciated. Thing is I like to buy higher spec'd three year old cars, but for circa half the retail cost of new. I bought my current Focus on its third birthday. I like the balance of a 4 pot nothing getting shuck to bits, no need for potentially troublesome dual mass fly wheels and the like, and staying away from potentially dodgy powershift gear boxes...nice and simple but willing to go turbo for a bit more umph when needed. Now if I buy a 16 or a early 66 plate highly spec'd ( including four option packs ) Golf 1.4 TSI Bluemotion Tech Match Edition with £30 road tax, 127mph, 0 to 60 in 9.1 seconds and a Honest John real world 46.6mpg Now a simulair aged Focus 1.5 4 pot Mk3 facelift is £125 RT, top speed of 130mph, 0 to 60 in 8.9 with real world 39.5mpg oh and the Golf has a 20% bigger boot handy if you like self catering hols. I must admit like the look of the Mk4 and as always the Focus is best in class regards the drive, and a bigger cabin than the Golf and nearly same size boot. After one Mondeo and three Foci it will be a wrench leaving what I found was a reliable marque.......will I jump ?

3 pot or four pot ? reason I ask is all the pro reviewers say it is a 3 pot, but on Auto Trader looking under the "Economy and Performance" tab it is listed as a 4 pot 16 valve Look it up on Parkers specification tab and the cylinder and valve info is left blank, so which is it? Reason being I may be trading in my trusty Mk2.5 Focus 1.6 for a turbo boosted variant, call me old fashioned but I would rather have a 4 pot but without going the ST route. If it is the 3 pot jobby I may be tempted to go the Golf 1.4 TSI route. Any of my old playmates still out there, how you all doing, looking at the online tab 99% seem to be guests or members viewing incognito 😎

Hi Damien, If the car has a service history, and there is no evidence to support it has had the clutch replaced. It would be resonable to assume it is running on it's original clutch. And given it has covered148km [100k miles] and taking into account what you have described in your post, I reckon your looking at a new clutch mate. I would get it sorted at your convenience and not wait until it fails on the road. If you do take the car into a garage for a diagnosis let the forum know the outcome..........it helps build the knowlage base mate

Got to agree. How I see it from the not so clear detail of street description. Two cars travelling in the same direction along a street [no doubt houses fronting both sides of the street, no centre road markings, and nodoubt tight right angled juctions onto ajoining streets. [not a problem when turning right, but could be a tight turn on turning left.] Given that the driver in front is intending to turn left into an ajoining street, she may have positioned her car towards the centre of the road to facilitate what could have been a tight left turn. Not to have done so, could have ment on the turn, her front end could have been well over the oncoming traffic side of the street she was attempting to turn into. If that was the case, and though I accept it is stated she did not indicate. If there was only a possability of a left turn ahead as against approaching say a cross roads. The fact she slowed down and altered her line of travel would indicate to me a left turn was a possibility. In cases like that, I would have hung back until tthe other drivers intended actions became clear. The driver behind was impatiant he wanted to put this slow moving car behind him, he made an assumption she was pulling over to the off side curb. Hence as he attempted to under take her, the collision took place and the damage supports that scenario. Just telling it how I see it, nothing personal to the original poster, sh*t happens. Had she signaled we would not be here discussing a collision. Having held a clean licence for over fifty years, the one thing you learn in that time is to give the car in front plenty of space, the fact somebody is behind the wheel, their competence and or consideration of other road users is an unknown quantity. Many years ago an old retired banker and his wife used to come to our pub for dinner time lunches, was he a crap driver ! He used to stall the his car on the speed ramp at the entrance to the car park. I used to ask him how was the drive over, John,he would reply.... "All the sons of bit@hes were out today" I used to invisage the mayhem he was nodoubt responsible for taking place in his review mirror.

Phil, I'm assuming the newer Mobius "grew in size" merely to accomodate the bigger battery, and that being the case I think it would be fair to again assume the lens are the same on both the older and newer Mobius.

I agree Ian, He was not forcing his way onto the motorway, he gauged his entry perfectly, in that he was entering an empty inside lane at a speed faster than the Lorry already in the inside lane. It was the wagon driver at fault there, experiance should have taught him not to cut back into the inside lane if he is blind to the merging traffic expected to enter from a slip road. If I'm travelling in the inside lane on a motorway/ dual carriageway, on approaching a slip road merge point, I always move into lane two [if safe to do so] to make it easier for said merging traffice. Motorways like all roads are shared enviroments, it's not a case of I'm here first so you can "Pittle Off"

Yes The BFD and ABS will still be active Darren, but the EPS element will be disabled, as for switching it off and going for a spin .....I'll pass on that thanks . Will defo switch it off if it starts squirming about in the snow, and see how it performs with it off. Like arthur sez, mine like his Mk2 Focus was rock solid in snow, no agressive acceleration and staying of the brakes obviouisly. That was on Goodyear Optigrips all round, must say when I bought it, it was sporting Italian Marangoni rubbish and they were crap in snow. So when they got down to 3mm of tread I got shut of them. This Focus came with Mich Primacy on one axle and Goodyear Excellence on the other axle, decent tread on them.