I have just taken my car in for MOT/Service. While in reception I looked onto the forecourt and saw a large but unrecognisable new Ford. Thought it was some Mondeo variant - asked the mechanic who was dealing with me what it was - The New Focus he said! It was vast!
autoworld.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/ford-focus-wagon-2012-live-at-geneva-motor-show-img_1.jpg
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Not yet ANOTHER facelift. Can't Ford get it right the first time? The current one with its over styled body adornments and hideous interior needed some changes but so soon?
Have they done anything to that interior dashboard. That alone would put me off and I need possibly, to consider this car, in the future to replace my MK6 Golf whose replacement, the MK7 has decided to fit an electronic handbrake which I'd avoid like the plague.
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Its not a facelift, its a new model. It has the hideous darth vader dash seen on the Ka and Fiesta.
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>> that looks smart
>>
If there's another meaning of the word "smart" that means "like a Peugeot" then you're right.
That blunt nose, bonnet line, wings, lighting and windscreen / A pillar treatment screams "Peugeot" to me.
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And a very short tail, for an estate, that looks more like a Kia. Nice colour, though, and not as ugly overall as most current Peugeots. Would need to see inside one, though; recent Ford interiors have been dreadful.
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The one I saw was white; I know it is popular but it didn't quite work IMO.
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It looks smart but one has to overlook the fact that the car show vehicle has tinted glass all round and massive wheels.
I'll bet when you drive off the forecourt in one it won't look anywhere near as impressive.
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Nothing says "I'm here to fix your photocopier" like a white Focus estate.
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Here's a review from Autoexpress showing it on the road and a picture of the dash.
www.autoexpress.co.uk/ford/focus/60313/ford-focus-st-estate
Maybe a secondhand one in three or four years would suit me. I'd need a decent pension to afford one now!
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But how long has the current shaped Focus been on the road? Not more than about 2 years, surely.
Ford designers just don't get it, do they, compared with VW/Audi for example?
Last edited by: Oldgit on Wed 26 Sep 12 at 13:54
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It's a bland blob, IMHO. Could be anything Japanese, Korean or European. And why are they persisting with the dashboard that looks like it was ripped from a 1980's Matsui midi system?
Remember how distinctive and fresh the mk1 looked, and still does to this day for that matter?
What are Ford playing at?
Last edited by: DP on Wed 26 Sep 12 at 14:06
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Possibly reasoning that European tastes are no longer their principal target?
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>>
>> What are Ford playing at?
>>
>>
>>
Ford are losing a $billion or so in Europe this year with sales down 30% so they will be cutting engineering design costs...
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>> Ford designers just don't get it, do they, compared with VW/Audi for example?
>>
I'll know better after the arrival of the Audi A3 brochure I've ordered. I just hope the new Focus seats are more comfortable than those in the current Focus.
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I'm guessing you want something physical rather than a PDF, but just in case:
www.audi.co.uk/content/dam/audi/production/PDF/PriceAndSpecGuides/a3-new.pdf
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>> >> Ford designers just don't get it, do they, compared with VW/Audi for example?
>> >>
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>> I'll know better after the arrival of the Audi A3 brochure I've ordered. I just
>> hope the new Focus seats are more comfortable than those in the current Focus.
>>
I couldn't see anywhere on their website to order a paper brochure. Perhaps I must look again. However, is not the A3 also lumbered with an ebrake?
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>> >> I couldn't see anywhere on their website to order a paper brochure.
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>> www.audi.co.uk/about-audi/contact-us/brochures/request-a-brochure/request-a-brochure.html
>>
Thanks for that. Looking again, I did see it and ordered one. I configured an A3 Sportback similar in spec to my curent Golf MK6 and it came to ca. £23,500. This was base on the 1.4TSI engine and included sunroof (twice the price of mine), folding wing mirrors, etc. metallic paint and reversing sensors F&R. However it does have an ebrake and so if I were to accept that abomination, I might as well entertain the cheaper MK7 Golf after all. The Audi is just a more expensive version of the Golf IMHO.
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Electric handbrake is OK provided that the car is either an automatic or has a hill-holder clutch.
Otherwise you have no means of doing a hill-start except trying to balance the clutch, foot-brake and accelerator. As I learned the hard way when I parked FiL's Volvo XC60 facing downhill on the headland above a local beach :-(
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>> Otherwise you have no means of doing a hill-start except trying to balance the clutch,
>> foot-brake and accelerator.
What I found out the hard way, when I had a hired Passat some time ago and forgot to release the thing myself, is that the thing automagically releases when you set off. No pedal juggling or fancy clutches required, Presumably there's a threshold of "oof" against the brake that causes it to disengage.
Presumably it's in the manual, but being a hire car it didn't come with one.
A colleague placed in the same position was less fortunate. He never twigged that and rolled back into something while trying to heel-and-toe it on a hill.
I have to say though, I never tried doing this backwards so I don't know if that feature worked in both directions. I don't see why it shouldn't though.
Another thing I didn't get to find out but have speculated on since is, given this feature, what happens if you're stationary with the handbrake on in traffic and some berk rams you from behind.......?
Last edited by: TeeCee on Thu 27 Sep 12 at 11:01
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The hill hold works fine on our (DSG) Golf and IIRC was pretty useful on my (manual) 330d too, just needs a bit of 'getting used to'. Is it the most useful advance in automotive engineering ? - probably not, unlike the auto-dimming rear view mirror, now that was progress....
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>> It looks smart but one has to overlook the fact that the car show vehicle
>> has tinted glass all round and massive wheels.
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>> I'll bet when you drive off the forecourt in one it won't look anywhere near
>> as impressive.
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I wouldn't order it if privacy glass and massive wheels were standard.
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>> If there's another meaning of the word "smart" that means "like a Peugeot" then you're
>> right.
>> That blunt nose, bonnet line, wings, lighting and windscreen / A pillar treatment screams "Peugeot"
>> to me.
>>
I don't care what a car looks like. I'm interested in whether it meets my functional requirements.
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I've just ordered a brochure online for the new Ford Focus. I thought I'd stop Ford from being over-familiar by just putting my initial in the "first name" box. Their online confirmation of my request started off "Dear" followed by my initial!
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Focus is on my PFV list (Possible Future Vehicle).
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Mentioned before here that I had a sort of Focus ( new C-Max ) on hire in Italy a couple of trips ago. 1.6 diesel engined one. Really nice actually. Wouldn't grumble at all if I had one as my main car.
I think though the really smart buys on Focussssss are the 3 year olds. Cheaper than chips and very good cars.
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>> I think though the really smart buys on Focussss are the 3 year olds. Cheaper than chips and very good cars
There are some terrifically thrashed but dirt cheap railway engineer / police cars out there - mega miles, grim interiors and knackered DPFs. A new base model Focus is generally bought to work hard, the posh privately-bought ones will be the better cars but not such bargain prices.
I transportered an unregistered 1.0 EcoBoost last week, very impressive. Really smooth idle. There was a definite 3-cylinder thrum when you blipped the the throttle, otherwise you really wouldn't know.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Wed 26 Sep 12 at 21:22
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>> How quick did it feel ?
As a professional driver, in front of the customer, in a non-run-in 4-miles-old car with a stone-cold engine, I couldn't possibly assess that (cough) ;) In other words, it's got all 125 horses and you really wouldn't believe it's only a 1-litre from the way it lunges up the road. Not surprised the magazines are only getting mid-40s mpg, it's a revvy little thing.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Wed 26 Sep 12 at 21:44
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>> Not surprised the magazines are only getting mid-40s mpg, it's
>> a revvy little thing.
It would be nice to get mid-30s out of my not-very-revvy 2.0 lump... :)
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>> >> Not surprised the magazines are only getting mid-40s mpg, it's
>> >> a revvy little thing.
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>> It would be nice to get mid-30s out of my not-very-revvy 2.0 lump... :)
>>
My 2.0 Focus Ghia's overall average since new is 36.5 mpg. I'm happy with that.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Thu 27 Sep 12 at 11:35
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There are dealers that specialise in end of contract Motability cars, often very low mileage, 1.6 Zetec £7 to £8K.
tinyurl.com/c6uplng
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We've got the previous model Focus not sure about the new one.It is lower and smaller windows.The new Focus Estate looks nice the one to go for me thinks.
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Parks itself Dutchie. Or at least the one on the telly does. Clever that.
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Thanks Humph at my age I need all the help there is.>:)
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Ford - New Ford Focus - Zero
