Now had it a month and 550 miles.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to take it to Scotland for a week when the border opened as folks in my walking group needed to take their vehicles for various reasons.
It’s pointless drawing comparisons with Barbie, but Henry, a 1.5 3cyl petrol Active Estate with 150 bhp, is doing ok. Lots of internal space, 600/1620 litres, more toys than you can shake a stick at, skinny 215/50 Continentals, and very frugal, as it should be with only half the cylinders of my previous. MPG doesn’t bother me given my low annual mileage, but the trip computer over 550 miles is currently showing 49 mpg. And I don’t dawdle.
Nice manual gearbox as expected, cruises effortlessly at 80/85 with low noise levels, handles brilliantly but overtaking slower moving traffic is its Achilles heel. I’m adapting. Say no more.
Lovely full length pano roof allows light to flood in, excellent B & O stereo and the HUD is a feature I now wouldn’t do without. Speed sign recognition bottom RHS of the HUD, your actual speed in white lettering in centre of HUD, which changes to red should you be a naughty boy. The projection onto the HUD is adjustable for size, brightness and position. Clever stuff.
Heated steering wheel, as previously, is another feature which I now take for granted, much like Hill assist, reversing camera and blind spot recognition. The door edge protectors are totally unnecessary.
Very simple and logical heating controls, easy to use Sync3 which I soon learnt how to use on previous rentals, and Apple/Android Car Play is another feature I’ve taken for granted these past few years.
Can’t say I’ve noticed the 3cm increase in ride height, or used the different driving modes yet...Trail, slippy etc. Don’t like the pale under bumper plastic appendages, but at least the black plastic wheel arch covers don’t show up against the dark metallic grey paintwork.
Let’s hope I can drive Henry out to Spain in September. And return with lots of wine & cheap gin eh Zeddo
8/10 so far.
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Now that is a proper car write up. Straight to it - No Bull.
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Good forecast tomorrow so driving friends over to Morecambe Bay Area for a walk. Only a 45 min drive but mix of fast A road, narrow country roads and some single track.
I’ll expect honest feedback from them. Doubtless they’ll be wanting beers at the Silverdale Hotel afterwards whilst I have a pot of tea.
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Glad you're enjoying it now. You had us ( well, me anyway ) worried there for a bit. I'm sure it's just going to be a really useful thing that you will end up liking more and more as you get the use of it.
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>> you will end up liking more and more as you get the use of it.
>>
After the barbie mobile? Nah
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Oh I dunno, that's a wee bit like comparing apples and oranges isn't it? You can appreciate fine cuisine one day, but you can also be just as pleased with a good portion of fish and chips on another day.
Of course the Porsche outguns it in all manner of ways, but taken in isolation, the Focus can still a very pleasing thing.
Well, I hope it works out well anyway.
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>> Well, I hope it works out well anyway.
Indeed, and if not there’s always this...
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124709645533
;)
Last edited by: VxFan on Fri 7 May 21 at 11:02
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Heh heh !
Actually, back in the dim and distant, I've had two of those ( not that colour of course ! ) I had a black one and a grey one. The latter being a "Sergio Tachini" or something special edition if you please. Grey with green seats.
Great wee cars. Even got as far as Switzerland in them on a few occasions with skis on top. Not sure I'd want one now mind you. Everything has its time.
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I had a 750cc version. Got it because daughters were always asking for lifts when they were home from uni. They both had full licences and it taught them not to be fussy about status with cars.
I doubt if you could get a more basic car. Back seat was a hammock and the fronts weren't much better. Extras included a single front wiper (the only one on the car) and a HRW, although it did have a working heater.
I gave it a head job when the emissions were near to failing and found all the exhaust valves were tight or had no gap, went much better after.
Used it for a few grass autotests, for a laugh. Got an FTD (outright win) on one, run on long grass where it had rained overnight and it kept showering during the day, 32BHP was too much power in the circumstances.
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>>>>I gave it a head<<<<
Scan reading always throws up a sudden interest!
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The two mk1 Pandas I had were 2WD. But, despite that, they both acquitted themselves very well at the ski resorts. Skinny tyres, low power, light weight and a bit of extra ground clearance added up to vehicles that were pretty competent even in deep snow.
Very fond memories of our "adventures" in them. In the way of many small Italian cars, you tended to just drive them flat out all the time, and they seemed to relish that.
That "hammock" back seat you mentioned BT was easy to remove, and frankly most of the time, it was out of the car. The space created was like a small van. Skis or mountain bikes on the top, depending on the time of year, or activity chosen. Luggage, a tent in summer and other ancillary kit in the back, and the world was your lobster.
I think it's a lot of why we like the Renegade so much, it's like a modern take on the same sort of nonsense really.
;-)
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Glad you are enjoying the Renegade...but deep down is there still an itch for that US emergency number ?
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Heh heh! Actually, I've just been out in it. Happened to park next to a bloke in a heavily modified old Discovery. You know the sort, cargo pants, tartan shirt, tattoos, ponytail, winch, big tyres, trick suspension, "one wife livid" or something sticker etc...car strategically mud splattered.
I felt a bit limp wristed in my little Jeep to be honest. But I toughed it out.
;-)
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Trip computer still showing 47mpg. A mix of fast country A roads, a blast up the M6 to Carlisle at an indicated 85 most of the way, very little stop start and no pussy footing around.
It feels calm and unstressed at higher speeds.....but I’m quite attached to my licence so won’t be venturing there again.
I really appreciate the HUD which is a great option, as is the B & O sound system, huge pano roof which is quiet when open at non motorway speeds, and the incredibly easy to operate Sync 3 system is a bonus, as are the user friendly Luddite heater controls.
Improved to 8.5/10.
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Good to hear you’re starting to gel with Henry.
I’m running a Kuga PHEV and concur with your thoughts on the B&O sound system, pano roof and HUD.
Over 1,600 miles, mine is showing 125 mpg. However, that doesn’t take account of the leccy to charge it overnight, or the fact that my journey profile at the moment is nearly all shorter (<50 mile) journeys, which play to its strengths. We’ll see how that changes when longer trips are back in the mix more regularly. Having said that, plenty of people on another forum are claiming the right side of 50mpg on longer journeys after the high voltage battery is depleted.
Sorry about the thread drift…!
Last edited by: Mr Moo on Tue 25 May 21 at 01:10
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Interesting. Presumably it’s the new 1.0 litre PHEV with 155 horse, same as the Focus ? I didn’t want another SUV, but a return to more traditional estate, of which I’ve had plenty, although most were bought off friends with high mileages and cheap as chips.
The only downside I find is the internal load height..with the Macan I could fit in about 12/14 pallets, the Focus Estate only 6/8.
I think the Kuga looks especially good in Ruby Red.
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Loadspace is an odd thing. As I've mentioned many times before, under normal (non Covid restricted) circumstances, I carry a lot of kit around in my car on a daily basis. We do lots of one, two or three day pop up trade exhibitions and shows in hotel meeting rooms mainly, or periodically, at the bigger purpose built exhibition centres in the uk and abroad.
Everything is packed in purpose made trolley bags. They are rectangular in profile, 1metre long, 50cm high and 35cm wide. Colloquially known in the trade as trolley coffins. They contain trade samples and collapsed down display units.
Heavy things to move, and the lower load height of an estate car is an advantage in that respect.
I can get 5 of them in the back of my 1900L loadspace Merc estate with room on top for soft bags of anything else I need or personal luggage.
Just out of curiousity I tried loading them into the back of our 1200L loadspace Renegade just to see if I could get away with using it if required or if the Merc was poorly or something.
To my mild astonishment, I can get 6 of them in the back of that due to the additional height of the loadbay. Not as easy to pack, as they have to be stacked on top of one another, and like I said, they can be brutally heavy, but, it does mean that I have back up options.
Still prefer to have a large estate for work though, but it is reassuring to know I could at least manage with the other one if necessary.
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Until the pandemic, I never had the need to figure out how much boot space I had in various cars. I now think in standard supermarket trays. The V60 can take up to 15 !
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There is something "nice" about a Volvo estate. I've never really got on with them, but I know many who do, and I'm sort of glad they exist. There are places that just wouldn't look right without a village green, a duck pond and some Volvo estates.
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>> There is something "nice" about a Volvo estate. I've never really got on with them,
>> but I know many who do, and I'm sort of glad they exist. There are
>> places that just wouldn't look right without a village green, a duck pond and some OLDER
>> Volvo estates.
There thats fixed that. The V90 fails every fundamental loadspace requirement of Volvo estates. Which is why there is no V90 T8 on my drive.
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We had a V90 for a weekend - it was far too big for our needs and needed tugs to park it in Morrisons ! It was a lovely car though. The V60 is slightly longer than my old 335, certainly wider boot access - roof is definitely lower though (had to buy a lower TransK9 dog cage -but it's wider)- swallowed dog and all our luggage for our holiday.
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>> Interesting. Presumably it’s the new 1.0 litre PHEV with 155 horse, same as the Focus
>> ? I didn’t want another SUV, but a return to more traditional estate, of which
>> I’ve had plenty, although most were bought off friends with high mileages and cheap as
>> chips.
>> The only downside I find is the internal load height..with the Macan I could fit
>> in about 12/14 pallets, the Focus Estate only 6/8.
>> I think the Kuga looks especially good in Ruby Red.
>>
Strangely, Ford appear to have two approaches to PHEV powertrains. The Transit PHEV is the 1.0 Ecoboost unit, I think largely working as a generator to charge the batteries, which in turn drive a motor which powers the wheels.
Conversely, the Kuga is a 2.5, 4 cylinder, naturally aspirated unit running the Atkinson cycle and channeling that ‘power’ via a CVT ‘box. A very different animal to the previous Golf GTD Estate with a manual ‘box.
To be honest, the main driver was cutting BIK costs, as it’s company car. It does that very effectively, as the monthly tax bill is around 1/3 of that for the Golf. PHEV or BEV is the only way to go for reasonable company car tax bills these days.
Actually drives well, in spite of the CVT ‘box.
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Poor Henry has slipped of late in my estimation. Despite pussy footing around of the highest order, plenty of A road gentle pootling at the speed limit, only a few foot to the floor moments and limited stop start journeys, it’s averaging 41mpg....pootling like that in Barbie would have returned low 30s.
The ‘hill assist’ seems to have stopped working, despite it being ticked on the Sync3 menu.
Two rear NS trim panels popped off recently and I just pushed them back on with the palm of my hand. I’ve never had that happen before on a car.
Trim rattles from the pano roof and sun blind area.
I still hope to drive it over to Spain later this year, which is the main reason I’m persevering, but the honeymoon period is definitely over. Any more niggles and it will be visiting the last chance saloon.
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Best just chop it in against a 911 then. Makes sense really. Reliable things those.
;-)
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Andrew’s dad, who was in the motor trade all his working life, always says “bits of metal, bits of board thrown together makes a Ford…” Perhaps they weren’t thrown hard enough in your case…? Though, coming from a Porsche, I’m pretty sure disappointment in build quality was inevitable?
Fuel economy is a surprise though. The MINI (4 cylinder, 2 litre, 190ish bhp) will do high 40s when used sensibly on a long journey. The Merc (4 cylinders, 2 litre, 300ish bhp) will do very low 40s in the same circumstances, and indeed did last weekend when I went to Suffolk. Nothing has fallen off either car, though the MINI feels like it’s better built I think and still feels like new.
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Got 41mpg going round Scotland in the FRV two weeks ago, which it also manages at 75-80mph indicated on the motorway in summer too.
I think most medium-weight 4 cylinder modern EFi petrol cars will achieve similar mileages at similar ambient temperatures when cruising (until you use the performance on tap), unless there are other reasons to make them less efficient (open sunroof/windows, towing, stupid big wheels, etc).
At slower speeds the transmission will have a bigger effect on fuel consumption.
If you want much better than 40mpg you need a tinbox city car, or trick lean burn engines.
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Ford - Focus Active update - MD
