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Motoring Discussion > Ford Focus III - 1.0T 125PS 6Sp Ecoboost	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: PeterS	Replies: 119

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New Mon 6 Oct 14 22:11

Ford Focus III - 1.0T 125PS 6Sp Ecoboost - PeterS

For reasons best known to Avis the Audi A1 S Line I'd booked as a 'guaranteed model' (for its standard fit sat nav in hire car guise) turned out to be a Ford Focus estate. At 10:30pm I'm only willing to spend a few minutes arguing the case - if they don't have one they don't have one, and there's only so much they can do on-site...

The reason I wanted sat nav was that we'd planned on tacking a few days holiday onto work trip and tour around the Dundee area, before driving south to a wedding in N Yorks and from there back to Gatwick to collect my car. Factory sat nav with traffic updates would have just made life easier....but it wasn't to be...

As some of you will have seen in an earlier post, the car was described as a 1.6 TDCI Style on the paperwork, and after being initially pleased with its refinement the reality was it was actually a 1.0T eco boost in Zetec S trim. So refinement not that good after all...but it was virtually brand new. Under 200 miles and on a â€™64 plate. However, after the best part of 1,000 miles I feel qualified to pass judgement on it, and hopefully the following is of use to someone...

To look at, in metallic black with privacy glass, it looked pretty good I thought. The 17" wheels suited it, and the brushed chrome roof rails lifted it just enough (though didn't completely stop it looking like a mini hearse...). The interior was standard black cloth, and the dash was 'complemented' with some brushed steel effect plastic highlights. Don't look too closely, or indeed touch them, and all is good...

The engine was surprisingly torquey, though the flattered by the gearing. It was possible to get the thing into 6th from around 45mph without too much trouble, though obviously it was flat as a panckake them. Driven like that economy was average - but driven with any desire to make progress and the economy suffered. On the other hand when revved the performance was Ok; better than I expected in fact. In the end I managed 35 mpg on what was probably 60% motorway and the balance being scottish and Yorkshire A/B roads with all they entail... Performance improved as the mileage increased, almost to the end of the hire in fact...

The drivers seat, while initially comfortable, suffered from virtually no thigh support and no tilt adjustment of the squab. The back rest on the other hand was incredibly supportive, and the (standard?) lumbar support good. So after a couple of hours in the seat it became quite uncomfortable on the thighs. This was exacerbated on motorway stretches because the car had no cruise control, which I still think is an odd omission on a model some way up the range. Rear passengers (only for short journeys) commented on the good headroom but average legroom. They also noticed that the car had no rear grab handles. Again, an odd omission. The front seat passenger moaned that there was no light on the vanity mirror either which again seemed penny pinching. Another odd things about it was the wing mirrors, which were very van like and I'm sure were taller than they were wide.

Off the motorways the handling was very predictable, and the car would certainly corner at some impressive speeds. It was less happy with potholes and rutted surfaces, when it would lose compusure pretty quickly, but on smoother roads was fine. It actually dealt with rough suraces pretty well, but the sudden 'thumps' and subsequent recovery were poorly handled. Steering had little feel, but was predictable.

Equipment wise it was poor, but worse than that the dash was back lit in blue (very VW 1998) and the displays were of a type I've not seen since a 1988 Sony Midi system, and coincidently the same colour. The top of the dashboard was a nice dense, squidgy plastic (1996 Audi A4) but the front was hard and shine (exactly the same finish as a 1994 Ford Escort) The cars bluetooth never worked, but I'm willing to blame iOs 8 for that...

Summary; a nice, tractable engine in a very practical package (from a space perspective) spoiled by substandard ride and refinement with some truly mean cost cutting.

And if that had been it I'd have broadly speaking been happy. After all, it was a hire car. However this (at the time) sub 1,000 mile car did go into limp home mode on the M1, round about Leicester. Some way from home. Running roughly, losing speed and the 'engine service' light illuminated. After drifting over to the hard shoulder and turning it off I did what any one else would have done in a hire car. Had a quick look to check no fluids were leaking out, and restarted it. No error messages and cleanly revving again. So off I went...

Just before Newport Pagnell services the 'low oil' warning light came on, so a quick detour to the services and a litre of oil (how much!?!?) later and all was well again. Not too unhappy - could have happened to anyone. New engine, low capacity, turbo charged, driven briskly. Some oil consumption to be expected. But coming off the M23 at Gatwick it came on again. Not so good, and clearly an unhappy engine. Man at Avis not surprised though - fourth Focus he'd seen with the same symptoms...

So in summary, a great engine on paper, and indeed to drive, but not one I'd be willing so put my own money into yet. The car as a package was also good, but let down by some truly mean penny pinching and some unnecessarily cheap materials. So near, but so far. I can see why VW is where the private buyers money goes...

Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 7 Oct 14 at 01:01