Careful what you wish for ('05 Focus)

Feel free to copy my comments if you like.

cheers Stephen

Unfortunately it was a 1600 petrol, or "The Lame Duck" as my girlfriend called it after a day with it. It was nasty. Loud, gutless, and slow. As soon as I got back in my TDCi I felt like I was in a rocketship, and it's not exactly a road-burner. On the motorway, our TDCi with bike racks on the roof is quieter than the new Focus with the 1600, which is geared very short. I'm sure if you really flogged it and held it to redline in each gear you would match the performance of the TDCi... maybe. The tax incentives would have to be huge to make me buy that combination.

I'd have to measure it to be sure, but the clearance on either side of the mirrors is a few inches when backing past the concrete pillars (it's an underground garage). Once past the pillars, there is a little more wiggle room to get out of the car. Our friends have to fold the mirrors on their Volvo V70 to park reliably.

I know what you mean about NA garages. My parents live in a modest 1960s split-level near Toronto, and the garage accomodated (barely) a 1974 Plymouth Gran Fury coupe. My father's Passat looks somewhat lost in it now, and my old '78 Fiesta looked like it would have fit sideways.

Facts (from the ford.co.uk website):

1.6 Duratec Petrol: 100 PS power, 150 Nm torque, 0-62 mph in 11.9 secs (5-door) 1.6 Duratec Ti-VCT Petrol: 115 PS power, 155 Nm torque, 0-62 mph in 10.8 secs (5-door) 1.6 Duratorq TDCi Diesel Euro IV: 90 PS power, 215 Nm torque, 0-62 mph in 12.9 secs (5-door estate) 1.6 Duratorq TDCi Diesel Euro III: 109 PS power, 240 Nm torque, 0-62 mph in 11.1 secs (5-door estate) 1.8 Duratorq TDCi Diesel: 115 PS power, 280 Nm torque, 0-62 mph in 10.9 secs (5-door estate)

Assuming you're comparing the 1.6 Petrol with the 1.6 Diesel (otherwise the comparison is irrelevant) the Ti-VCT is at least as fast as the 1.6 Diesel, not to say faster. In fact the Ti-VCT can be even compared with the 1.8 Diesel. The only explanation is that your replacement car was one with the old

100 PS 1.6 engine. The fact that it's geared very short is actually one of the features I like very much about the new Focus, but I guess that's a matter of personal taste.

-Nick

On paper, running it through the gears, it's true it will keep up with the

1.8 diesel. In the real world, the wall of torque of the 1.8 leaves even the newest 1.6 for dead. The in-gear acceleration figures are key for me, not what it will do in a standing start sprint. Put your foot down in the 1.8 TDCi in 5th on the motorway, and it moves out in an impressive fashion. Do that in the 1.6 and you're dead, even though it is spinning at 3500 rpm or more at 120kph. Even a downshift to 4th didn't help much. Perhaps it was the 100ps, but I actually found the "old" 1.6 Zetec SE engine quite nice.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my old short-geared Corolla GT-S and I wind my MX-5 out to the redline on every shift. But... the Corolla could actually move in 5th gear with some authority if needed, and the MX-5 is meant for spirited driving and not much else. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age (37) but I see also the value of a car which can quietly and quickly get on with its business without me having to behave like a hooligan just to keep ahead of traffic.

I stand by my (and my girlfriend's) observation: the 1.6 was a dog in real-world driving.

Stephen

Well, we all know diesel engines are superior where torque is an issue (especially in low revs). Diesel cars have their advantages and their disadvantages and choosing between the two is a matter of many factors. Anyway, you're comparing a 1.6 petrol engine -that probably hadn't even reached its full potential- with a 1.8 diesel engine. It'd be interesting to compare the in-gear accelerations, although I can't seem to find the ones for the TDCi (diesel engines are prohibited in Athens, so there is not much material I can find).

All 1.6 petrol cars are dogs then. And forgive me, but real-world driving is not speeding above 120 kph with 5th gear in highways (it's illegal anyway), it's also driving every day in a traffic jammed city like Athens.

-Nick

It had 12'000 km on the clock.

80 - 120kph in fifth takes about 11 seconds in the TDCi, and about 17 seconds in the 1.6, if I remember the last AutoBild test correctly. The same relative difference holds for 50 - 80 in lower gears. That's serious when you are pulling out to pass.

It is in Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, UK etc. etc.

Agreed, and it is also passing trucks on a narrow two-lane uphill...

Stephen

[snip]

Noone would go for 80-120 with 5th gear on a petrol car :-) You have to compare relevant things.

I think I've done that once in 13 years. Which proves that things like that are purely subjective.

-Nick

The in-gear acceleration times for the 5D New Focus Ti-VCT are as follows:

3rd gear 30-50 4.0 50-80 5.8 80-110 6.4

4th gear

40-60 5.6 80-110 8.0 120-140 7.0

5th gear

50-70 7.1 80-110 11.8 120-140 10.4

and that makes it faster than the New Opel Astra 1.6, the Golf 1.6 Fsi and as fast as the C4 1.6.

-Nick

Well then, the Smart Car definitely could. Those things are remarkably small....