I drove a Focus for the first time today....

Of course, 19k gets you into a 1.6d V50, 19.5 into a 2.0D, 17k into a petrol one. Climate. Cloth door panels, electric windows all round, alloy wheels, Volvo stereo, everything the focus has and more. So if you're a user chooser that makes much more sense.

Your argument against the way the Focus drives appears to revolve purely around the fact that that it costs some users what you think too much in company car tax.

Personally I never sit in the back of my car and I don't give a flying f*ck if it doesn't have electric windows in the front or the back.

I have arms like an ape anyway and could reach the rear window winder if I suddenly decided to open them. Anyway, isn't that what air conditioning is for?

As a supposed car nut you chose a Prius and insist on your employer providing you with a sub 200bhp[1] automatic. Doesn't sound like entertainment to me.

How many miles has your 75 done in the last year? How many track days?

It's not that the Focus is for people who don't like driving. I think it's that you don't like driving so didn't enjoy the Focus.

IIRC, Steve was supposed to be getting a Prius from day one and only ended up with a Focus initially as a stop gap whilst his employer waited for a Prius to come back into the fleet for him to have, and that he was told he'd be getting a Prius with the job when he took it rather than being given a long list of cars to choose from and him then opting for a Prius by choice.

-- JackH

That's more or less it.

Although the Focus could have been kept, had it been any good. Which it wasn't.

Too much missing kit for it to be a decent car for someone in a regional role - no arm-rest, crap stereo and, yes, wind-down rear windows aren't much fun when you can do up to 1k miles in a week. (Leccy windows in the back are great to get some airflow in the car before the aircon gets ice-cold on a hot day).

If people would take their blinkers off and stop quoting Clarsonisms, they may see that a Prius is actually a very good car - for company car users who do a fair bit of business mileage and next to no private miles.

I haven't used the 75 as much as I hoped this year - but I've done around 5k miles on bikes since February - which eats into time I'd spend driving the 75.

However, I have used the 75 for work on a handful of occasions, when I felt like a change.

-- SteveH

I have done more than 1000 miles a week many, many times, for work and just for the craic. I've still never missed being able to wind the rear windows down. Apart from in a list of 'What pointless features does your car have?'. Admitedly its not the most pointless feature I have encountered, but its not as useful as for instance, being able to dim the instrument panel on a Saab. (c;

How do the rear window winders affect the way the Focus drives?

So its good because of cheap tax? How does company car tax affect the way the supposedly terrible Focus drives?

So you don't enjoy driving that much either?

Good.

Just out of interest. Can you give us some real world brim to brim tankful MPG figures? Failing that, a reading from the trip computer?

Well personally I'm not quite sure what how many times you have or haven't used your 75 has to do with whether or not a Focus is as good / bad as some suggest, so I'm not entirely sure why you're answering that point tbh. ;-)

-- JackH

Douglas Payne gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Really?

Biggest benefit, apart from trying to get the most air possible through the car on a hot day, is when you have a sliding sunroof fully open - just cracking a rear window open a bit will usually immediately remove that horrible booming that often accompanies it.

How does that affect how it drives...?

IIRC, Steve was supposed to be getting a Prius from day one and only ended up with a Focus initially as a stop gap whilst his employer waited for a Prius to come back into the fleet for him to have, and that he was told he'd be getting a Prius with the job when he took it rather than being given a long list of cars to choose from and him then opting for a Prius by choice.

--=20 Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger , then I hide until it goes away"

The point I'm trying to make is that I think SteveH finds cars pretty hateful. Perhaps because judging by what he's said on here he often has to spend more of his life in a car he didn't choose and has a spec which he considers below a man of his standing within the company, than he does in his own bed. A man who cossets his weekend/track day car at considerable expense but almost never drives it at the weekend or at a track day.

Someone who finds the act of driving a car so tedious might not be considered to be a particularly good judge of what makes a car good to drive. Especially as the argument has now turned from corner speeds and driving technique to company car tax and having a centre arm rest.

Perhaps it doesn't get that hot very often where I live.

Also, some of my time has been spent driving vehicles that don't have opening rear windows and laterally of course I've just put the roof down to cool the interior of the car.

Heheh, just curious. Not curious enough to start a new thread.

I think I know Steve well enough to that's not the case - finding

'Familiarity breeds contempt' ;-)

What he chooses to do or not do with his 75, has little bearing on his observations and opinion of the Focus, having spent a fair amount of time driving one this year.

Ergo, I still suspect you are clutching at straws with this particular line of argument.

-- JackH

Have you got the latest model? The last one was very underpowered for open road driving - and no fun at all to drive. Poor steering and grip. The Focus is simply in a different league.

Too much missing kit for it to be a decent car for someone in a regional role - no arm-rest, crap stereo and, yes, wind-down rear windows aren't much fun when you can do up to 1k miles in a week. (Leccy windows in the back are great to get some airflow in the car before the aircon gets ice-cold on a hot day).

The Focus , on the other hand makes a much better private buy as you can = get huge discounts from the aritificially high list prices and good MPG. I wouldn't want a Focus as a company car and end up paying tax on the = stupidly high list price.

--=20 Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger , then I hide until it goes away"

But enough about the Prius.

Aircon, it just works, y'know?

Never been a problem on any Ford that I have driven. It has been a problem on all Alfas and Citroens.

%steve%@malloc.co.uk (Steve Firth) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

It's different.

The worst I've ever experienced it was on the Golf III.

Peugeot 205 GTi with the hyuuge sliding roof is the worst I've experienced for in car turbulance.

Pete M gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Odd. Herself's 205 with huge external sliding roof doesn't do it at all - and being pikeyspec doesn't even have manually opening rear side windows.

I used to find that 45-50 mph in a 205 with the roof open and the windows closed was painful.