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Looking to upgrade the car and have my eye on the newest model of the Ford Focus. I had my mind set on getting the 1.5L petrol (150bhp) but have been unable to source one for a test drive.
There are however, lots of 1.0 Petrol(125 bhp) versions about and I had a drive in one and was pleasantly surprised. My question is does anyone have one with a roof rack and what do you think of the performance? My current car is a 105bhp diesel and has lots of torque, so it has no bother pulling x3 bikes on roof, x3 people and luggage, worry that the 1.0 Petrol will be a lot of work to get going...
We have the 1.0.
We frequently have bikes on the top and when we go on holiday it pulls a trailer tent, sometimes also with a 16ft canoe and a bike. (I'm not sure it was designed with this in mind!)
I sometimes is a little slow with the initial pull-off but then the turbo kicks in and it is away.
I have previously only ever driven big diesels.
We would not have bought this car if we were planning to tow with it, it was bought in a rush. 90% of the time it is fine (daily commute and days out) but it isn't great for family holidays, mainly because of lack of space.
I think If I had the choice, I would have the 1.5 but the 1.0 is OK. Not sure what the insurance/tax difference is.
Mick
Hmm cheers for the insight. If I read that right, you say you would chose the 1.5 over the 1.0 but it sounds like its great for carrying the bikes and people and just about everything else, except towing the big boat?
I know it's a bit of a mixed answer.
I guess I'm saying that it is OK, when towing a trailer tent and with a boat and bike on top but I would prefer to have the 1.5l (if it pulls off without the initial lag). I think it is a bit laggy even when it isn't loaded.
The boot space is very poor, is it enough for you?
Mick
I've an older MK6 VW Golf which looks a lot bigger than the Focus's boot space, but the back seats were defo more spacious on the Ford.
Pretty sure overall the interior is large enough for my needs, fiddly parcel-shelf and no 12V in boot I can live with.
I have the older model (2015) with the same 1.0 output engine and carry my full sus using Thule Evo Wingbars and a Proride 598 carrier. There's no noticeable change in performance and I still get 45mpg on the motorway.
This is a good point:
"There’s no noticeable change in performance"
Bike or boat on top are not noticeable.
Don't mention the parcel shelf, it lasted a couple of months ad I'm not spending over £100 on a new one.
Mick
No experience with bikes, but I've had both engines in long term hire cars recently (1L ST-lineX and a 1.5L ActiveX)
I definitely preferred the drive (and sound) of the 1L and it was much better for efficiency - 48mpg vs 40 over 1-2000 or so miles in each. The 1.5 did have more torque but the 1L responds quicker and never felt out of it's depth running up and down motorways.
The caveat to this is that I was never carrying anything more than a couple of small boxes in the boot.