My future car... 2001 Ford Focus 1.8 diesel

[Gabeasher]

Your first car I belive always leaves you with the fondest memories. Have fun with it.
Give the guy some breathing space afterall he said he was paying for it himself that says alot about his charecter. Sounds like a hard working 17 yr old kid. Especially if he's going to college soon. College is fun you'll love it even if you have to work 40 hours a week like I did while you went you still have a ball and the rewards are worth the work.

To a different point though whats the power output on that diesel and is it a turbo diesel. I know that probably sounds like a stupid question but we only get one engine in the Foci over here and thats the 2.0L petrol.

[vikiradTG2007]

It's a 1.8 l turbo-diesel, about 90bhp, and, apparently, 200 Nm of torque. Good both for going through town, a mountain road thrash or a 700km extended blast.

[Steve Levin]

Quite excellent. Is it the same TDCi motor you see nowadays, or an older version?

Steve

[vikiradTG2007]

Originally Posted by Steve Levin

Quite excellent. Is it the same TDCi motor you see nowadays, or an older version?

Steve

The old TDDi engine.

[killpanda]

Originally Posted by vikiradTG2007

The old TDDi engine.

I have the same engine without the intercooler !

[Deanodriver]

Originally Posted by killpanda

A friend of mine had a 1.4 completely stock and I don't what problem the car had but it was making a hell of a good "racing car" noise !

They make them with a 1.4? It'd barely move, the 1.8L offered in the base Focus here (auto was 2.0L) was considered underpowered.

1.4L engine belongs in a Ka, not a Focus.

[Elvis313]

Nice choice!
I've been looking for one of those, too. But getting the Year-old fiesta with warranty seemed more sensible at that point.

[killpanda]

Originally Posted by Deanodriver

They make them with a 1.4? It'd barely move, the 1.8L offered in the base Focus here (auto was 2.0L) was considered underpowered.

1.4L engine belongs in a Ka, not a Focus.

The Ka has an even less powerful 1.3 engine

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally Posted by killpanda

A friend of mine had a 1.4 completely stock and I don't what problem the car had but it was making a hell of a good "racing car" noise !

the standard 1.4 is a rather sweet sounding engine, and likes to rev... i just sold mine

Originally Posted by Deanodriver

They make them with a 1.4? It'd barely move, the 1.8L offered in the base Focus here (auto was 2.0L) was considered underpowered.

1.4L engine belongs in a Ka, not a Focus.

1.4 16valve zetec, 73bhp i think, something like that. the 3 door only weighed 1100kg, so it wasnt too bad. you definately had to stoke it really hard to get any kind of decent forward momentum though

Originally Posted by killpanda

The Ka has an even less powerful 1.3 engine

tell me about it, i used to have one of those too! it was an elderly engine plucked out of the aging fiesta.... 8 valves FTW!, it was rough as that engine, and sounded a bit strangled, but that didnt matter. it sounded like u were doing a million mph and the chassis was just amazing. was like a go kart, you could take corners at ludicrous speed.

word of warning OP, driving wise, the focus really is soooo good. you'll be spoilt by an incredibly dynamic chassis (seems to be able to be comfortable when cruising, yet razor sharp when driving hard), sure footed brakes and almost telepathic gear change. seriously you'll take it all for granted till you drive something else. i thought the focus wasnt bad till i drove a friends renault megan...then realised just how good the focus actually is. fantastic first car, and you can run that one on chip fat!! if you wanna save some money.

my friend has the exact same car, same older TDDi engine... runs on used oil, 30-40p a liter, negligable performance loss.

[emil_t]

yeah really nice car, i'm hopeing for a batterd really old carp mobile, meh

[Cold Fussion]

Originally Posted by fbc

Why not have the best, safest car you can afford as your first car? Chances are you're going to make mistakes when you're learning (not that anyone should ever stop learning how to drive), given that you should put yourself in a vehicle that gives you protection from those mistakes.

Best reason to have an utter shitbox for your first car is that you then appreciate a good car when you finally get one.

[fbc]

Originally Posted by Cold Fussion

Best reason to have an utter shitbox for your first car is that you then appreciate a good car when you finally get one.

Bravo for completely missing my point. Why not put yourself in the safest thing you can when you're learning? You're at the highest risk, so why increase that risk by unnecessarily driving around in an 'utter shitbox' that will offer you no protection whatsoever.

The only reason to have an 'utter shitbox' as your first car is if it's all you can afford.

[vikiradTG2007]

Bumpity bump... well, it is allowed on this kind of thread, I guess. I'm starting to form real first impressions after the first month of driving the car around. Many of the things said about the Euro Focus, well, I'm discovering that they apply. I love driving it, it's very sharp, it reacts well to inputs, steering is nicely weighted, it rides well, it's very stable at high speed, driving position offers great visibility over the road.

Minus point I've noticed on the open road: pretty shocking turbo lag. 80kph, 5th gear, foot to the floor, it took about 5 seconds to go from 80 to 85kph. Also I fear that I'm damaging both second gear and the gear selector while driving in town, because in 4 weeks of driving, I can recall at least 3 or 4 occasions when I thought it engaged 2nd and it jumped out as I got on the accelerator.

I'll report back once I also begin driving in more difficult conditions; since I'm not yet experienced enough, my dad is not allowing me to drive in certain circumstances as of this moment. Also, I'm going to have to tell him to snap a few photos of me driving at certain times.

[killpanda]

I remember my Fiesta to have pretty good in-gear acceleration in 5th gear with the same engine (although you may have the 90bhp version in the Focus), but the Focus is heavier than a Fiesta I guess.

[vikiradTG2007]

It's the 90bhp lump. Might be the weight, might be turbo lag, but it does accelerate rather slowly at that speed; and I still don't have the drop-down-a-cog reflex formed yet in that situation. I even tried to pass a car with my foot down in 5th when I actually needed to be at 3.5k rpm in 3rd gear.



Also, I'm getting a bit chastised for nailing certain potholes and manhole covers. Real problem on Romanian roads. And it doesn't do the suspension any good.

[killpanda]

Ah yes, to overtake you really need to drop a gear, but you will get used to it

Once you will know how to get something out of the engine you really will be able to enjoy it.


I'm rubbish with potholes, when I try to avoid them I usually run into them, which is really not good for the suspensions and the wheel that got into it

[sifu]

next time, try to hit them...

[argatoga]

5th gear is for cruising not for passing. Drop down to accelerate.

[NooDle]

Originally Posted by sifu

next time, try to hit them...

this is true. My wife has the same condition where she'll never hit a pothole or bump in the road, as long as she tries to hit them.

trying to miss them produces the opposite effect

[killpanda]

I'll have to try that next time