We got to drive this car on both highways and some more fun curvy roads. My ultimate conclusion for this driving experience is that it would be good to drive a Ford Focus ST or a Ford Focus RS to see if the handling capabilities are similar or better but with more communication, feedback, and feel.
Now, I will admit, my review of this car may be more positive than it perhaps would be if we did not get to drive it on the roads on and around Mount Penn in Reading, PA.
Unfortunately the map I have compliments of Google Maps does not show elevation changes. It is here to demonstrate that there are a lot of fun curves where were driving, whereas most of our car rentals have taken place on roads that are a lot tamer and more boring.
The curvy roads highlighted one of our key issues with the car. The "oh shit" handles are not particularly well placed and the one on the door is quite insubstantial.
"Oh shit" refers to the words a passenger might use while grabbing an accessible handle because a driver is taking a curve rather enthusiastically.
In the case of this Ford Focus the door handle for closing the door is rather far back on the door and is awkward for grabbing. Even more so it is made of very flimsy plastic that has a lot of give. In the alternative you can grab the handle located on the ceiling but this is a less instinctive grab point. For us, this was most likely the worst touch point in the car.
Front seats were all right. I would prefer a higher shoulder. Headrest did not present a problem for my wife like it does in many new cars where they are angled forward. Seats were wider and less grippy than I would like, and I would like to be a able to sit lower in the vehicle than the seats allow. If the seats allowed for a lower seating position the dash line would have to be lower. I prefer being lower in the vehicle and I do not like having 90 degree bend to my knees while driving.
It drives fairly planted without a lot of body roll and will allow you to take turns enthusiastically.
The problem is there is no steering feel to speak of. Further the seats are rather cushy and being so plus the fact that they do not hug your body means there is no real feel for what the rear wheels are doing. The steering wheel was also dead in terms of feel for the front wheels.
While capable of taking a corner this car is driven, in my opinion, completely by sight rather than by feel. I prefer to drive vehicles that transmit a lot more feel.
There is no dead spot in the steering wheel. A 90 degree turn from a dead stop requires 270 degrees of steering input. 90 degree turns at a decent speed only require 90 degrees of steering wheel input.
All this lack of feel is not to say that the vehicle does not and cannot handle but rather that it is not confidence inspiring.
On the other hand this means that the car makes a comfortable highway cruiser. The suspension and seats handle bumps in the road well.
In terms of using the transmission to down shift and engine brake things were a bit complicated. Under normal braking the engine just coasts in D. One attempt for engine braking resulted in lots of noise but no reduction to speed.
Another attempt at engine braking showed decent engine braking using the manual selection buttons on the gear selector. Both gears 2 and 3 provided some engine braking when using the manual gear selection buttons when in S. There is no manual selection unless in S.
When going down a hill in S if you use the brakes then the transmission is more likely to downshift instead of coasting thus providing engine braking.
In manual mode there are up to six gears to choose from.
The car had a weird jerk when starting driving in D. It can be avoided if you are REALLY gentle on accelerating. If in D and floor it there is a very noticeable delay before it kicks down a gear and responds.
Under light throttle it upshifts at 2200 RPMs in D. Medium upshift at 3000 RPMs in D. Flooring it full throttle in D goes all the way to redline at 6500 RPM. Cruise at 55 mph in D is ~1800 RPMs.
Light throttle acceleration in S shifts at 3250 RPMs. Medium acceleration at 4250 RPMs. We assume upshift at full throttle will be at the 6500 RPM redline as well. Cruise at 55 mph in S is ~2300 RPMs.
Engine specifications are a 2.0L Ti-VCT direct-injection I-4 engine with Flex Fuel capability. The transmission is a 6-speed PowerShift automatic transmission with SelectShift. Horse power is rated as 160 HP @ 6,500 RPMs and 146 lb.-ft. of torque @ 4,500 RPMs. The engine has a 12.0:1 compression ratio.
Official fuel figures are EPA-Est. 26 MPG City / 36 MPG Hwy. We experienced average 42.8 MPG including spirited driving, though most of the driving was primarily on highway. This was according to the car's own fuel economy tracking.
The gauge cluster was useful enough and the multi-function display had many different views. Unfortunately it did not have the one I wanted most, a readout of instantaneous current MPG with current speed as a digital speedometer.
As an economy car and rental this car was rather feature rich. It has dual zone climate control. I found it slightly frustrating that you cannot use air re-circulation while using the front windshield defrosting vents.
The infotainment system has navigation and may have other useful features. I would assume because it had dual zone climate control it should have heated seats but I did not check.
Every time you use the navigation you get an audio message saying "obey traffic laws."
Also lots of cup holders. One in each door, front and rear, two in the center console, and possibly others.
Plenty of trunk space.
The trunk opening is nice and wide.
Rear seats fold down for even more space. While we did not move the driver side seat belt out of the way it would not normally interfere, we were lazy when taking the picture. Also of note the seat belt for the middle seat is part of the seat that folds down and is a thee point seat belt with shoulder . Nothing needs to be disconnected in order to fold the rear seats down.
As for styling. There is quite a bit of butt lift for the car. Blind spots are not bad at all. But rear visibility could be better if there was less butt lift.
I had occasion to test high speed maneuvering, swerving to avoid a car trying to merge into our lane, but it was at least partially my fault for getting into that situation.
The car handled it well and was stable.
As always, questions and comments welcome.
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