Test Drive 2017 Ford Focus SEL

My wife and I had a 2017 Ford Focus SEL as a rental for a day. Unfortunately we did not take any photos or have a camera with us, so, if you want photos you will need to search for them yourself.

Here are our observations from our few hours with the car:


Steering Feel and Handling:

Steering feel is dead. No input from the steering wheel as to what is coming through from the front wheels. The seats are grippy enough in the butt  to give you feedback on what is going on with the chassis and rear wheels but complete lack of information on the front wheels from the steering wheel.

On the bright side there is no dead zone in the steering wheel.

The steering wheel required 270 degrees of input at 10 MPH for a 90 degree turn.

Taking a sweeping left hand turn on an on-ramp at 50 MPH the car felt a bit floaty.

The lack of steering feel was not an issue on the dry roads on which we were driving. But both my wife and I would prefer more feel if we were to drive the vehicle in the rain storms that are common in Florida or if we were to drive the car on snowy or icy roads.

Engine and Transmission:

When accelerating slowly in D the automatic upshifts at 2250 RPM, 2750 RPM if in S. When accelerating quickly in D, about mid-throttle upshifts occur at 4500 RPM, 4000 RPM in S. And if you floor it in D or S (i.e. full throttle) the upshifts occur at 6500 RPM which is right at the red line.

The transmission is a 6 speed automatic in the version we had.

Cruising at 65 MPH in 6th gear the engine was revving at just under 2250 RPM in D and between 2500 and 2750 RPM in S. Cruising at 50 MPH in S resulted in engine speeds between 2000 and 2500 RPM. The car had an average of 32.0 MPG before we got it.

Gears 5 and 6 are definitively overdrive gears. There is no poke to be found in gears 5 or 6 and you need to downshift into gear 3 to get decent acceleration. When cruising in D you have to give it a fair amount of throttle before the transmission downshifts and responds.

You cannot use manual override in D. It is only available in S. This was both unexpected and uncomfortable. The manual mode is utilized via buttons on the side of the gear selection lever.

Engine braking is not particularly functional. It makes revving noises but does not have any real pull to it.

Stopping:

Brake pedal feel is fine. The pedal feel is progressive. There is no dead zone.

Interior and Features:

The seats are not particularly form fitting or huggy. You move around a fair bit. Personally I am much more comfortable sitting lower to the ground and not with my legs at 90 degree angles.

Both of us found that the seats were not uncomfortable and would probably do all right on long road trips. The seats did not have the new forward leaning head rests that press your head forward and strain your neck.

There was some road noise but nothing too bad or unlivable at speeds between 65 and 70 MPH.

My wife noted that the "oh shit handles" were not nearly as conveniently placed as those in my Subaru BRZ when I took a on-ramp with particular exuberance.

Final Thoughts:

For our purposes, in terms of car buying, while we like most of it and thought it might be fun to try with a manual transmission we would rather purchase something with significantly more steering feel and that is a bit more planted around the bends.