Mk 3/facelift - Ford Focus questions

FreddieFrugal

Hello there,

looking for some answers to questions regarding the 2011 onwards Ford Focus. Particularly if you've also driven/owned the previous mk2/2.5.

Q1. One of the main criticisms of the newer focus is the boot size. (Despite the car actually being a couple cm longer than previous) Much smaller than the mk2.5 I own. But despite searches on google I've been unable to find the actual dimensions of the boot to see how the capacity has shrunk.

Is it front to back? Width? Height from boot floor? Or a combination of all 3. As this would impact on whether the smaller boot would still be manageable. I think it's insane that they made the boot smaller, it was a really good size. I'm considering having to get the estate just to get a usable boot.

Q2. Diesel engine and mpg. According to Ford's figures the revised 1.6 tdci in the 2011 focus should achieve 3-4 mpg more than the 1.6 in my car and produce an extra 5 bhp.

Now obviously mpg figures are not representative. However you would assume that a higher rating from the same manufacturer would at least indicate a slightly higher efficiency in real world driving compared to outgoing model.

I get average of 55mpg in winter, rising to 60mpg in summer. That's not bad considering official mpg for car is 64mpg.

However owners online seem to be complaining greatly about mpg in the new focus saying they're struggling to get up to even 50. Could be because the cars are to too new to be fully broken in? what's your experience of achievable mpg in the car?

And related to that, some reviewers have described the 115 tdci as gutless...whereas the 110 tdci I drive was generally described as smooth, punchy and refined (missed out turbo blowing - but that's another matter, at least that doesn't seem to be a major issue with the newer engine?) But why the big change? In my experience the 1.6 tdci has been economical, reliable (so far 6 year old car, owned for 3) and I'm very pleased with its performance, I've never been caught wanting for more power.

What are your views? Apologies for the long post. Just been hunting for this information for months with no luck. youd think it would be easy to find info about a car available in such abundance in this country.

Astronaughtwannabe

Q1. Yes the boot is small but how much smaller I dunno.

Q2. My 15 plate 1.6tdci seems to have settled on 63mpg mixed with it going up to 68 on a run. That is of course according to the cars own calculation. I haven't 'brim' tested it.

forgotmyname

You need to take the boot sizes with a pinch of salt, I compared my Mondeo estate to that of the OLD Octavia estate which is a Focus size and figures suggest the boot in the Octavia is quite a bit bigger.

But the Mondeo's boot was longer, wider and taller.. So how can it be smaller?

The power may have increased but the gearing has probably got taller also so where 1st gear in a diesel would take you to 10mph and pull a house down a modern cars will get to 30 and will stall if your not careful.

tim9966

I use to have a 2007 Focus, and now have a 2013 Focus. I've just been out to it to measure the boot for you.


It's 102 cms wide, 44 cms high with the board cover in place, but this can be removed if you need to carry anything taller. The back of the boot isn't in a straight line, it longer in the middle. It's 74 cms on the edges, and 84 cms in the middle from the edge of the passenger seats, but also bear in mind these aren't straight in height, so the distance will be smaller at the top.

I never measured my old cars boot but I haven't noticed it was any smaller.

FreddieFrugal

tim9966 wrote: »

It's 102 cms wide, 44 cms high with the board cover in place, but this can be removed if you need to carry anything taller. The back of the boot isn't in a straight line, it longer in the middle. It's 74 cms on the edges, and 84 cms in the middle from the edge of the passenger seats

Thank you! Was that width measurement at the widest or narrowest point?

Just measured my boot. It's 104cm at its narrowest point, between wheel arches. Wider at the opening, with a bit of extra stowage space with elastic straps between arches and boot lip.

Height is 50cm to the board cover.

I measured 86 cm from centre of rear seat base to the boot lip. So the length of the boot hasn't changed much.


The rest of the difference must be made beyond the parcel shelf in that case.