Ford Focus Zetec. TERRIBLE.

richolmes72 said:
All cars are much more over-assisted than they were 16 years ago, Vauxhalls particularly. Most modern cars feel less 'connected' to the road than older ones.

I worked for a hire car company and drove pretty much everything, and have to say that Vauxhalls were more disconnected than their Ford counterparts, particularly the Vectra/Mondeo. I prefer Fords but that only comes from my experience of driving all of them back to back many times.

I do prefer Vauxhall's engines though
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I think this is because that's what the majority of the car buying public wants.

You have to remember most people arent into cars, they dont care about dynamics or handling - they just want an easy way to get around town or to work and back
 
The brakes issue was probably down to the extra weight(i guess at least) and them feeling wooden,as did the latest shape astra brakes. You won't hear as much road or engine noise so the feeling of speed is reduced.

Newer cars are generally heavier,safer and better built which all make the driving experience a bit more dull.
 
A 16-year old Astra?

The only 16-year old car I would trust would be one that was made in Germany or Japan.

And I think you need to drive some more cars. A 1.6 petrol in a new Focus will be pretty unpleasant because it's such a big and heavy car. The 1993 Astra was a tin can by comparison. Same applies to the breaks, but I'm willing to bet you'd rather have ABS than not in an emergency braking situation.
 
snowdog said:
The mk1 1.6 weighs 1227kg
The 1.8 weighs 1364 kg... ( mk3).
The mk4 is indeed heavier though :eek:

Heavy ****ers, why are they making em heavier?
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Almost all cars are bigger and heavier then their predecessors...generally because of new safety requirements etc
 
Other than the fact its a hire car - which generally get pretty mis-treated... I'm a bit puzzled... my experience was the complete opposite.

When I gave a focus zetec a whirl it was v. nippy, great brakes - if a little too sharp - they were kinda on or off hard to do any gradual braking, similiar with the steering - it was very sharp and precise, a bit too sharp and precise.

Much prefer driving a golf - might be a bit more wooden with somewhat less responsive steering but somehow you feel more intouch with the road.
 
Peter Diffey said:
Why must a good car have really sharp brakes?

Seems like your nit picking at silly things to me
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It seems to me like he's just plain wrong.

I don't want a car that slams my face into the dashboard when I hover over the brake pedal. I want one with a good progression of braking "power". I want to be able to gently modify my speed when I want and for it to only break my nose if I want it to do an emergency stop.

I drove a fairly new Vectra and a C5 - their brakes were touch sensitive, digital affairs. Rubbish.

I drove a 55 plate Focus in 07, and a 1 year old Mk3 Mondeo - their brakes were analogue and gave me full control of the braking.
 
Rroff said:
Other than the fact its a hire car - which generally get pretty mis-treated... I'm a bit puzzled... my experience was the complete opposite.

When I gave a focus zetec a whirl it was v. nippy, great brakes - if a little too sharp - they were kinda on or off hard to do any gradual braking, similiar with the steering - it was very sharp and precise, a bit too sharp and precise.

Much prefer driving a golf - might be a bit more wooden with somewhat less responsive steering but somehow you feel more intouch with the road.
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Steering on the focus is very sharp when its set to comfort mode, put it into sport a better feeling imho.
 
You work for a hire company? Well I bet it's got some nice Wang Li's all round then :p I've had a number of Focus Zetec's on thier factory rubber and they're worlds apart from the ones you get with Wang Li's and come across as everything you've just described. I don't drive like a knob on the road but I like to make progress quite how people put up with **** tyres I'll never know.
 
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