08 Ford Focus 1.6 Petrol too slow
- Thread starter NooBish AbbZ
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Soldato
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strip the whole interior to the bare metal, should shed a few pounds off.
5th gear at 35mph
no wonder it feels slow lol. It's not a bloody diesel tractor it's a petrol that's meant to be revved. Having owned a 1.6 focus as my first car i wouldn't put it in 5th Untill 70mph.5th gear at 35mph
Mines happy enough to pull along at 35 in 5th. I don't decide what gear to use purely on the speed, i wouldn't for instance sit at 65 in 4th.
Plenty of times on the M62 i'm in 5th below 40.
5th gear at 35mph
If I put my 1.6 TDI into 5th doing 35MPH it would just give up.
Soldato
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5th gear at 35mph
What rev range on an old focus like mine would you consider normal then? over 2500 odd its really loud and doesn't sound like its enjoying itself, I tend to shift up at 2000, I don't want to thrash the old girl.
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Get a motorcycle if you want something faster... car is a tool, a practical tool.
Edit Unless you've thousands of pounds to spend, then get a performance car.
I have a motorcycle
Don
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OP is that a facelift or pre facelift?
Coming from a clio sport to the Focus..
I got the facelift, but I went for the 1.8 petrol over the 1.6, due to it feeling slow and feels sluggish with passengers and going up hills
1.8 is more livelier
Coming from a clio sport to the Focus..
I got the facelift, but I went for the 1.8 petrol over the 1.6, due to it feeling slow and feels sluggish with passengers and going up hills
1.8 is more livelier
Soldato
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They put a rev limiter there to show you where it revs too 
I have a 1.8 petrol Avensis and it is quite slow, very slow if you shift at 2500rpm but if you drive it properly it gets along ok. I'll quite happily take it to 5000+ odd rpm reguarly when i want to get up to speed in a reasonable time. Reving a normal engine to 5000rpm will do it no harm what so ever and will make getting up to speed say on a slip road far easier.
I have a 1.8 petrol Avensis and it is quite slow, very slow if you shift at 2500rpm but if you drive it properly it gets along ok. I'll quite happily take it to 5000+ odd rpm reguarly when i want to get up to speed in a reasonable time. Reving a normal engine to 5000rpm will do it no harm what so ever and will make getting up to speed say on a slip road far easier.
I would say to make progress change gear at 4000 revs. That's not driving it hard at all. I would not go any higher than 4th if I was doing less than 60. Your only thrashing it if your taking it to 6k+ revs in every gear
Soldato
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I can't believe you're changing up at 2000 revs, what's your redline? Change at no less than half that.
My car is 10 or 11 years old and she regularly gets spanked to 8250RPM.
(Not during general driving though of course...)My old car had 54BHP, I used to change gear at 4000 - 4500RPM unless dawdling around town because it didn't get moving any sense otherwise!
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Unless it's very broken it definitely isn't 'screaming' at you to change at 2,000rpm lol.
Get it nice and warm for ten minutes or so, then take it on a blast down some twisty NSL country roads. Don't change up through the gears until at least 4,000rpm and make several trips right to the red line in 2nd and 3rd (if possible). Keep varying gears and revs (hence the country road suggestion) for about half an hour then run home at 'motorway speeds' on the nearest motorway. After a decent 'Italian tune up' like this you should find it more willing. I can't imagine how bogged down your engine must be after all that granny driving.
If it was my motor I'd brim it with VPower (for the cleaning additives), go for a blast, then give it a full service and stop changing gear like Miss Daisy in future. That particular engine doesn't make max torque until about 4,000rpm and max power until 6,000rpm. No wonder you (and the OP?) are finding it way too slow... It'll never set the world on fire, but jeez!
You didn't included the driver....They weigh about 1250KG not 1500KG.
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As much fun as it is to drive a car properly now and then, I'm not convinced an engine can really get 'bogged down' as you put it, nevermind be remedied from such a state by simply driving it a bit harder.
I know some ECUs supposedly adapt to the way the car is driven but again even if true, you won't change years of learning with one spirited drive.
No but a look at what comes out the back tends to affirm that it helps blow out some cobwebs... You're right about ECUs not adapting that quickly, but you've got to start somewhere.
In my experience it also helps begin shifting the expectations and actions of the driver, as they find the car doesn't spontaneously combust at higher revs and are more willing to leave it longer between shifts in future.