Test drive Ford Focus sedan since 2010 sedan
New Russian
Tested Ford Focus with a sedan bodyFord Focus of the third generation has long been not a revelation. Sales of a five -door hatchback started in July, cars are already scurrying along the streets of Russia. However, there was a reason to meet him again: in September, the assembly of the sedan began in Vsevolozhsk. For two days we drove him in the tail and mane along the M4 and M27 routes, which lead from Gelendzhik to Sochi.
The place was chosen by no accident, cunning and interesting mountain roads were supposed to reveal the character of the machine and show that it was quite seriously different from its predecessor. But this is not all besides, in fact, the organizers have prepared another surprise to get acquainted with the focus-sedan! But about him at the end of the article.
The sedan looks complete both in front and behind. And from some angles, it even resembles a five -door hatchback thanks to the tartamal line.
At first, it is difficult to get used to a strange combination of triangles and trapezoids in the design of the front, but then the gaze finds longitudinal lines that rise from the bottom up and the picture acquires completeness.
The appearance of the new focus is initially perceived ambiguously. If we talk about the hatchback, then here I personally had to get used to two things. The first intricate front bumper with two pronounced triangular air intakes. But I still managed to adapt to him and even subsequently saw a certain harmony in the intricacies. But deliberately large rear lights and how famously they climb on the wings, still raises the question of why?.
The sedan is harmonious! Especially behind it was created for a more adult, balanced audience. And large headlights to the place. Beautiful, elegant are better than the dull second focus, and more elegant than that of a modern hatch. And even despite the fact that I am small cars with trunk, in principle, I do not really complain, in the case of a focus from a hatchback and four -door, I would not hesitate to choose the last option.
Moreover, the third -generation Focus will not be more sports in the format of Focus format, but the next year the station wagon will stand on the conveyor of the Russian plant.
The new image is created by laconic, but very verified lines and faces. The predecessor was much more boring, although the silhouette and genes are guessing.
The rear lights here are large and also swim on the wings, but they look more organically and balanced. It turned out to be a good sedan.
I left the sedan for sweets, and for a start, a five -door with an expensive diesel engine got behind the wheel. This two -liter turbodiesel is no longer a beginner for the Russian market. It gives out 140 horsepower and a mountain of torque of 320 Nm, and has long been installed on Mondeo, C-Max, S-Max and Galaxy.
And Focus with this engine is the fastest in the line: it reaches a maximum speed of 207 kilometers per hour, which is 5 kilometers per hour more than that of a two -liter gathering gasoline. True, in dynamics, he loses a little diesel hatchback accelerates to hundreds of 0.2 seconds slower than gasoline, in 9.7 seconds.
Interior
Kinetic design is raging in the cabin! Interesting architecture, bold transitions and mating surfaces are evident.
The chairs were not remembered by anything special, but in difficult conditions of a serpentine the body was fixed acceptable. Moderately elastic, moderately soft.
Behind by the standards of the golf class, the place is quite enough. From the back of the central seat, you can make an armrest.
But these are numbers, and living sensations are much more pleasant than the motor pulls confidently and powerfully in any gear. Of course, the operating range of the engine is narrow, it sources at the top, but what a middle! And at the same time, of course, such a trick will be more economical than gasoline.
It is also pleasing that this motor carefully hides its diesel nature. It doesn’t bother with idle, and thanks to excellent soundproofing of a new generation machine, the engine noise even does not particularly give up under load.
The diesel hatchback has an explosive character and the nature of the economy.
The PowerShift’s robotic box with two clutches helps to reveal its capabilities to the diesel. It smoothly and quickly switches the gears. But there are also disadvantages for pre -sequential transmissions: thoughtfulness at the start and leisurely with an illogical shift, when the box is ready to go up, and you need, suddenly, down. She lacks excitement and when aggressive driving on the mountain serpentine, even the sports regime of the checkpoint seemed not quick enough.
On serpentines, the car is not lost. The rolls are within normal limits, the suspension is well balanced and allows you to feel the car. And in corners, an electronic imitation of differential locking helps, inhibiting the masking wheel.
Manual mode? I try to find the steering wheel petals with my fingers, and there is emptiness. The developers of the third focus washabited by hand, you can manually switch the checkpoint placed on the side plane from the driver's side with a small swinging button. Not very convenient and terribly unusual. Especially when you need to steer quickly, without taking off your hands from the steering wheel.
Probably, the manual regime here should be considered as completely auxiliary for special occasions, such as driving on unstable coatings or extraordinary overtaking. Although I do not exclude that over time and to this original thing it will be possible to adapt.
The new focus sedan turned out to be unexpectedly harmonious
Diesel is good for everyone, but painfully dear! Only the top version of Trend Sport is going on with such a motor, and it costs from 829 thousand rubles. In the absence of sports ST in the market, now it is the most expensive Focus. And terribly far from the people. Therefore, it is time to reduce the cost of a test car and change it to a two -liter sedan in the Titanium configuration: with the same PowerShift robot and an updated two -liter gasoline engine for 771 thousand rubles.
The motor is not constructively different from its predecessor, but now it is equipped with a direct injection of the GDI fuel (to the mitors of the same name, Mitsubishi Motors, it, of course, does not have a relationship from Gasoline Direct Injection). With similar characteristics, the engine has become more economical and environmentally friendly than its predecessor, but it is still not bad.
And the base engine with a volume of 1.6 liters in our market will be represented at once in three persons: the top version gives out 125 horsepower, weaker 105. But there will also be a completely budgetary flood version of the same motor with a capacity of only 85 horsepower.
The focus became a little more comfortable, but did not lose his passion for winding roads
The steering in the new focus is electromechanical. This design reduces fuel consumption and allows the use of the automatic parking system (it is also available on the new Ford Focus), but it makes engineers carefully approach the setting of the mechanism. And the focus, according to the sensations, is one of the best electric burns in the market, with natural feedback and an intelligibly growing effort. Plus, it makes only 2.6 turning very short from the stop to the stop.
Devices are in spectacular wells, and between them, from above, a fairly large color display, on which all useful information can be displayed.
The suspension of fundamental changes has not undergone, but its settings are different. It seemed that the angular rigidity became higher, despite the fact that shock absorbers better filter small irregularities, increasing the overall level of comfort. By the way, the Russian focus assembled in Vsevolozhsk now has the same suspension settings as European cars used to set up the chassis for Russia separately.
The hardness of the body has definitely became higher, it is felt on the roads with a complex profile. We had a breakdown of the suspension once, but it was such a hole that we even went out to see if the wheel disk was wrinkled. The energy intensity did not crash at a decent level.
The new suspension has an even higher level of comfort compared to its predecessor, and at the same time has not lost at all in the driver’s excitement.
Behind in the sedan, it is quite spacious for two adults with a tall of 190 centimeters if passengers of medium height are sitting in front. Moreover, there are enough places in the legs, and in the shoulders, and in height. But the trunk in the sedan lost almost 90 liters of its capacity decreased to 372 liters.
However, given the fact that the third focus is now not the simplest that was in the first and even in the second generation, the design of the new family, an even greater set of expensive options and substantially increased prices, is also evidenced about this - it is unlikely that some loss significantly affect demand. And the numbers of sales confirm this according to the Fords, the turn behind the novelty stretched until the middle of winter.
Surprise-scurry!
The surprise, which was mentioned at the beginning of the article, is a full-time, albeit a fairly short acquaintance in the new generation of the Ford Explorer crossover, the sales, which started in Russia quite recently. The machine is offered in two trim levels with one engine (V6 3.5 liters, 294 horsepower) and with the only possible gearbox - a six -speed automatic. The most affordable version is called XLT and costs from 1.849 million rubles. The version more expensive for Americans is called Limited, and the price tag starts with 2,009,000 rubles.
Big, impressive, brutal. Needless to say, outwardly the new explorer is good.
New Explorer milestone in the development of the Ford off -road line, a completely new machine. And this applies not only to design, where everything is obvious, but also fillings. Explorer is now formally in the camp of crossovers. There are no frames, but there are completely independent suspensions.
True, an Explorer crossover turned out to be large. Among its direct competitors Toyota Highlander and Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the overall length of the explorer exceeds Land Cruiser 200! Hence the spacious seven -seater salon, where the third row is laid out with the help of electric drives, forming a perfectly even floor.
The operation of all -wheel drive on the new explorer is now headed by electronics. And from an analogy with Land Rover models, it is unlikely that it will be possible to leave, because these systems were developed by the same people. Ford Explorer now has five work algorithms for different coatings and traffic conditions: city, dirt, sand, snow and descent from the slope. The driver only needs to turn very similarly to the Landro -growing puck, choosing the desired mode. It is not necessary to manually turn on any lowerings or forcibly block the differentials of the electronics will do everything itself. User Friendly.
The car is very tolerant to the crossed terrain, but it throws the riders significantly stronger than the previous frame Explorer. And the manufacturer now completely declares that this car is not for hard off -road.
The last term is not used by chance. After all, Explorer will be the first Ford car in Russia, equipped with a SYNC multimedia system. It allows user a lot of pleasant, by automobile standards, liberties. There are three LCD display in the cabin. Two in the tidy, one, the largest, 8-inch on the central console. You can connect external devices in different ways: USB, SD, AUX, Video in, Bluetooth. There is a built-in Wi-Fi access point. Up to five people can connect to the Internet in the car using a mobile phone or a 3G USB modem as a modem. You can even be reduced to the external Wi-Fi router. Here it is, the 21st century!
It was possible to travel by car for fifteen minutes by a passenger and ten more driving. Therefore, I do not take the conclusions. I note only a good sound insulation of the salon, good dynamics (it is comparable with the previous version with the old V8 engine, but the new engine will be much more economical). The normal level of comfort and gigantic sizes.
And about the driving habits, there are more questions than answers. True, it was possible to notice a couple of unpleasant features: too light and non -informative steering wheel and cotton brakes. Although maybe the car was slightly killed
In any case, Explorer is very interesting for our market. A powerful large crossover with such an relevant design and name is unlikely to go unnoticed. Especially considering the fact that he will collect soon in Russia.
Technical characteristics Ford Focus 2.0 At Trend Sport
The type of engine is gasoline, four -cylinder
Working volume 1999 cm
Max. Power, L.S. 150
Max. moment, nm/rpm 202/4000
Type of drive front
Transmission 6 -speed robotic Power Shift
Front suspension Independent McPherson with a stabilizer
Rear suspension Independent multi -link with a stabilizer
Brakes Disc ventilated in front and discs behind
Dimensions (DHSHHV), mm 453418231484
Wheel base, mm 2648
Equipped mass, kg 1348
Max. Speed, km/hour 202
Acceleration 0-100 km/h, from 9.4
Fuel consumption (comb.), L/100 km 6.4
Fuel tank volume, l 55
Tire size from 205/55 r 16 to 235/40 r 18
Price from 743,000 rubles
Technical characteristics Ford Explorer Limited
Benzine engine type V6
Working volume 3500 cm
Max. Power, L.S./rpm 294/6500
Max. moment, nm/rpm 346/4000
Type of drive is constant full
Transmission 6 -speed automatic
Front suspension Independent McPherson
Rear suspension independent multi -link
Brakes Disc ventilated in front and discs behind
Dimensions (DHSHHV), mm 5006x2004x1803
Wheel base, mm 2860
Equipped mass, kg N.D.
Max. Speed, km/hour of N.D.
Acceleration 0-100 km/h, with N.D.
Fuel consumption (comb.), L/100 km 12.4
Fuel tank volume, l 70
Tire size 245/60 r18
Price from 1,849,000 rubles
Source: Motor magazine [November 2011]
