LZ Focus (Thai Models)

[WindsorXR]

The latest Focus has gone back to the more simple torque converter set up as far as I am aware. They had a lot of issues with the previous one, so they changed back.

[CatonaPC©]

Originally Posted by BSSXR8

The latest Focus has gone back to the more simple torque converter set up as far as I am aware. They had a lot of issues with the previous one, so they changed back.

Yes, I can confirm the new Focus has a conventional torque convertor 6-speed automatic transmission. The direct shift gearbox has been dropped.

[rustyinsthoz]

Signed on the dotted line for a Winning Blue Focus Sport Manual today. Hopefully they can deliver one in the next 3 weeks.

[4cyl_Turbo]

Originally Posted by rustyinsthoz

Signed on the dotted line for a Winning Blue Focus Sport Manual today. Hopefully they can deliver one in the next 3 weeks.

Congrats on the purchase, terrific drivers car with great handling.

Good choice, the blue sport was my original choice also (auto).
But ended up settling on a Gray Titanium, when they couldn't supply a sport.

Do you mind disclosing your final Driveaway price and any extras?

[rustyinsthoz]

Originally Posted by 4cyl_Turbo

Congrats on the purchase, terrific drivers car with great handling.

Good choice, the blue sport was my original choice also (auto).
But ended up settling on a Gray Titanium, when they couldn't supply a sport.

Do you mind disclosing your final Driveaway price and any extras?

Final Drive away price was $27500.

[csfulton]

Ok two issues suddenly happened to my car.

First issue, I cannot for the life of me get the auto start stop to work again. The symbol comes up, but its not turning off the engine. It did work, but now its not. Its in neutral, and foot is completely off the clutch. Nothing. AC is on AUTO 23c and everything is fine, outside isn't too hot/cold, almost everything is off. Nothing is plugged into the 12v. Tried with AC, Radio, and Lights off drove 15 mins, not on a hill, nothing wont turn off the engine and I got no idea why. Neutral and foot of clutch. Wont turn off. Might try unplugging the battery for a bit and hope that resets. I tried cycling the Auto Start Stop button, nothing.

Second issue, I was driving on putty road, listening to some sick tunes from my phone via Bluetooth. I stop for a bit to have brunch. Come back to the car. Turn on the engine. The loudest possible static white noise comes over just the centre speaker behind the radio. Basically like I have turn the volume to max and played AM on a dead frequency. I quickly as possible turned down the volume but nothing happened, kept turning and turning, nothing until you got to the lowest. Where the volume was set to minimal. Silence. Turn it up one notch and its back to 100% death of ears loud. Thinking that maybe its something wrong with the bluetooth changed it to FM. and left the volume off and selected a scanned a channel and it found one. So I tested the sound again, and the moment it went over a single notch was back to 100% white noise.

I turned off the car, and opened the door, closed the door locked the car, unlocked the car, opened the door, turned on the car, turned up the radio a single notch again and RIP my ears. Well Radio is now stuffed. Decided that Singleton is now a good destination to try and get the issue fixed, seeing that I passed the halfway point and well we can live without radio.

I got most of the way to Singleton when mother called. Now imagine driving with no music, just hearing the car and the wind rush around it. The lovely noise the car makes. Wow. Its beautiful. The car has a beautiful purr. Well then suddenly AM decides that its important again and when mum calls the white noise from hell came back. The fact that im trying to fight with some corners and only have limited space to mess up and no place to safely stop. It was a VERY rude shock. I tried turning down the audio but the horrible sound would not go. I noticed the picture of mother calling and immediately hung up. Noise is gone. Thank lord.

The Navigation was working fine, it gave directions and no white noise/static, just clear audio. I drove all the way into Singleton, stopped for lunch, came back to the car, tested it again, and it worked fine. No more noise.

Now in case anyone has this issue, where your ears become no more. Try disconnecting the bluetooth from your phone and turning off the car. Leave the bluetooth off and turn the car back on. This might be what solved it for me. I cannot be sure if it was just luck I turned off bluetooth at lunch, or I left the car off for awhile. It hasn't happened since.

[WindsorXR]

I don't know about your stereo problem, but with Stop/Start there are about 20 or so parameters that the car needs to meet to use Stop/Start. It may have had something it need the car still running for. It can be as simple as low battery voltage, climate trying to cool the cabin to a good level and so on.

I don't like the sound of your stereo issue though.

[csfulton]

Originally Posted by CatonaPC©

If you get it to work, let us know.

I can get it into the programming mode. But pressing Unlock and then Lock does nothing. Ford even have a video showing how to do it and it doesn't work getting the car to go into auto lock.

I'll ask the dealer when it comes in for a service.

[csfulton]

Originally Posted by BSSXR8

I don't know about your stereo problem, but with Stop/Start there are about 20 or so parameters that the car needs to meet to use Stop/Start. It may have had something it need the car still running for. It can be as simple as low battery voltage, climate trying to cool the cabin to a good level and so on.

There are, but I cannot tell what it stopping it. It used to work often before, now it will not at all. I have actively been putting it in neutral as often as possible now in a hope it will just do it one day, but no success.

I don't like the sound of your stereo issue though.

Hoping it doesn't happen again. It may have been the phone but I turned it to FM. It shouldn't be playing Bluetooth audio, especially not like that.

[4cyl_Turbo]

Originally Posted by csfulton

It used to work often before, now it will not at all. I have actively been putting it in neutral as often as possible now in a hope it will just do it one day, but no success.

You're not holding your tongue in the right position ;o)

[Focii]

Originally Posted by csfulton

Ok two issues suddenly happened to my car.

I turned off the car, and opened the door, closed the door locked the car, unlocked the car, opened the door, turned on the car, turned up the radio a single notch again and RIP my ears. Well Radio is now stuffed. Decided that Singleton is now a good destination to try and get the issue fixed, seeing that I passed the halfway point and well we can live without radio.


Now in case anyone has this issue, where your ears become no more. Try disconnecting the bluetooth from your phone and turning off the car. Leave the bluetooth off and turn the car back on. This might be what solved it for me. I cannot be sure if it was just luck I turned off bluetooth at lunch, or I left the car off for awhile. It hasn't happened since.

This EXACT same thing happened to me a couple of weeks back. When he says the noise from hell, it is, the noise I imagine they play in hell. Far out scared the absolute crap out of me.

I turned the car off and on again. Still the same. Reset Sync to factory settings. Still the same... then a couple of minutes after that I got a screen saying Sync was completing maintenance. After that (which took about 10 minutes), the noise of the devil was gone.

I have listed it as something to mention at the 3000km check up.

[Focii]

Something I noticed under the 'Lighting' settings on the instrument cluster display was a setting for 'Rain Light'. Naturally the owners manual simply lists it as something in the menu but doesn't explain what it does.

Does anyone know what the 'Rain Light' is? I have turned it on and off (during rain) and it doesn't seem to make any difference..

At first I thought it was the 'Puddle Lamps', but no, they still turn on when you deactivate the tick box.

Anyway, if anyone knows, let me know.

[4cyl_Turbo]

Originally Posted by Focii

Something I noticed under the 'Lighting' settings on the instrument cluster display was a setting for 'Rain Light'. Naturally the owners manual simply lists it as something in the menu but doesn't explain what it does.

Does anyone know what the 'Rain Light' is? I have turned it on and off (during rain) and it doesn't seem to make any difference..

At first I thought it was the 'Puddle Lamps', but no, they still turn on when you deactivate the tick box.

Anyway, if anyone knows, let me know.

It turns your headlights on if your wipers have been on for a certain period of time. Eg raining heavily enough for constant wipers and auto lights selected.
Thought this was pretty cool feature for safety.

[CatonaPC©]

Originally Posted by 4cyl_Turbo

It turns your headlights on if your wipers have been on for a certain period of time. Eg raining heavily enough for constant wipers and auto lights selected.
Thought this was pretty cool feature for safety.

In the US, Canada and possibly other places, it is a requirement to switch on your headlights if it is raining. I imagine this 'rain lights' feature is something that assists with complying with this law. I think the trigger is if auto-wipers is set and the wipers start, the lights will switch on regardless of whether it is dark enough for auto-lights to trigger.

[Focii]

Originally Posted by 4cyl_Turbo

It turns your headlights on if your wipers have been on for a certain period of time. Eg raining heavily enough for constant wipers and auto lights selected.
Thought this was pretty cool feature for safety.

Originally Posted by CatonaPC©

In the US, Canada and possibly other places, it is a requirement to switch on your headlights if it is raining. I imagine this 'rain lights' feature is something that assists with complying with this law. I think the trigger is if auto-wipers is set and the wipers start, the lights will switch on regardless of whether it is dark enough for auto-lights to trigger.

Thanks guys this is a pretty cool feature I guess. It's strange it isn't a law to have your headlights on when it rains in Australia, considering how many large dark cloud type storms/big down pours we get here (In Sydney at least).

[Craig@AUDI]

Originally Posted by rustyinsthoz

Final Drive away price was $27500.

Sounds about right! Congrats!

[Muttley098]

What average fuel consumption are people getting with the LZ autos?

I got my Sport auto in early January, so far almost 1400km completed at average speed of 29kph in moderately hilly area of northwest Sydney, 15km each way of steady commuting in 50, 60 and 70km areas, and occasionally motorway if I'm running late. Average on the trip computer moves between low 11's and 12, actuals based on km between fills are also looking around high 11's/low 12's. This seems high, my previous LW2 Powershift averaged 9.5 but LZ auto is supposed to be only slightly less efficient than that model. I do have a fairly heavy right foot, using the available performance at times, but in the commute most of the journey is at the same pace as the traffic and I drive accordingly. If I could drive the LZ the same way I drove the last one and get high 9's/low 10's I'd be satisfied. But the way my LZ drives it seems the 1.5 is struggling to get moving, especially on uphill starts ... from a standstill with even gentle throttle input the revs almost instantly build up and hold around 3000rpm while its still building up speed (and slipping torque) before it gets enough speed to change up. The instant fuel usage sits on 55l/100 during these seconds. I guess the 3000rpm change point is intended to drop it into turbo torque range for the next gear rather than leave a flat-spot of acceleration, but it doesn't seem to do a good job of transferring those revs to actual acceleration. I think the torque convertor is slipping way more than any other auto I've driven (Focus LS, Odyssey, BMW 325, Territory x2, Commodore), to the extent it feels more like a CVT, especially when driving gently. Going harder it gets through the gears with more positive shifts, and in manual sport mode it is responsive to the shift buttons when I want it to be (and probably more economically than in full auto mode as long as throttle is used sensibly). For a couple of days I reset the avg fuel reading and tried driving super gently in full auto mode in the same commute conditions with idle-stop in use and could still only get it into the low 10's. I'll ask them to check it at the 3000km inspection and maybe get a quick drive in a demo model to compare how that feels on initial acceleration. Perhaps there's an issue with mine, but would be interested to hear from others with same or different experiences of the way their auto behaves on pull-away building up to 50/60 kph.

I've also had the loud static noise from Sync 2 on way home from work a few days ago. Switched it off and when home I tried resetting Sync, locking/unlocking car etc which had no effect. Left it for a couple of hours while getting dinner and researching the issue, went out to check and it was fine again.

[CatonaPC©]

Originally Posted by Muttley098

What average fuel consumption are people getting with the LZ autos?

I have an LZ auto Trend.

The brutal reality is that the Focus is a heavy car. It drinks more to overcome inertia. Out on the highway, it's a different story and it can be quite frugal.

Your driving environment is definitely a contributing factor.

My last fill gave me 10.16L/100km in predominantly city driving. That's with 5734km on the clock up to that point. Over 5000km, the car has averaged 10.1L/100km travelling 1315km per month. The best I've gotten with a mix of highway/city driving is around 8.0L/100km.

Sorry to say, your fuel consumption isn't likely to improve. You might also make your fuel calculations manually, as the trip computer can be optimistic.

[Focii]

Originally Posted by Muttley098

What average fuel consumption are people getting with the LZ autos?

I am getting 9.2l/100km and I've done almost 3000km (LZ Focus Sport Auto)

I've done a lot of stop start driving to the city along the M2 :( , and a fair bit of highway driving on the weekend to take it on some long trips.

I'm exclusively using BP Ultimate 98.

Originally Posted by Muttley098

But the way my LZ drives it seems the 1.5 is struggling to get moving, especially on uphill starts ... from a standstill with even gentle throttle input the revs almost instantly build up and hold around 3000rpm while its still building up speed (and slipping torque) before it gets enough speed to change up.

I kind of know what you mean, but this is usually when I try and floor it and catch the auto off guard. I find if I put my foot down, just 10%, I feel this surge of torque that easily takes me to 50-60km/h (which almost seems CVTish as the surge of speed doesn't match the engines revs). Maybe it's just something you need to get used to.

Mine 'loosened' up (if that's how you'd describe it), and revs more freely the more kms that went on the clock. I think you probably need to do some more kms on yours before considering it to have a problem.

Have you taken it on any long trips yet? I'd advise you do that, mine felt better after a couple of long (and sometimes spirited) drives.

Originally Posted by Muttley098

Perhaps there's an issue with mine, but would be interested to hear from others with same or different experiences of the way their auto behaves on pull-away building up to 50/60 kph.

I'd give it more time and kms. It's just getting into it's swing.

Originally Posted by Muttley098

I've also had the loud static noise from Sync 2 on way home from work a few days ago. Switched it off and when home I tried resetting Sync, locking/unlocking car etc which had no effect. Left it for a couple of hours while getting dinner and researching the issue, went out to check and it was fine again.

Yep had this too. It is really quite dangerous as it causes a major distraction trying to stop it, so I'd mention it at 3000km (as I will be).

[rustyinsthoz]

Interesting re fuel consumption in the Autos. I tested the Trend manual and the Sport manual in a mixture of city, hills and express way driving over 120 kms and got an average on the trip computer of 5.8l/100km for the Trend and 6.8l/100km for the Sport. Both had only done a 100kms.

[CatonaPC©]

Originally Posted by rustyinsthoz

a mixture of city, hills and express way driving over 120 kms and got an average on the trip computer of 5.8l/100km for the Trend and 6.8l/100km for the Sport. Both had only done a 100kms.

It's difficult to draw direct comparison on consumption figures quoted by posters because the driving environment varies. I would say, had you done a similar route to Muttley098 in a manual it would have been lower but probably not by a significant amount.

Mind you, the dealer did give me a unsupervised test drive but I'm not sure I would have had the courage to take it out for 120km round trip.

[csfulton]

Fixed my Auto Start Stop no longer working. "Unplugged" the battery for about 10 mins, "plugged" it back in, and nothing was reset but the trip computer, and everything seemed to keep its setting. The Auto Start Stop worked at the first intersection. My good, It was like the car got an upgrade. Sweet juiciness when the car is fixed after a simple unplugging.

Noticed that some more people are talking about the noise from hell thanks to sync. The pattern is going away from the car for a bit and then coming back. I have a suspicion that it is caused by Bluetooth. We need to keep record of this and possibly detail as much as possible of what we did before and at its occurrence, and how we managed to remove the issue. Because it did seem random in its occurrence, and while it might not happen again, it happened once and simple logic dictates that it should happen again. If we can find what causes it to happen every time, Ford can then work out the issue and what causes it and put in the correct process to stop it from occurring.

Since Sync isn't just in the Focus it is quite possible to happen in another model of car. Or maybe because of a feature in the Focus it happens to each model. Is DAB Radio in the other models with Sync 2? I know the Fiesta (inc ST) does not come with DAB radio.

[Muttley098]

Thanks for the replies everyone re fuel consumption. I do seem to be at the top end of consumption based on responses, even allowing for conditions etc, which could be due to low k's so far, but I'll discuss it with the dealer at 3000km. I may get them to reset the transmission memory and start again with it re-learning my driving style to see if that improves things.

However, today I thought I'd carry out an experiment to see how low I could get the consumption on today's commute on the same 15km journeys in 30 minutes (30km/h average). I first reset the average fuel reading and drove it very gently, only in sport manual shift mode, changing up early and using gears that kept it in the 1500-2500rpm range as much as possible. When stopped for any length of time I put it into auto mode to let the idle-stop kick in, then back to manual mode when moving again. The idea of this was to see how the consumption was improved by the combination of idle-stop's benefits and earlier manual up-changes to avoid the higher revving/torque slip that it seems to be doing in auto mode. I did see a marked improvement, arriving at work with 9.3 average. On the way home, driving in the same manner but with much busier traffic and crawling on M2, I was back to 10.5. So in these driving conditions it seems the best that can be achieved is mid-9's/10's. This was an isolated test, but suggests that if I drive the car the way I normally do (i.e. fairly quick) under my typical journey conditions then I'll only be 1 to 2 litres/100 worse off than driving very gently.

I'm not concerned about 3 extra dollars per 100km, as I'm only doing around 10k per year it doesn't add up to a lot compared to other running costs, but the purpose of this post was to see how far different my experience is to others in case there's something wrong with mine.

Other than that concern (and the Sync static issue) my opinion of the car is very positive - the surge of torque that Focii refers to is great, feels like an invisible force and really picks up speed quickly (I've had a VW turbo before which was not as discreet as this one). Handling is fantastic - first time for me with sport suspension on a Focus - whilst the ride is still very good, love the technology, generally decent quality interior, and prefer the styling compared to the LW2. Looks the biz in Candy Red.

[VicVic]

Hi everyone,

Well I logged in today to let you know that I am just over 11000 klms on the Focus Sport now, and I am having issues with Sync. It's happened a few times now.

One episode of excruciating white noise, can't find the phone, won't allow bluetooth to be switched on and a very annoying Insert navigation SD Card message.

Rest assured I will be mentioning all this when 15000 klms service is taken in a few weeks.

I hope that helps others.

VicVic
2015 Ford Sport Sport Magnetic

[Top_Ghia]

Originally Posted by CatonaPC©

I have an LZ auto Trend.



The brutal reality is that the Focus is a heavy car. It drinks more to overcome inertia. Out on the highway, it's a different story and it can be quite frugal.



Your driving environment is definitely a contributing factor.



My last fill gave me 10.16L/100km in predominantly city driving. That's with 5734km on the clock up to that point. Over 5000km, the car has averaged 10.1L/100km travelling 1315km per month. The best I've gotten with a mix of highway/city driving is around 8.0L/100km.



Sorry to say, your fuel consumption isn't likely to improve. You might also make your fuel calculations manually, as the trip computer can be optimistic.

That's pretty much the same as my petrol Territory. Go Terri.

[Focii]

Just remembered I took a video on my phone of the white noise from hell. Don't have your sound too loud when you play it.

https://youtu.be/iiQSYbTpeHU

[csfulton]

Originally Posted by Focii

Just remembered I took a video on my phone of the white noise from hell. Don't have your sound too loud when you play it.

https://youtu.be/iiQSYbTpeHU

Oh god. Thats it, thats the noise. Its horrible....

[Focii]

Has anyone noticed after you turn the ignition off and sit in the car for maybe 30 seconds, that the instrument cluster makes a clicky noise and the needles move slightly (like they're possessed?)

I presume it's just some sort of shut down procedure the car is doing, but it is odd?

[Craig@AUDI]

Originally Posted by Focii

Has anyone noticed after you turn the ignition off and sit in the car for maybe 30 seconds, that the instrument cluster makes a clicky noise and the needles move slightly (like they're possessed?)

I presume it's just some sort of shut down procedure the car is doing, but it is odd?

Does sound a bit weird but it is normal, kinda like an oversized solenoid or relay shutting off eh

[rustyinsthoz]

Originally Posted by CatonaPC©

It's difficult to draw direct comparison on consumption figures quoted by posters because the driving environment varies. I would say, had you done a similar route to Muttley098 in a manual it would have been lower but probably not by a significant amount.

Mind you, the dealer did give me a unsupervised test drive but I'm not sure I would have had the courage to take it out for 120km round trip.

All the new cars I have bought I have taken them out for a couple hours over roads that I know. Also test parking ease and have thorough play with all the gizmos.

Also I will be waiting a while for my new Focus as I could not get the spec I want in the colour I wanted. Should be the end of April, early May. Least it will be a 16 build and complianced car.