|
Are there lower trim models of these makes you can buy without having to beta test their poorly implemented "aids"?
|
#
¿
Nov 8, 2019 15:07
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 17, 2024 10:02 |
|
|
Paradoxish posted:All the Nissan CVTs that I’ve driven just drive like the worst automatics ever. I probably couldn’t identify them vs a lovely automatic in a blind test except for them seeming exceptionally bad. Never experienced shuddering or anything weird though. Get a load of this guy. He's never driven a ford with a DPS6.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 14, 2019 01:09
|
|
|
I just rented a 2020 Ford Ecosport 2.0L Titanium 4WD in Salt Lake City, UT so I could drive up into the mountains to go skiing and across the Wasatch range to go snowmobiling. First impression: I can't believe Ford wants $30k USD for this thing. It's quite small, about the size of a Fiesta, and the materials and build quality are very cheap, like visibly cheap. I wouldn't mind it so much if it was from 1998, but seeing as this is a brand new car, I was not impressed. The most egregious example was the center armrest. It was a cheap rubber top and when you'd pull it up to open, it would catch the little tray inside and flip it out. The seating position was upright and felt pretty tall considering this thing is so tiny. The seats are narrow and firm. I felt like the huge fatty I am because I felt my rear end hang over both sides of the seats, something that doesn't happen to me in NA miata seats. Steering wheel and switchgear are lifted straight out of the focus. The whole car feels like a parts bin special, which I guess keeps costs down. The second impression: its slow, really slow. The speed limit in SLC is 70 on most freeways through the city, and probably due to altitude, this car struggled to get up to 70, even though the throttle is mapped to be very jumpy off the line. I'm used to the more linear throttles of a 95 miata or F150 v8. It seemed to corner fairly well for something that looks tall and narrow. The engine I believe is the 2.0L duratec that is also in the focus. The nice part about it was that I could set the cruise control at a speed and it would keep it at that speed going down the mountain hills, which was necessary due to the fact that Ford didn't remove the shipping covers from the brakes upon delivery to the rental company. It was a brand new car with 120 miles on it. I had to control the transmission manually in the mountains because the stupid thing kept trying to shift up and then shift right back down because the engine didn't have enough torque to keep the car going up an incline in that gear. It handled snow very well and surprised me. There was a big snow storm that blew through the city overnight and I got on the roads before they had been plowed. I stayed in the ruts created by other cars and things worked out fine. If I was going to lose control, it would let me know progressively, but not abruptly. I didn't push my luck and I think it's little shopping cart tires may have helped to push down through the snow instead of riding on top of it. The extra ride height was useful due being able to go over those big snow chunks that fall off of other cars without hitting something underneath. The electronics were very nice. The center screen was a tablet stuck on the dash, but that put it very close within reach and it was a capacitive touch screen with good response and physical knobs for tuning and volume, always a welcome thing. Sync 3 works well and you can do a lot of in-car functions with it like climate, but that also has physical buttons and worked well. The nice thing was the turn-by-turn instructions would pop up in the little screen between the gauges. The gauge cluster is very unattractive and also looked cheap. Simple, and cheap. You can configure a couple of the screens in there so that was nice. A minor annoyance; car play navigation prompts do not show up in the gauge screen. On that note, car play was really nicely done in this vehicle, much better than the last time I'd seen it. It doesn't pick up where you left off if you shut off the car and get back in, another thing I didn't like, whereas sync 3 would. Heated seats and steering wheel were much appreciated since it was about 19F. The automatic wipers don't seem to know how to deal with snow, they weren't very good. Also the rear wiper doesn't go full time when you're reversing and your front wipers are on, the Focus hatch does that and I always found it thoughtful and useful. Cargo space is a joke in this thing, as well as rear seat legroom. I honestly don't know who buys compact SUVs, because they have no space behind the driver unless you're a member of the lollipop guild. I had to tetris one rolling bag and my laptop bag sideways behind the rear seat. A second suitcase would have required the rear seats to be folded down. The focus was way bigger in this regard. Ride quality was pretty lackluster. It is a short wheelbase, narrow, and tall, so some roads with close expansion joints would have the car hobby-horsing down the road and it just felt kinda cheap and choppy. Tire noise was pretty loud, but engine noise on flat ground was subdued, that changed with inclines quite dramatically. Overall, I kinda liked it for how well it handled the cold weather and snow on unplowed roads. The interior was functional and just okay, the electronics were pretty good, and the sound system was really nice (B&O). The power was pretty lackluster, and overall I really wonder why this costs $10k more than a fiesta, because they feel like they cost the same to make. And that's really my feeling about most small SUVs.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 4, 2020 12:04
|
|
|
Krakkles posted:Is the 2.0L NA different for '20 vs '17? Or is the EcoSport substantially heavier / less aerodynamic than a Focus hatch? That was the perplexing part to me as well. I had a 2017 and 2012 focus hatchback with the DPS6 and the only thing I can think of is the 4WD system sapping power, but I can't imagine it was *that* much. 2017 hatch Curb weight: 2,935 to 3,055 lbs 2020 ecosport 3,104 to 3,360 lbs. I can't see 200-300 lbs being that much for it.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 6, 2020 18:32
|
|
|
grillster posted:U-Haul Car Hauler Trailer There are two rubber bungees that hold the left side fender in the upright position. You release the bungees and swing the fender down before you load the car. My gripe about those trailers is the inner lip on the tire ways is just high enough to scrape the hell out of the underside of an NA miata.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2020 12:03
|
|
|
ExecuDork posted:
Is it just me, or does it look like there's something that should be screwed into the intake just left of that big ugly rubber intake hose?
|
|
#
¿
Sep 14, 2020 11:55
|
|
|
While I agree the ecosport looks at home on Indian streets only, I can't say I agree the puma looks good. It looks like an SUV MR2 spyder. A googly eyed blue fish or something.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 10, 2021 19:35
|
|
|
ExecuDork posted:/\/\/\ Agreed. Could we be emerging from the unfortunate era of every goddam car looks exactly the same? Better to be hated than ignored. Irresponsible thinking like this is how we get garbage like the juke.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 28, 2021 14:14
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 17, 2024 10:02 |
|
|
I've owned 6 Mazdas and weak air conditioning is the glue that binds all of them together. 2 NC miatas 2 proteges 1 Mazda 6 1 NA miata Drove from Destin, FL back to Houston, TX in my first protege and it was so humid that day that the evaporator core iced over on the 8 hour drive. That's my story, thanks for listening!
|
|
#
¿
Jul 9, 2021 18:23
|
|