2014 Ford Focus joins my 2012 LEAF as my only cars.

[TrojanEV]

My torque steer is pretty bad, I'm going to see if an alignment will help. Any chance getting this covered under warranty?

My car only has 600 miles on it, so the alignment was going to be covered under warranty.
I just called the dealership to find out what was going on with my car.
My advisor said that my car "definitely has a problem", and that they are going to replace the whole steering column. Parts are on order. Will probably be Thursday before I hear any more details.

I wonder if the steering column is the whole EPS system?

Kind of a bummer a new car has this problem.
On the other hand, kind of relieved that the problem will most likely be resolved.

6pm update: The service cashier told me that the part on order is called a steering gearbox.
Probably a fairly expensive unit I would guess...

Hi Elroy -- How did your alignment/steering column fix work out? I'm worried my new FFE may have a similar problem.

 

[epaminondas]

I find that off the line acceleration is fine. With the traction control off, in L, and if I blip the accellerator before plwing my foot into it, I can spin the tires and pretty much smoke most people from a stop light. If you are not drag racing, all reports are that in real world driving like on the freeway, the Focus is far superior, more powerful and stable than the Leaf. It is a blast to drive at freeway speeds and has a great usable power band in the 50-85 mph range - that is real world driving.

In a head to head comparison like on this site, as far as safety and fit and finish, the Focus takes it.

http://www.cars.com/go/compare/trimCompare.jsp?acodes=USC40NIC161A0,USC40FOC291A0

As far as styling, many of us wouldn't consider driving a Leaf...

 

[WattsUp]

It is interesting how negative you are aqbout the Focus.

Are you replying to somebody in particular, or collectively all of "us" in this entire thread?

 

[epaminondas]

I have heard a critique of off line performance from many people on and off of this thread.

 

[WattsUp]

Well - yes -to both - it seems like you are very unsatisfied with the off line performance and hadling of your FFE. I have heard a critique of off line performance from many people on and off of this thread.

Again... who is "you" ? Not me... as I haven't made the comments to which you seem to be referring. I am just a third-party asking you to clarify.

In any case, it would help if you would use the "quote" feature of the forums to make it clear which person/comment you are addressing.

 

[epaminondas]

sorry for the mis-communication :|

 

[epaminondas]

The biggest annoyance is that if you slam the throttle, it doesn't even start accelerating till a split second later. Ironically, when your barely throttle out of a corner, the tires often squeal under acceleration. Real strange. Its like the module has no real control of optimal acceleration. It seems this is something Ford could fix with a software fix. I swear the car seems to have better throttle response in reverse. Has anyone made that comparison?

The Focus seems to have much more drive train slop/clunking. When turning right into my driveway to slowly go up it, I even notice a power delivery pulsation at times. Just does not seem as refined as the LEAF drivetrain, especially when comparing a 17,000 mile LEAF against the Focus at 600 miles.

This torque steer, straight line stability issue is really going but a damper on my enjoyment of the car if it can't be resolve. Especially with the mild low end acceleration and throttle response. Has anyone else noticed these steering issues? Anyone with both the LEAF and FFE to compare also?

I don't experience these problems...

 

[davideos]

I, for one, am unsatisfied with the off-the-line performance. When I pull up to a Tesla P85D (eventually), I don't think I'll win.
I didn't buy my FFE to win races or anything; however, shortly after owning it, I realized how fun it is. Although 0 to 60 in 10 seconds isn't anything other cars can't do, with an FFE, you can do it ever-so-quietly...which throws many people off. Although we have to "floor" it, it comes without guilt of wasting fuel, excessive noise, or wear and tear on the vehicle. Well, I'm sure I'd be wasting fuel, but wrt an ICE, I'm not. And, there may be some extra wear and tear on the battery and some of the electrical components, but hey, if they don't wear out before the 96mo 100,000mi warranty expires, they'll probably keep on working...and if they don't, I get new ones; an besides, on the MFM website, I'm much closer to zen than zippy.

I do believe that Ford likely limits the throttle a bit. With the econo tires, the wheels would break free of the pavement if they didn't throttle it. Even today, the streets were wet from early morning rain...and giving it full throttle at 30MHP, my wheels broke free. Although it would be cool to have control of the limits, without them, I think we'd be all over the place...and in less time