Ford Focus EV

[Doug_G]

Please keep things civil. I've moved some posts to snippiness - Page 37

I swept the entire discussion over, so please don't be offended if you didn't say anything snippy but got dragged along.

Edit: No, you can't get the last word in after I moved everything else. Please move on to, I dunno, talking about the Ford Focus EV. :smile:

 

[RobotGrease]

I just picked up a 2014 FFE. Can I drive in L at all times? Will it have any adverse affects? Does it change anything other than the amount of regenerative braking?

Thanks!

 

[swaltner]

My wife just got her plates for the FFE. The plate reads: GAS 332

She wants to send it back to the DMV and let them know that you don't put "GAS" plates on an EV! My 18 year old son feels differently. He thinks it's so ironic and funny that we should keep it.

I'm not sure what to think... Would like to get the opinions of you folks on TMC. Should we keep these plates? Or send them back to the DMV?

I put a custom plate of "4O4 GAS" on my Nissan Leaf. While this is the exact same text format as a regular license plate in Kansas, it uses a different color scheme, so people know it's a custom plate and try to figure it out. At work (tech company), it's not a problem. However, apparently I'm a little too clever, because anywhere except work, I constantly have to explain the reference to the 404 error code…

 

[hcsharp]

I just picked up a 2014 FFE. Can I drive in L at all times? Will it have any adverse affects? Does it change anything other than the amount of regenerative braking?

Thanks!

We drive ours in L always. The only difference is you get stronger regen on the accelerator pedal than you do in D. The salesman at the dealer where we bought the car didn't even know the difference! It's in the owner's manual.

- - - Updated - - -

I put a custom plate of "4O4 GAS" on my Nissan Leaf.
...

Nice!

 

[rabar10]

Started leasing a Focus Electric about a week ago. Love it so far. Ordering an L2 EVSE for faster charging at home.

I will say that there's both a blessing and curse for this basically being a conversion car -- it looks "normal" (better IMO than LEAF), but the top half of the battery sitting in the trunk kills cargo space.

 

[hcsharp]

Started leasing a Focus Electric about a week ago. Love it so far. Ordering an L2 EVSE for faster charging at home.

I will say that there's both a blessing and curse for this basically being a conversion car -- it looks "normal" (better IMO than LEAF), but the top half of the battery sitting in the trunk kills cargo space.

Stick your head in the back of a Leaf and you'll see that it's not much different than the FFE. It has a big hump in the middle of the cargo space. We have found that the FFE cargo space is fairly good when you make the rear deck level by using the fold-down legs. It also gets better range in the winter than the Leaf, has a safer crash-test rating, and liquid thermal battery management. But it's still a conversion, not a Tesla by a long shot.

 

[Rifleman]

Stick your head in the back of a Leaf and you'll see that it's not much different than the FFE. It has a big hump in the middle of the cargo space. We have found that the FFE cargo space is fairly good when you make the rear deck level by using the fold-down legs. It also gets better range in the winter than the Leaf, has a safer crash-test rating, and liquid thermal battery management. But it's still a conversion, not a Tesla by a long shot.

While it is far from perfect, I think the FFE is the best of the low ranged EV on the market right now.

 

[cwerdna]

Stick your head in the back of a Leaf and you'll see that it's not much different than the FFE. It has a big hump in the middle of the cargo space.

The hump is gone w/the '13+ Leafs (I have one and have seen the '11s and '12s). See 13leafproduct8 - SF BayLEAFs. However, if you get the premium package, the Bose subwoofer takes a little of newly freed up space, but not as much as the hump did.

Having seen the back of both, FFE definitely has WAY less cargo space than the Leaf and the specs bear that out.

See 2013 Nissan LEAF® Electric Car Specifications | Nissan USA under Capacities. Cargo volume with rear seat up for the Leaf is 24 cu. feet.

For the FFE, see 2014 Ford Focus | View Vehicle Cargo Capacity | Ford.com which lists 14.5 cu. feet for the FFE for cargo volume behind 2nd row.

Besides the cargo room hit, one big downside of the FFE is no DC fast charge capability vs. the optional CHAdeMO port on the Leaf.

 

[DuncanWatson]

The thermal management system in the FFE is the biggest plus of the FFE vs the Leaf. The look issue is a wash for me. I would love L3 charging on my FFE but it is still a good EV.

 

[cwerdna]

The thermal management system in the FFE is the biggest plus of the FFE vs the Leaf.

Yeah. I wouldn't recommend anyone in hot climates (e.g. Phoenix and TX) buy a Leaf at this point due to lack of battery thermal management. Even leasing a Leaf there could be sketchy if you're regularly driving near the edge of its range.

 

[hcsharp]

Or extreme cold climates. My wife can drive 44 mi round trip in the FFE when it's below 0 F but that's not possible with a Leaf. DC quick charge doesn't help much when the nearest one is 155 miles away. If we have to go more than 50 mi we take our Tesla. But if we lived in CA it might be different. Both cars have their relative merits. I didn't know the new Leaf had improved the rear cargo space.

 

[sefs]

Since I can't afford to get into a model S, and the model E is still a good many years away, I purchased a FFE in mid November to tide me over till the model E comes out. I have been very pleased with the car. Thanks to TMC, I converted a UMC to J1772 for my mobile level II charging needs, and it has made the car. 2,500 miles and counting!

 

[rabar10]

Welcome to the forum sefs! Which J1772 handle did you use to convert the UMC?

 

[sefs]

Welcome to the forum sefs! Which J1772 handle did you use to convert the UMC?

Thanks for the welcome! I used the Dostar J1772 50 amp from Tuscon EV.

 

[DuncanWatson]

Or extreme cold climates. My wife can drive 44 mi round trip in the FFE when it's below 0 F but that's not possible with a Leaf. DC quick charge doesn't help much when the nearest one is 155 miles away. If we have to go more than 50 mi we take our Tesla. But if we lived in CA it might be different. Both cars have their relative merits. I didn't know the new Leaf had improved the rear cargo space.

I didn't either. I will inspect my co-workers new Leaf more carefully in Jan. If the FFE had L3 charging it would be the clear winner, but Ford is less committed than Nissan and so we don't get improvements in the FFE at this time.

 

[ElSupreme]

My wife's Civic died last week. Catastrophic engine damage after 74k miles :cursing:. American Honda seems very unsympathetic. And a replacement used engine is going to cost about the same as the car is worth. So IMO never buy a Honda product again.

I looked at the FFE yesterday. It seems to be quite a nice car (the hump in the trunk is unfortunate).

Any thoughts on replacing the Civic with an FFE? I would be purchasing (with incentives it is cheaper than a base LEAF). If I was looking to lease, I would be worried about over mileage (I am probably going to be over 20k miles the first year), and would probably lean towards LEAF as their lease options are much better.

If we go ICE we will probably go Kia Rio or a cheap used car, to bridge us 3-5 years.

 

[Rifleman]

My wife's Civic died last week. Catastrophic engine damage after 74k miles :cursing:. American Honda seems very unsympathetic. And a replacement used engine is going to cost about the same as the car is worth. So IMO never buy a Honda product again.

I looked at the FFE yesterday. It seems to be quite a nice car (the hump in the trunk is unfortunate).

Any thoughts on replacing the Civic with an FFE? I would be purchasing (with incentives it is cheaper than a base LEAF). If I was looking to lease, I would be worried about over mileage (I am probably going to be over 20k miles the first year), and would probably lean towards LEAF as their lease options are much better.

If we go ICE we will probably go Kia Rio or a cheap used car, to bridge us 3-5 years.

If the limited range and small trunk are not an issue for you, the FFE is probably a great choice. It has a better TMS than the leaf, and is in my opinion much better looking. I have not heard of many quality issues with them.

 

[30seconds]

My wife's Civic died last week. Catastrophic engine damage after 74k miles :cursing:. American Honda seems very unsympathetic. And a replacement used engine is going to cost about the same as the car is worth. So IMO never buy a Honda product again.

I looked at the FFE yesterday. It seems to be quite a nice car (the hump in the trunk is unfortunate).

Any thoughts on replacing the Civic with an FFE? I would be purchasing (with incentives it is cheaper than a base LEAF). If I was looking to lease, I would be worried about over mileage (I am probably going to be over 20k miles the first year), and would probably lean towards LEAF as their lease options are much better.

If we go ICE we will probably go Kia Rio or a cheap used car, to bridge us 3-5 years.

call all an independent honda shop around you. Depending on what happened they may be able to swap in a refurbished engine or a working one from a car involved in an accident and save you about 1/3 + of the price the dealer quoted you.

also so check this out
2006-2009 Honda Civic Coolant Leak | Engine Replacement - Consumer Reports News

(Un)surprisingly this is also how my wife's last Audi A4 died at around 100k miles

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

My wife's Civic died last week. Catastrophic engine damage after 74k miles :cursing:. American Honda seems very unsympathetic. And a replacement used engine is going to cost about the same as the car is worth. So IMO never buy a Honda product again.

I looked at the FFE yesterday. It seems to be quite a nice car (the hump in the trunk is unfortunate).

Any thoughts on replacing the Civic with an FFE? I would be purchasing (with incentives it is cheaper than a base LEAF). If I was looking to lease, I would be worried about over mileage (I am probably going to be over 20k miles the first year), and would probably lean towards LEAF as their lease options are much better.

If we go ICE we will probably go Kia Rio or a cheap used car, to bridge us 3-5 years.

Relative to other "Leaf" choices
+ 6.6kW charging.
+ TMS
- No DC charging.
- No heat pump

What are your driving and charging patterns? How many miles do you _really_ need? Any multi-charge days?

 

[dsm363]

Will you need an ICE for any reason? If not then FFE seems like good choice. Or maybe a Volt too if you needed that backup.