Wait so the focus is supposed to be an awesome car?

[LTC8K6]

If you Google the subject, it appears fairly common that rental cars have some form of speed nanny or actual speed limiters.

Rental agencies appear to be taking advantage of the system if the car has it.

 

[Aikouka]

I've taken cars back due to not having cruise.. It's actually fairly common in the cheapest level of cars, I think they do it intentionally to make you ugprade.

In some ways, you could probably say it was partly my own fault for trying to save a few bucks on a trip that was already starting to become a bit costly. I rented from Thrifty, and let's say that they keep to their namesake. I believe all of my previous rentals were from Enterprise or Budget, which have gone fairly well.

I was already turned off by their attitude when I picked up the car. I absolutely hate it when a rental person... scratch that, any service person tells me, "Rate us well on the review! We need the good ratings!" Excuse me, but I'll properly assess you based on how you perform; that's the point of a rating! 😡

Next time, I'll have to check for such options before I even leave the rental lot. Although, to be honest... I should have begged them to let me have the Altima sitting next to the Focus. Since I drive an Altima already, there would have been minimal adjustment, and I'm pretty sure cruise control is a base feature on all Altimas. 😛

This was by far the most well-designed HVAC control unit I have ever used.

I actually really like the climate control capability on my Altima. It's nice, because unlike manual control, you don't have that annoying need to control the fans, because it will eventually become too hot or cold. My only complaint is that turning on the defroster in my car will automatically turn off in-car circulation. That might be necessary for using the defroster, but at least turn it back on when I switch back to Auto.

EDIT:

To note, adjusting the temperature in my car is a manual control unlike the newer Ford MyFordTouch system that requires you to use the touch screen. My friend has a new Ford SUV, and he tried to tell the system to change the temperature to 70. It even asked him if that's what he wanted, and after he complied... nothing happened. 😛

Go go technology!

 

[LTC8K6]

Ford put out a massive update not long ago that should have fixed most of the complaints about MyTouch.

 

[Aikouka]

Ford put out a massive update not long ago that should have fixed most of the complaints about MyTouch.

They send out thumb drives with the updates to owners. I spoke to him previously about MyFordTouch, and I recall him saying that he received and updated his system already. If I had to guess, it didn't understand his confirmation to change the temperature.

 

[Doppel]

I have a fair amount of experience with rentals over a number of years and I have never seen a regular passenger rental with a 'special' non-oem speed limiter. I have seen it with the 12 person vans and box trucks, but never a car.

People make up a lot of stuff and then after a while total fallacies become legend.

I cannot find a link alluding to this online at all. I maintain it's bullsh*t, but will stand corrected if somebody can provide a link from an authoritative source that this exists, not my uncle this or my brother that or whatever.

 

[Squisher]

 

[leper84]

Also keep in mind that when a rental car needs an oil change, but a sales guy has a renter lined up, they reset the maintenance minder without changing the oil. But when the car gets back no one remembers it still needs an oil change....

Rental companies don't really give two craps about maintaining their stuff. The one you had could have had 15-20k miles on its oil for all you know.

 

[shortylickens]

Yesterday I was in a bar and saw a Kia ad.
Hot chicks were lining up to show their bods off for the driver.

Yeah, I fucking believe that.

 

[DominionSeraph]

This was by far the most well-designed HVAC control unit I have ever used.

I had a S15 Jimmy and I hated those sliders. They were non-linear in effort so I was always slinging them from one end to the other -- stopping anyplace in the middle required fine motor control, but their placement at arm's reach meant you were trying to control all the way from your delts. If going with sliders, a horizontal layout is much better as it allows you to adjust with a natural thumb motion.

 

[waggy]

lol. compareing a focus to a mini?

I liked the focus. its a huge improvement over the escort. the Itouch sucks ass though. I don't mind all the buttons. it wasn't that hard to figure out.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

I had a S15 Jimmy and I hated those sliders. They were non-linear in effort so I was always slinging them from one end to the other -- stopping anyplace in the middle required fine motor control, but their placement at arm's reach meant you were trying to control all the way from your delts. If going with sliders, a horizontal layout is much better as it allows you to adjust with a natural thumb motion.

Yeah, they were vacuum-operated so they did require some effort at the ends. I remember a lot of older cars with sliders having the same variable-effort problem. Updating the same design with electric sliders would be easy enough. Horizontal could work, although I think I preferred the vertical. But the main advantage was that they were right next to each other, so you could manipulate both at the same time in the same direction (which was usually what you wanted).

 

[Pulsar]

I had a rental (Ford Fusion, IIRC) from Enterprise at LAX airport. Drove it up north a ways on the 101. Maxed out at 80 or 85MPH -- one of the two, can't remember (this was a couple of years ago) but it would simply stop at that speed. It would chime at me and the trip computer readout would say something about maximum speed reached. Power would just drop out. It would accelerate fine up to that point. Oh, and 5MPH before the cutoff, it would chime to say that I was getting close to the maximum. It got really annoying because traffic was moving along at 75+ for a good part of the way, so it was chiming constantly.

Apparently it's built into the keychain/personal controls that Ford provides. I couldn't find any way to override it.

If traffic was at 75, speed limit was 70, you shouldn't have heard it chime once if you were under 80....

It's an awesome feature for those of us with kids. Just as good as limiting (or turning off) the stereo volume, and a couple other gems.

 

[foghorn67]

People make up a lot of stuff and then after a while total fallacies become legend.

I cannot find a link alluding to this online at all. I maintain it's bullsh*t, but will stand corrected if somebody can provide a link from an authoritative source that this exists, not my uncle this or my brother that or whatever.

Because you're daft? It's the same system they put in some corporate fleet cars. That should help you and your weak Google skills.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Because you're daft? It's the same system they put in some corporate fleet cars. That should help you and your weak Google skills.

Man you are all over the place today, being a little dickhead to everybody aren't you?.. Rofl.. :thumbsup::thumbsup:


How about instead of attacking people and making yourself look like an idiot, YOU go find the link.

No major rental car company has specifically installed speed limiters in their passenger cars. I have rented from all the major companies, everything from compacts up to full size suv, and I have yet to see one on anything other than the mykey crap that comes OEM on the car. (aside from box trucks and passenger vans)

 

[Knavish]

If you Google the subject, it appears fairly common that rental cars have some form of speed nanny or actual speed limiters.

Rental agencies appear to be taking advantage of the system if the car has it.

I don't blame the rental agencies one bit. I know several people (not to mention people bragging online) who completely abuse rental cars: neutral drops, shifting into low gears / reverse at highway speeds to see what happens, etc... They'd probably break TVs in hotel rooms, too, if they could get away with it.

 

[foghorn67]

Man you are all over the place today, being a little dickhead to everybody aren't you?.. Rofl.. :thumbsup::thumbsup:


How about instead of attacking people and making yourself look like an idiot, YOU go find the link.

No major rental car company has specifically installed speed limiters in their passenger cars. I have rented from all the major companies, everything from compacts up to full size suv, and I have yet to see one on anything other than the mykey crap that comes OEM on the car. (aside from box trucks and passenger vans)

Stop being a nanny.
I am calling out on Dopples bullshit.
What part of his argument isn't totally ignorant?
He blankly said it doesn't exist. No arguments of how widespread or narrow it is.
He relied on anecdotal evidence and goofy google skills as the end all and be all.
Now if he was rational like your argument that its not widespread, ill buy that.
Two different reasonings.
Yet you can't see the difference?

I worry about you.

 

[The J]

EDIT:

To note, adjusting the temperature in my car is a manual control unlike the newer Ford MyFordTouch system that requires you to use the touch screen. My friend has a new Ford SUV, and he tried to tell the system to change the temperature to 70. It even asked him if that's what he wanted, and after he complied... nothing happened. 😛

Go go technology!

Interestingly, I bought a new Focus SEL hatchback in early May with the MyFordTouch system. Mine already had the major update when I bought it and I haven't really had any problems with it. There is a slight pause in audio playback after the system indexes my USB flash drive, but that might be because I have a cheap, slow drive. The voice commands seem to work fine, but I've only used them every once in a while mainly to play a particular song or album; I normally just shuffle the songs on my USB drive.

There was also one time where the system took a while to boot up, but I haven't been able to reproduce it.

The Focus has the climate controls in a separate panel at the bottom of the center stack, so you don't have to use the touch screen if you don't want to. I usually just leave it on Auto so I don't have to mess with the controls too much. Some of the buttons are hard to reach when the shifter is in Park (no big deal since you're parked), but I haven't had too much trouble with it in Drive.

Basically, I love my Focus, but then I am coming from an older Ford Escape. 🙂

EDIT: Also, the cruise controls are on a button cluster on the lower-left of the steering wheel (about 8 o'clock). You can see them in Apex's picture between the "spokes" of the steering wheel.

 

[Doppel]

Stop being a nanny.
I am calling out on Dopples bullshit.
What part of his argument isn't totally ignorant?
He blankly said it doesn't exist. No arguments of how widespread or narrow it is.
He relied on anecdotal evidence and goofy google skills as the end all and be all.
Now if he was rational like your argument that its not widespread, ill buy that.
Two different reasonings.
Yet you can't see the difference?

I worry about you.

Stop trolling. You've been challenged to provide evidence of this and you haven't. This kind of idiocy is tolerated in OT, not in garage.

 

[foghorn67]

Stop trolling. You've been challenged to provide evidence of this and you haven't. This kind of idiocy is tolerated in OT, not in garage.

Who is the one making blanket statements? Not me.

 

[Doppel]

Who is the one making blanket statements? Not me.

Another post from a man who is choking on the foot in his mouth. Blanket statements are valid when they point to a consistent reality.

You made statements in this thread that were challenged. You provided no defending information about them other than to refer to my statements as "bullshit" and "ignorant".

You then looked for links yourself, couldn't find any, but instead of admitting they don't exist pretended that they did with comments like "That should help you and your weak Google skills."

If you had actually tried to google this yourself before spreading further misinformation and acting like a dick about it I'd let it go, but instead you insist on pretending something is real, that it has google evidence, and yet have provided no proof at all it's real and no links (as you claim they are readily available) and so I'm only pressing the matter to ensure you are fully humiliated, as you deserve to be.

If you possessed a modicum of self-esteem you would have admitted already that this is a false phenomenon.

I've already said that I "will stand corrected if somebody can provide a link from an authoritative source that this exists " I've asked because I can find no evidence this exists, nor can you. And I know you've tried. Maybe somebody else can find it, though nobody has yet because, most likely, it doesn't exist.

If you were clever you'd let this go now, but I don't think you are, so you'll probably post again another response (without links) trying to again pretend that you're somehow right despite no evidence of it.

 

[Ben90]

If traffic was at 75, speed limit was 70, you shouldn't have heard it chime once if you were under 80....

It's an awesome feature for those of us with kids. Just as good as limiting (or turning off) the stereo volume, and a couple other gems.

 

[CraigRT]

Drive an 08-11 Focus then complain about the current one. That car was terrible in almost every way. The 12+ Focus is great, test drive a new one with a proper gearbox and you'll probably enjoy it.

 

[foghorn67]

Another post from a man who is choking on the foot in his mouth. Blanket statements are valid when they point to a consistent reality.

You made statements in this thread that were challenged. You provided no defending information about them other than to refer to my statements as "bullshit" and "ignorant".

You then looked for links yourself, couldn't find any, but instead of admitting they don't exist pretended that they did with comments like "That should help you and your weak Google skills."

If you had actually tried to google this yourself before spreading further misinformation and acting like a dick about it I'd let it go, but instead you insist on pretending something is real, that it has google evidence, and yet have provided no proof at all it's real and no links (as you claim they are readily available) and so I'm only pressing the matter to ensure you are fully humiliated, as you deserve to be.

If you possessed a modicum of self-esteem you would have admitted already that this is a false phenomenon.

I've already said that I "will stand corrected if somebody can provide a link from an authoritative source that this exists " I've asked because I can find no evidence this exists, nor can you. And I know you've tried. Maybe somebody else can find it, though nobody has yet because, most likely, it doesn't exist.

If you were clever you'd let this go now, but I don't think you are, so you'll probably post again another response (without links) trying to again pretend that you're somehow right despite no evidence of it.

Giving you a link wouldn't teach you anything. I wouldn't learn anything from it either.
I love the clause of your self righteous win-win at the end of your post.

I don't have to be clever to you. I have nothing to prove to you.
Meaning, since I know they exist, driven cars with them equipped, knowing they were transparent about it, it seems silly to me.
I also used to work for a large corporation that used the same vendor some rental car companies did.
I really shouldn't give you a link, because it would seem to only validate myself. Since my memory isn't misplaced, I don't need to.
But I'll drop one more hint. The systems used keywords like active ISA.



By the way, don't act so offended when applying the word "bullshit". I merely used words and the same overall attitude you did.
I'm not sure if you can see that. But really, you come off as someone that loves to correct people in every fucking thread you are in. And most of the time, it isn't "correct".

Now go have some fun this weekend, and please stop being a debbie downer.

 

[Uppsala9496]

Went from a 2007 328xi to a 2012 Focus Titanium hatchback.

I actually like the focus better. Sure the drive on the bmw was smoother and it had more power, however I just like driving the focus more. I find the focus to be a more comfortable ride (I like the seats better). I have the MFT with 8" screen, so the radio area isn't overly crowded.
Thing gets great gas mileage too. I'm only at 4,700 miles on the car and am getting 30.6mpg.

 

[Viper GTS]

I think the thing you have to keep in mind with these cars and the glowing reviews they get is it's all relative. With the new wave of premium-er sub-compacts coming out (fiesta, etc) I kept getting excited about the new stuff. They would get great reviews about quality interiors, power and handling and being fun to drive... And then I'd actually drive one and be horribly disappointed again and again. They may be standouts in their category but they're still a $20k car and that's 1/3 below the average new car price these days. Of course it's going to be a flaming pile of shit.

I've simply resigned myself to the fact my perspective is severely skewed by the cars I currently drive, and that nothing in the small/affordable categories that normal people buy from is going to even remotely turn me on. Since I can't afford to go spend $100k on something I guess I'm stuck driving 10 year old semi-exotics that cost around the average new car price.

But then again that's kind of the way I like it.

Viper GTS