[letmelogin]

That's the problem with these threads... cars are all about personal preference so any advice is basically useless. While you find it shitty, I quite like the steering.

I agree. I like a good steering response so that I can feel everything the wheels and tyres feel. Focus delivers that pretty much. The Megane is like it's got wheels made of cotton; great ride and low noise but not very engaging to drive.

Oh, and the Focuses sold in North America are the old ones.

[RadcliffXX]

That's the problem with these threads... cars are all about personal preference so any advice is basically useless. While you find it shitty, I quite like the steering.

I got my Megane 1.6L 2007 model a month ago and it's a pleasure to drive. Everything's very smooth and I have to say it's one of the quietest cars I've been in.

How you like the center console is a matter of taste. They've indeed opted for a pretty minimalistic console design (this is less the case for the manual ACs) but that happens to be what I like.

As for road stability, we've had a pretty nice storm about 2 weeks ago with wind speeds up to 120 kph. On my way to work, the wind was blowing right at the side of the car and the car barely moved. I don't know if that's enough stability for you

On a sidenote, the Megane should have leather steering wheel and gear knob as well. At least, mine does and all other options seem to be covered as well. The only difference I see is that mine has a manual gearbox.

Again, cars are all down to personal preference, so the above is just "for the record". The only thing that can help is a test ride with all models you're considering.

Yes dude the Megane here have Leather Steering & Gear Knob,

so do u have the Sedan or Hatch??

also do u find cornering & body roll good or bad???

i love the Megane but the only reason am looking at Mazda & Ford that am afraid from teh reliabilty of Renault & also i never drove a car with sporty suspention before,

i also love the very light steering of the Megane , i tried the steering of the Focus with car parked but with engine running & find it very heavy to my taste but i will try to test another focus.

[letmelogin]

Our Focus ST has an adjustable steering (sport, normal, comfort). I don't know for sure but I think some normal Focuses also have this feature....

[JohnfAclambrJA]

That's the problem with these threads... cars are all about personal preference so any advice is basically useless. While you find it shitty, I quite like the steering.

I'm gonna have to agree. I could say i'd like to buy myself say a Fiat Grande Punto after driving one as a courtesy car recently, but people on here would probably think opposite - just because it's a Fiat or some may not prefer it. After driving the Fiat Grande Punto, my opinion on decent cheap cars has changed considerably.

Everyone has a different view on cars and that's fine, but for someone to say it's just absolutely bad full stop with little or without any experience is rather annoying.

[RadcliffXX]

Guys,

What do u think about the OCtavia II but with 1.6 MPI engine coz we don't have FSI engines here,

is this 8 valve engine noise or very underpowered?? also does it get very noisy when revved hard??

[letmelogin]

It's a good car from what I've heard but I haven't driven it myself. Its supposed to have great xenon headlamps and a nice boot space. Dunno about the engine but aren't 8 valve engines usually more "torguey" at low revs?

[RadcliffXX]

It's a good car from what I've heard but I haven't driven it myself. Its supposed to have great xenon headlamps and a nice boot space. Dunno about the engine but aren't 8 valve engines usually more "torguey" at low revs?

Yes i think they are more tourque at low revs, but from my experiance with my Renault Megane 99 8valve 1.6 engine they are very noise & shake hard when u rev them, but i don't know about Volkes engines, & i don't want to buy 2007 car & found it noise at high speeds or when revving it hard

[L8fGLM4d]

Got a Mazda 3 1.6 myself, lovely car to drive and a real punch to the engine at 3500RPM.

It's also built on the same chassis as the Focus, so they're quite similar in handling/turn circle.

[RadcliffXX]

Got a Mazda 3 1.6 myself, lovely car to drive and a real punch to the engine at 3500RPM.

It's also built on the same chassis as the Focus, so they're quite similar in handling/turn circle.

Dude,
Do u have the Manual or automatic trans?? also what do u think the real max speed this engine could get in KM's??

also do u think the Mazda 3 will be better car than the Skoda Octavia with it's 1.6 MPI engine???

[RadcliffXX]

Got a Mazda 3 1.6 myself, lovely car to drive and a real punch to the engine at 3500RPM.

It's also built on the same chassis as the Focus, so they're quite similar in handling/turn circle.

dude i want to ask u a question ,

does ur Mazda have the Four Speakers setup or the 6 speakers??

if it has the 4 speakers , can u tell me what do u think of the audio quality of them esp. that u don't have tweeters??

[DownloadMan]

I'd stear clear of the Focus,sure that is all just personal opinion,but in my expereince Fords in general have a lot of small annoying little problems with layout and such.

I'd probably go for the Mazda myself

[NeroASERCH]

From watching Top Gear they seem to not mind the Focus. They always seem to like the pin shart steering, and even though the engine on the hp side of things is lower than other cars the same size, it seems to have more go! Might be due to weight and stuff.

I can't remember what car's or what model of Focus they were driving, I'd have to look back into my Top Gear archive to find out.

At least you're not getting a Vaxunhal Astra, they look pretty nice, but damn the understeer looked almost dangerious! [surrender]

[RadcliffXX]

I like the Looks of the Ford & The reviews about it is great , but i really can't stand it's bad interior quality compared to the Megane 2 & cars in the same catagory,

i can't belive my self when i check the Ford & found that the materials of the front door is different from the materials of the back doors, i never see something like this in a car before , in the fornt they use something like leather over the plastic to cover the doors which is nice & in the rear they use plain plastic which is ****.

[letmelogin]

I'd stear clear of the Focus,sure that is all just personal opinion,but in my expereince Fords in general have a lot of small annoying little problems with layout and such.

I'd probably go for the Mazda myself

Like I said, don't compare US Fords with European ones. Totally different.

i can't belive my self when i check the Ford & found that the materials of the front door is different from the materials of the back doors, i never see something like this in a car before , in the fornt they use something like leather over the plastic to cover the doors which is nice & in the rear they use plain plastic which is ****. Yes, actually I've noticed this too on our Focus. The front and the dash have very decent quality especially compared to previous generation but the rear is all plastic...

Well, to be honest if you just scoot around town in that Egyptian traffic, you're better off in the Megane.

[Tauntenue]

Focus or Mazda.

The Renault is French and will break down.

If you want reliability, mazda > ford > renault.

as far as figures go, in the which? car 2006/2007 survey most reliable cars -

Mazda 81% (no.5 out of 36) (best was honda @ 85%)
Ford 76% (no.14 out of 36)
Renault 67% (no.36 out of 36)

[RadcliffXX]

Well, to be honest if you just scoot around town in that Egyptian traffic, you're better off in the Megane.

Excatly dude, that's what i was thinking about,coz our traffic jams is alot in nearly all areas & that would leave me wanting the most comfortable car & not a sporty one as there's no place i can benfit from it's sporty suspention & such unless on traverlling on the high way & i do so once in a year

have u been to Egypt before????!

Lesty

i know that dude , & that's what am afraid off , but i hear now that Renualt is climibing high on the reliablity surveys also the car is out since 2003 & that gives them enough time to address it's issues & with the new 2006/2007 version they changed the Steering & tweaked the suspention & gearbox software to address the most comman problems.

[letmelogin]

Haven't been to Egypt but from what I've seen I can pretty much figure what the traffic is there like . And yes, the Megane should have all the major problems sorted by now...

[RadcliffXX]

Haven't been to Egypt but from what I've seen I can pretty much figure what the traffic is there like . And yes, the Megane should have all the major problems sorted by now...

I think till now my heart settles for the Megane as per the reasons we discussed here,but if around the time am gonna bye the car , this might change if i liked the all new Lancer or we got the CIVIC here in Egypt coz we still don't have the new Civic's here.