Winter/Cold Weather driving and your Focus!

[Merrigan]

So how's everyone else finding their MK3 in the cold and snow? I've had mine for almost 8 weeks and about 7 of those weeks have been below freezing and probably 5 weeks with snow on the ground.

The first time I had the traction control kick in I was pretty surprised. But I've learned to love it. It's not to over bearing and it does its job well. I've seen bigger cars and 4x4s get stuck and slide around while I just cruise on by.

I'm very glad I gave the car a good coat of wax before the weather turned cold. The car seems to stay pretty clean with just a quick rinse.

The heating system works awesome. But that seems to be a Ford thing as far as I've noticed. Also my heated seats are awesome. I've had them kept on 1 for quite a while.

I haven't had any issues starting the car in -25 after sitting all night. Which I think is pretty sweet.

How are the rest of you guys making out in the cold and snow?

Sent from your mom's house.

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[suss6052]

It takes my heated seat nearly as long to warm up on 5 as it does the heater core and the ducts, or so it feels like it. I could swear they should meet the published temperature curves/ set points in the factory service manual, but ford is denying that this exists and the tech was bsing about it being for leather only when the manual makes no such distinction.

[cobie56]

Originally Posted by suss6052

It takes my heated seat nearly as long to warm up on 5 as it does the heater core and the ducts, or so it feels like it. I could swear they should meet the published temperature curves/ set points in the factory service manual, but ford is denying that this exists and the tech was bsing about it being for leather only when the manual makes no such distinction.

wow, im surprised,,, if i turn up, stone cold leather seats, the heater to '5' my butt is burning in just a couple minutes... The seats heat up WAY before i get any warm air out of the blowers..

[kc5rui]

I will have to second the notion that my tushy is burning well before the heater ducts are warm ----leather seats.

[Merrigan]

Cloth seats and if I turn them up to 5 its way to hot. I just leave it on 1.

Sent from your mom's house.

[suss6052]

Originally Posted by cobie56

wow, im surprised,,, if i turn up, stone cold leather seats, the heater to '5' my butt is burning in just a couple minutes... The seats heat up WAY before i get any warm air out of the blowers..

I might need a better i.r. thermometer, but when it was warmer and my back was sore the seat heaters would barely hit 90F on a 70+ F day. When they did almost hit 100F was on the days when it hit 120+ inside the car from sitting in the sun and the seats had cooled down even with the heaters on full.

The seat base might feel a little bit warmer, but the notion that the cloth seats should get less warm just because they are not leather is rediculous, if anything the cloth should heat up better/ faster, but mine are hardly worth the expense or so it seems, but Ford seems adament that the dealer was right despite the fact that they lied to me and or to Ford when they said they measured 90-100F at the seat heater. They claimed it hit the 125F specification on 5 to Ford, but they also said they only relied on the IDS scan tool rather than following the diagnostics and taking the seats apart to test the heater pads and the wiring as specified in the Factory Service manual.

I wanted the seat heaters to save on fuel by not drawing as much heat from a cold engine as quickly, but if they do not perform that well what is the point?

It takes a good 5-10+ minutes before it gets even close to feeling that warm in the cold. I've taken to driving around with it on 5 all the time and it barely gets that warm. It took almost 3+ hrs of sitting in the car with a thin t-shirt on before it got uncomfortably warm. My drive into work is only about 15-20 minutes at the moment so its very cold until at least half way there unless the engine heats up quicker (more stop lights/ etc)...

[Kaaru]

Heating seats and the heating system are doing their respective jobs at the moment. My touche only needs setting 1 or 2 and it does take very little time to heat my regular non leather seats. Anything higher than setting 1 or 2 will result in me, roasting in my own butt juice. Not good.

I had a hard time last winter with my jerky DCT and the traction control. Could not get some power to the front weels sometimes, so you end up giving more gas and then bam! the car woke up, weels were spinning and the T/C kicked in. Result: I was standing still 'cause the T/C was fighting the DCT and vice versa.

Since the total and complete computer reflash/reboot my dealer did, I have yet to see the DCT eat it's boogers, like last year...but we havent had any snow yet here in Montreal.

[CDNFocusFan]

It's been -20/-25 degrees (Celcius) where I am. I have a block heater so I've been plugging it in overnight and she starts effortlessly. Car's holding up much better than I am in this crap.

That being said, I have noticed my factory tires are total crap in snow (I know they're all seasons, I'm waiting for my snows to arrive but since I live 3 blocks from the middle of nowhere I've been waiting awhile)

TC works well, I've had to shut it off going up the hill to my driveway since it cut off right at the crest and I'd start sliding back. We've had a ton of snow here, 50 + CM in the past little while.

Other small issue, which is due to the extreme cold, everything creaks and rattles, and my husky liners and stiff as stone. Nothing has broken yet though, fingers crossed they're calling for -28C tonight.

[Merrigan]

Sounds similar to here. But we don't have as much snow. My husky liners are stiff as hell as well in the cold. But they've been fine. Sometimes the water freezes over night and I just dump the ice chunks out. I got a good set of Hankook winter tires and they're awesome compared to the factory all season's.

Sent from your mom's house.

[slybarman]

Ditto the others. My seat heaters get cranking hot and quick. Remote start is a god send. I love getting into a pre warmed car.

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