Fast forward one year. My wife was hired by Intel and we traveled across the country again. We bought a house, friends we had from New York live here, and my mother is living with us. The Miata being our only car was no longer plausible. We were contemplating buying a cheap daily and keeping the Miata. We talked for a while, and decided it made more economic sense to buy a small car for our household stuff and save to buy an NB to build as a track car. I have never been able to track the NC, and never could have. I do not fit inside with a helmet on and the roof up, and caging it to clear my head and meet safely would prevent the roof from operating. The NC would never be a track car. That was not what we purchased it for either. Had we known, we would have planned differently, but hey, that's life. So here we are, we are $5k negative into the Miata, so selling it was not an option. We needed to trade it in. We had to find a good enough deal to carry the balance, and we found it.
Some of you have heard me spout my electric rhetoric. I refer to internal combustion as 'infernal' combustion. I've always believed in the superiority of the electron. Today, I put my money where my mouth is and purchased a 2015 Ford Focus Electric.
107 kilowatt engine, or for you non-scientists 148 hp and 184 lb/ft. It has a torque vectoring differential so the is ZERO torque steer. It actually loves to power through corners. I am loving driving it. It has a single speed transmission. Reverse is obtained by reversing the polarity! #StarTrek
While other manufacturers *cough* Nissan *cough* built ground up cars with all the problems that come with a brand new platform, Ford did exactly what it has been doing for years. Ford put a new engine in an existing platform. Everything on this car is run of the mill Ford Focus off the shelf parts that are available, field tested, and cheap. They were able to focus on the development of the driveline instead of an entire car. This make the Ford the most powerful all electric. 27kw more powerful than the Leaf. It also goes further on a charge, which takes less time because the Ford has a smaller battery. The downside of this is battery placement is not convenient. While some are in the area where the gas tank would be, and additional amount had to be included in the hatch. This has a significant effect on cargo space.
It's not all that bad as there is a storage compartment next to the battery.
The handle has a 3rd mode that lifts the panel to be level with the top of the battery.
The interior is standard Ford Focus, and that is to say amazing. I love this interior.
The car has dual zone climate control, heated seats, power windows, 6 way driver seat, touch screen navigation, back up camera Wifi, Bluetooth, Sirius, Pandora, and a special version of Ford Sync with a companion app that lets me control the car and start the AC or heat from my Android.. #AllTheThings
Now, getting back to the $5k negative equity on the Miata. There are $3,500 in Ford rebates, and an additional $5,000 in electric car incentives that you paid for. Thanks! #GovernmentSubsidies All that left me with equity to spare in the Focus. Add to that I will NEVER pay for an oil change, or transmission fluid, or gas. As it stands, I don't even have to pay for my electric. I live in Portland. There are chargers everywhere. I get preferred parking in all parking ramps, free electricity, HOV lane, and free parking downtown. #Winning
I can't say enough how much I love this car. I've got plans to upgrade the suspension and maybe one day delve into the motor. What surprises me is how much attention it gets people are constantly looking. A guy in a newer lowered Si was eye banging my Focus. I was just straight confused.
I need to get video of it when I can rig up a jig to hold my phone, but the car turns regenerative braking into a game, and gives you a score 0-100%, based on how much of your acceleration energy was recovered while braking. I'm getting good at getting 100%. That means I'm stopping purely on electromagnetic induction. I'm never going to need to put brake pads on this.
I took the train to a soccer game Friday too.
