Same Car But With More Toys

I finally had the opportunity to test drive the new Ford Focus as a potential replacement for my aging 2003 Focus. After much research and shopping around, the 2008 Focus seemed to be a logical choice among its competitors due to its improved engine, available gadgets, and incentives. Normally, due to the Focus's extremely high first year depreciation, I wouldn't recommend buying a brand new one (I bought my 30K mile 2003 SE sedan in 2004 for $7900), but considering this is the first year for this body style, that doesn't seem to be an option.

The specs for the engine are excellent, the same horsepower as its competitors with more torque and similar gas mileage. I was initially impressed by its claim of 35 mpg, even with its 140 hp engine, considering my 2003 110 hp Focus gets realistically 27 to 29 mpg highway and down around 25 if you do 83 mph. However, with its antiquated 4 speed automatic, it gets 33mpg (compared to 36mpg with the Civic's automatic). During the test drive, the engine did seem to live up to the hype. It's much quieter and smoother than my 2003's even before the engine warms up. Its acceleration is comparable to the competition as well as its ride. Not much noticeable difference there.

As far as styling, this is a matter of opinion and it seems that the exterior is the most criticized by everyone I've met (including my wife). I actually like the exterior styling. It's just a pint sized version of the Fusion. Sure there are extra fake plastic chrome do-dads all over it (some of which actually cost extra), but it has a stronger and bolder look to it and the windshield and hood aren't as raked back as they are on the Civic and Corolla. The interior catches a break from most people that I've met, but this is another point where I differ. The interior to me looks cheap compared to the Civic's and Corolla's. There is silver painted plastic all over the place which for some reason newer cars call "aluminum trimmed". I do like the placement of the dual 12V power receptacles on either side of the Aux port however. Most other cars these days try and hide these in the center console which makes it difficult to operate your Ipod without lifting the arm rest every time. The cup holders are well placed, although I like their placement in the 2003 Focus better. The gauges are probably my most hated feature. The tach and speedometer are equal sized but small, and is the speed is noted in increments of 20. So to do a speed of 65, you must interpolate it as the quarter past 60 mark. If you say were interested in doing 63 mph, that's impossible to tell, since the speedometer's needle is about "3mph" thick, so you could be doing anything between 61 and 64 mph. A quick look from the windshield to the gauge cluster requires you to adjust from seeing distance, to refocusing to read newspaper print within an instant. Maybe I'm nitpicking this a bit, but was there really no room for a larger speedometer? There seems to be as much room in the Focus as there is in the competitions. My old Focus seated 4 comfortably and I have no doubt that the 2008 will as well. The back seats now lay down without the need to lift the bottom seat cushion up and the trunk is actually finished without the netherbits of the trunk lid exposed. My old Focus was extremely loud if you lowered the back seats for access to the trunk, so maybe the soundproofed trunk of the new Focus will alleviate this problem. We did find it disturbing that when we tried to pop the trunk open, we found no remote trunk release button. My 5 year old Focus had this and now it has been deleted in the new and improved Focus???? Another missing feature is the top secret cabin filter that was in my old Focus. While it was never advertised, the 2000-2004 Focuses had cabin filter housings that it shared with its European counterparts. The European models actually came with the filter element while the American models replaced the filter element with a plastic spacer in the housing. For some reason, Ford never claimed a Focus had a cabin filter. It seems like they spent more money deleting an already existing feature, than just offering it for free. Ford's market strategy is very confusing sometimes. This "oversight" has finally been corrected and even the housing is no longer there.
Another very important missing feature on the new Focus: a 100K mile power train warranty that was offered on the 1st generation Focus. The new improved Focus comes with a 60K mile power train warranty. The dealer claimed Ford was trying to keep up with the competition's (Honda and Toyota's) power train warranties. There is one problem with this logic, Honda and Toyota have good reputations for lasting forever, Ford does not, and therefore Honda and Toyota don't need to offer a 100K mile power train warranty. On the old Focus, this was one of the edges Ford had against Honda and Toyota. After owning my car for 112K miles, it would seem to me that Ford was losing money on these warranties and scaled it back a bit.

As far as technology goes, the Focus we test drove came equipped with a sunroof, Sync, XM, and the chrome do-dads. An ambient lighting feature is available that adds ambient lighting and allows you to change it to something like 10 different colors. I'm not sure why this is a feature, and even more so an option, but it’s another button you get to push, and that’s always nice. One of my wife's requirements for a new car was that it has a sunroof. Focuses (Foci?) have always been available with sunroofs however finding one is very hard. There was only 1 dealership near us that had one and they only had one. Doesn't seem to be a popular option. The sunroof in our test car was rather small and looked to be an afterthought. The Sync system we found to be very troubling and perhaps it works better after being set up, but during our test drive it constantly tried to connect to somebody's phone. I tried to test out the stereo (in my opinion, Ford makes some of the best factory stereos), but our radio station kept getting interrupted by the Sync trying to connect to my phone. When we got back, the dealer had one of his knowledgeable guys try and hook it up, but failed miserably, then blamed it on his phone that he claimed worked in another car. I was actually more interested in Sync working voice commands with my Ipod since no other car offers this, but nobody could tell me how that would work. I already have a bluetooth earpiece with works well and sounds like you're talking into an actual phone. I have my doubts that talking to your steering wheel in a loud compact car on the highway will give a good quality phone conversation. Bluetooth should be left to luxury cars. Plus I'm concerned that the Sync will try and boot off my headset every time I enter the car.

The worse thing about the car in my opinion came as reality when we talked trade in for my Focus. They offered me a 60 month (they always do) payment on the new Focus with a $2200 Trade in on mine. Being that my car is only 60 months old and now essentially worthless even to Ford (I've found 15 year old Civics with 200K miles on them for this price) gave me a glimpse of the future on the new Focus after my 60 months of payments is finally complete. Honda and Toyota seem to have an edge here as well.

After the test drive, it seemed to me that the initial cash back incentives and lower price would be quickly washed out by possible maintenance cost and depreciation. Ford seems to be really banking on this Sync system since it seems to be the only thing they offer than nobody else does. If Ford want to remain competitive, they should start investing more in their econo cars and less on the past-its-heyday SUVs and trucks