Test drove a Ford Focus Titanium Hatchback this morning.

[Arkaign]

Had they kept the Ford probe pricing structure and name recognition, it might have worked out a lot better for them. The car was almost completely left the same as the previous gen in features, power, layout, etc, but suddenly with the Mercury badge and a higher price. Previous customers of the Cougar didn't want a small FWD vehicle, and previous or potential Probe customers found better options for the increased price.

The upgrade from a 118hp 2.0 to a 125hp 2.0 was ineffective, considering the slightly porkier weight, the V6 was essentially unchanged, and leaving the 4-speed auto in was also a cheapo move.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Im just saying, you can dress up a Focus as nice as you like, but it's still a Ford Focus. There's a price point that the general public is willing to pay for certain cars, and $28k is way above the Focus' price point.

Go drive the loaded Focus Titanium and then drive a TSX and get back to me. Doesn't matter to me in the slightest that it's a Focus. I'm aware of how entry level the previous generation Focus was and I never would have bought that car. This one is much much better.

 

[TraumaRN]

Go drive the loaded Focus Titanium and then drive a TSX and get back to me. Doesn't matter to me in the slightest that it's a Focus. I'm aware of how entry level the previous generation Focus was and I never would have bought that car. This one is much much better.

I spent 28K for a new Fusion Hybrid 2 years ago, nearly loaded(everything but Nav) and if I was faced with either a Fusion Hybrid or Focus Titanium Hatchback I'd choose the Focus every time, hell it's nicer then the Fusion interior wise.

EDIT: Actually a Focus equipped the way I want would be 27,215 before A plan taxes and any discounts. Out the door I'd probably pay 25,500-26,000.

 

[EvilYoda]

Nice thread...I'm slated to work a promo tour for the new Focus starting next month. AT's like a little microcosm of what to expect on the road. 😛

 

[Rezist]

I don't think the 27k focus will be much of a volume seller really, they'll probably try to get the "upscale" economy cars sale at 20-22k.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I don't think the 27k focus will be much of a volume seller really, they'll probably try to get the "upscale" economy cars sale at 20-22k.

With gas approaching $5/gallon and this car getting 38mpg on the highway don't count on it. Hell, an optioned out Prius costs more than 27k and those sell like hotcakes.

 

[angry hampster]

To those dissing the Probe, have you ever driven one? I loved them.

 

[Arkaign]

To those dissing the Probe, have you ever driven one? I loved them.

I thought they were pretty cool for what they were. They drove really well, particularly the 2nd gens with the V6. The long-term reliability didn't appear to be up to Honda standards at the time though 🙁 I considered buying a used one at one point as a cheap alternative to the truck I was driving, but all the ones I saw were pretty beat up, and selection was thin.

The point I was making is, yes, the Probe was slated for a 3rd gen with some minor tweaks to it, but it got hijacked by idiots in management/marketing thinking they could sell it as a 'Mercury Cougar'. Simply awful. The Cougar, particularly in V8 form, was a big cushy RWD coupe that was really comfortable and just huge. It didn't have insane power, but it was easy pushed by the torque of the 4.6. Those kinds of customers aren't gonna be convinced by the 'Probe' FWD model with 125hp.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

With gas approaching $5/gallon and this car getting 38mpg on the highway don't count on it. Hell, an optioned out Prius costs more than 27k and those sell like hotcakes.

The Prius' in OC already have non negotiable dealer markups on them

 

[JulesMaximus]

To those dissing the Probe, have you ever driven one? I loved them.

I have. I test drove a 2nd Gen Probe GT when they first came out. It was an impressive and fun car to drive hard. I was driving a 6 year old Mustang GT Convertible at the time and the Probe had a much better chassis and brakes.

 

[alkemyst]

lol at all the Honda-centric folks.

My wife is a 50 year old Japanese woman. She's been in the USA for 10 years now full-time.

Her picks have been Saturn, Audi and Volkswagon.

She likes Nissan and Toyota, but nothing they make matches her personality.

When she owned cars in Japan they were Nissan Fairladies and Porsche 924/944's.

She loves her some hatchbacks.

 

[JulesMaximus]

lol at all the Honda-centric folks.

My wife is a 50 year old Japanese woman. She's been in the USA for 10 years now full-time.

Her picks have been Saturn, Audi and Volkswagon.

She likes Nissan and Toyota, but nothing they make matches her personality.

When she owned cars in Japan they were Nissan Fairladies and Porsche 924/944's.

She loves her some hatchbacks.

I pretty much hate all of Nissan's entire current lineup with the exception of the 370Z. The Altima and Murano aren't bad either but the rest of it looks like total crap.

Honda doesn't make a vehicle that really appeals to me either. The Civic SI sedan is okay but gets poor mileage for a compact 4 door sedan and the interior looks like crap. The CR-Z is interesting but it's a 2 seater so that's out and the Insight is basically a Prius that gets worse mileage.

And people here accuse me of being a Japanese fanboy...🙄

Hatchbacks appeal to me too because it would be so nice to just fold the rear seats down and put my entire bike in without having to remove wheels and shoehorn it in the trunk or mount a roof rack which kills mileage with or without a bike up there.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

Hatchbacks appeal to me too because it would be so nice to just fold the rear seats down and put my entire bike in without having to remove wheels and shoehorn it in the trunk or mount a roof rack which kills mileage with or without a bike up there.

Seriously this, I fit my entire apartment into my GTI (minus all the furniture i sold off) while my roommate with a smaller room had to make two trips with his Accord. I've been convinced ever since then.

I used to do that with my bike but I ended up getting a roof mount because I didnt want to put my muddy ass bike in the back of my black interior car, lol.

 

[Arkaign]

I pretty much hate all of Nissan's entire current lineup with the exception of the 370Z. The Altima and Murano aren't bad either but the rest of it looks like total crap.

Honda doesn't make a vehicle that really appeals to me either. The Civic SI sedan is okay but gets poor mileage for a compact 4 door sedan and the interior looks like crap. The CR-Z is interesting but it's a 2 seater so that's out and the Insight is basically a Prius that gets worse mileage.

And people here accuse me of being a Japanese fanboy...🙄

Hatchbacks appeal to me too because it would be so nice to just fold the rear seats down and put my entire bike in without having to remove wheels and shoehorn it in the trunk or mount a roof rack which kills mileage with or without a bike up there.

Hahah it's like you're reading my mind. Even the Altima, which is a fairly good value in sedan form, is ludicrously overpriced when you try to price it as a coupe. I saw a 2.5S model without navi stickering for almost $29k, right next to 350Zs for $30,999 (back in '08 I think).

Honda/Toyota/Nissan still have some good stuff here and there, but it's nowhere near like the almost unquestionable superiority they enjoyed for a good bit during the late 80s to mid 90s era.

 

[alkemyst]

it has to do with 2 door coupes, manual transmissions and funky colors being out of scope for those that purchase higher end cars.

Hence Scion, Cubes, etc.

 

[sjwaste]

$28k for a ford focus? I'd consider a base focus for sub$16k. But $28k for a focus is retarded. You're already in Acura TSX territory or Loaded Honda Accord territory.

The TSX is for people who are buying a badge and nothing else. It's not that great of a car. If you want an Acura, step up to the TL, or look at other brands.

I'd probably take the Focus over the TSX at the moment. Also, if I had to spend 28k on a mid-size, I'd take the Fusion before the Accord.

Is Ford taking a risk with this? Sure, but they introduced the Fiesta for the bottom segment. Not to mention, the base model Focus starts at 18. At 28k, you're talking navigation, the Ford Touch interface, sync, leather, a backup sensor/camera, nicer rims, etc. It's every bit a 28k car.

Hell, go find me something else for 28k that has all of that, nevermind that most other interior electronics offerings are inferior to Ford's new stuff.

This is the perfect commuter car, or as close as I can find one right now.

 

[TraumaRN]

The TSX is for people who are buying a badge and nothing else. It's not that great of a car. If you want an Acura, step up to the TL, or look at other brands.

I'd probably take the Focus over the TSX at the moment. Also, if I had to spend 28k on a mid-size, I'd take the Fusion before the Accord.

Is Ford taking a risk with this? Sure, but they introduced the Fiesta for the bottom segment. Not to mention, the base model Focus starts at 18. At 28k, you're talking navigation, the Ford Touch interface, sync, leather, a backup sensor/camera, nicer rims, etc. It's every bit a 28k car.

Hell, go find me something else for 28k that has all of that, nevermind that most other interior electronics offerings are inferior to Ford's new stuff.

This is the perfect commuter car, or as close as I can find one right now.

And don't forget for 28K you get a car that will parallel park itself for you...that is if you absolutely suck at parallel parking.

 

[sjwaste]

And don't forget for 28K you get a car that will parallel park itself for you...that is if you absolutely suck at parallel parking.

Fuck me. I totally forgot about that.

With the radar systems that must be in the car, I wonder how hard it would have been to include adaptive cruise control too.

 

[TraumaRN]

Fuck me. I totally forgot about that.

With the radar systems that must be in the car, I wonder how hard it would have been to include adaptive cruise control too.

While I have no use for the self parking feature(I can out parallel park anyone but my dad), I'd love a car with adaptive cruise control because I'm on the freeway so often for work. I think they left it off the Focus because then you'd be talking 30K and you need to at least keep some features for your high end cars.

Messing around with a UK Focus more or less fully loaded, you can get everything the US Focus has and ALOT more, adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning, lane departure warning, Auto High Beam, Traffic Sign Recognition, Low Speed Safety System (Active City Stop) with a 6 speed manual to boot. The cost is a bit steep...
26390 British pounds sterling = 42775.5510 US dollars 😱😱😱😱😱😱

 

[sjwaste]

While I have no use for the self parking feature(I can out parallel park anyone but my dad), I'd love a car with adaptive cruise control because I'm on the freeway so often for work. I think they left it off the Focus because then you'd be talking 30K and you need to at least keep some features for your high end cars.

Messing around with a UK Focus more or less fully loaded, you can get everything the US Focus has and ALOT more, adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning, lane departure warning, Auto High Beam, Traffic Sign Recognition, Low Speed Safety System (Active City Stop) with a 6 speed manual to boot. The cost is a bit steep...
26390 British pounds sterling = 42775.5510 US dollars 😱😱😱😱😱😱

The parallel park assist increases the wife acceptance factor. I'm good at parallel parking, and my wife can do it pretty well but for some reason she hates doing it anyway. She's been talking about one of our next cars having that feature, so hey, why the hell not!

All that stuff on the UK model sounds pretty sweet. To be honest, I'd be willing to pay for a lot of that. I'm looking for as much electronic goodness as they're willing to pack in a compact, fuel efficient car, since I'm about to rejoin the world of the commuter again.

I wonder how hard it would be to fit the parts. On many cars, cruise doesn't input to the ECU - it has its own computer and an actuator for the throttle linkage. As long as the speed output signal is the same, it might be an easy swap.

Ah well, step 1 is to acquire the car. I'm leaning towards this as my next car. I'd probably take a lot to sell me something different now.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Hang on, is the US ST a four cylinder instead of the 5-pot?

 

[TraumaRN]

Hang on, is the US ST a four cylinder instead of the 5-pot?

Worldwide the new Focus ST is going to be a 2.0 Ecoboost/turbo. Supposedly puts out 247HP and 260lb/ft of torque

 

[Arkaign]

Worldwide the new Focus ST is going to be a 2.0 Ecoboost/turbo. Supposedly puts out 247HP and 260lb/ft of torque

Yeah, AFAIK, they're moving to direct injection as well with it, giving much better fuel economy than the outgoing 2.5.

It sounds pretty good, as it was first shown in 275hp form in a Ford Explorer 'America' concept car. So the motor may yet have some room to be chipped/tuned well beyond 247hp. We'll have to wait and see.

FWD will be a limiting factor though, lol. Much above the 300hp threshold you get seriously diminishing returns.

 

[PricklyPete]

Hang on, is the US ST a four cylinder instead of the 5-pot?

We currently do not have a Focus ST in the states...and as has been mentioned, the new Focus ST will be a 4 cyl for both europe and us.

The only way to get that turbo 5cyl in the us is by buying a Volvo S40 or C30.

 

[JulesMaximus]

While I have no use for the self parking feature(I can out parallel park anyone but my dad), I'd love a car with adaptive cruise control because I'm on the freeway so often for work. I think they left it off the Focus because then you'd be talking 30K and you need to at least keep some features for your high end cars.

Messing around with a UK Focus more or less fully loaded, you can get everything the US Focus has and ALOT more, adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning, lane departure warning, Auto High Beam, Traffic Sign Recognition, Low Speed Safety System (Active City Stop) with a 6 speed manual to boot. The cost is a bit steep...
26390 British pounds sterling = 42775.5510 US dollars 😱😱😱😱😱😱

Does it talk to you in a sexy female voice with a British accent? Man, if I could get it with that option I'd be sold. 😉