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2011 Ford Focus: Small Car, Big Promise
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engineerd
09/02/09

In reply to 2011 Ford Focus: Small Car, Big Promise
First single-platform global car from Ford?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the 1st gen Focus designed in Europe? Yes, it was. Then Ford let FoE and FNA do their own thing with the platform. FoE did a major redesign that FNA didn't want to support, so now they have two Focus chassis, with NA getting the short end of the stick.

Also, single-platform global cars from Ford include the Transit series and the 1st gen Mondeo/Craptour/Mistaque.
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LTDScott
09/02/09

In reply to 2011 Ford Focus: Small Car, Big Promise
It drives like an Audi? So it'll require a lot of expensive repairs after the warranty expires?
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hermitizer
09/02/09

In reply to 2011 Ford Focus: Small Car, Big Promise
I've never been very excited about any American car, and I guess this barely counts as American since it's Euro, but the Focus RS gets me all hot and bothered. Price it at 30k w/ 4 doors and I'm sold. Anyone want to buy my ridiculous wing from me so I can fly under the radar?
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sos10
09/02/09

In reply to 2011 Ford Focus: Small Car, Big Promise
I'm currently renting a ford Focus... US version... what a piece of crap... roadholding, fuel consumption, lack of interior detailing... lack of everything really...
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pinkshinyalan is kind of brown
09/02/09

In reply to 2011 Ford Focus: Small Car, Big Promise
VW's Jetta TDI makes up roughly 40% of all Jetta sales. It would be easy to cite this to encourage Ford to bring a clatterbox Focus stateside, but let's face it: VW pulls a different audience than Ford.

No one's really sure if a higher-priced (as it invariably is) diesel option would actually pan out, or if it could even be reasonably priced considering our poorer-quality diesel and stricter emissions regs. Diesel emissions-control technology is not cheap.

That said, I'd love to get 50+ mpg and have 200+ lb-ft of tire-shredding torque in a sleeper econobox.
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Ash78 promoted this comment

RLJ676-LS3 Commuter Car - for the environment
09/02/09

@pinkshinyalan:

The difference to me is the Jetta is already charging a pretty large premium compared to the other compact competition. I think then the buyers are therefore more likely to up the cost with the diesel as they aren't the typical econobox buyer?
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pauljones promoted this comment

Amalgamated Stainless Headers, est.1978
09/02/09

@pinkshinyalan: I think that Ford, at the rate they're going, stand a good chance of attracting the same preppie/hipster demographic that drives VW's word-of-mouth. The Fiesta and Focus back to back should help things.

Maybe they could even tout them as "Hecho en Mexico, just like VW!"
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HurtsSoGood
09/02/09

In reply to 2011 Ford Focus: Small Car, Big Promise
I want the EV Focus they're promising me. If I don't get it, they can bite my shiny non-metallic ass.
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GIC asks not for whom the bell tolls
09/02/09

In reply to 2011 Ford Focus: Small Car, Big Promise
If people in the USoA were truly serious about the Euro Focus, there'd be a black market for Mexican Focus RS models to rival the drug trade.

Hmm. Focus RS vs Raptor at border. I think I'd pay to see that.
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Amalgamated Stainless Headers, est.1978
09/02/09

In reply to 2011 Ford Focus: Small Car, Big Promise
Crap, now I'm going to have to buy this and add it to my collection with the Pontiac GTO, G8, VW Phaeton, several Merkurs, and SVT Contour in the Garage of Cars We All Begged For But Very Few of us Will Actually Buy but We Feel the Right to Complain When They Go Away.
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pauljones
09/02/09

@Ash78: Damn you and your sense of sense.

Quit raining on our parade.
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Tiberiuswise is all ate up with sarcasm
09/02/09

@Ash78:
Lets make sure it fails by trying to get Ford to build a FocusChero.
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vwminispeedster, pronounded Si-trow-in promoted this comment

DocWalt
09/02/09

@Ash78: I still blame the manufacturers for the failure of those cars. Extraordinarily poor marketing combined with being overpriced...
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pauljones promoted this comment DocWalt was starred DocWalt was unstarred

Amalgamated Stainless Headers, est.1978
09/02/09

@pauljones: It's just the shock of having pushed for something for years and years and years and then it finally comes true and I don't even know what to do with the news. I think I'll purchase a Portuguese Water Dog.
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pauljones
09/02/09

@DocWalt: I will agree to a certain extent, as I think that poor marketing was a huge part of why the GTO, G8, and Phaeton failed.

I will disagree with the price point notion, though, at least as far as the Pontiacs are concerned. Both of them were exceptional values.
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pauljones
09/02/09

@Ash78: Mmm...Portuguese Water Dog....

Does it taste like chicken?
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GIC asks not for whom the bell tolls
09/02/09

@pauljones: Merkur's DOA story was nicely summed in today's NPOCP. As for the Contour SVT, it was lost in the shuffle of Ford's sycophantic "Blue Oval Certified" dealer program launched at the same time, and thus acquiring one was a bit like bidding out for a root canal. Then they soon developed a rep for poor quality and reliability - which the Focus SVT subsequently lived up to. Pity.
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weatherman
09/02/09

@Ash78: the difference being that the Focus is a reasonably priced practical car that is fun to drive and looks pretty good. All the ones you listed fail on at least one of those factors, if not all (in the case of the Merkurs).
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Parramore
09/02/09

@pauljones: Personally, the GTO was a leap for me at ~$30k when my budget was more like $25k. It was a serious consideration before price finally killed the idea. Granted, I never went to the dealership and haggled either.
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pauljones promoted this comment Parramore was starred Parramore was unstarred

DocWalt
09/02/09

@pauljones: Oh, both of those certainly were, but the G8 wasn't even really available long enough to pass judgment. I still don't really understand why the GTO didn't sell.
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pauljones
09/02/09

@Parramore: Yes, but to get performance that was anywhere near the GTO, you would either have had to spend the same price on a Mustang GT (which couldn't match the GTO's handling at the time), or spend $35K for the 350Z, which wasn't as quick and didn't have usable backseats like the GTO had.
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Uncle Bo
09/02/09

@DocWalt:

And I blame car enthusiasts for the same failures. The automakers made the cars available to us, but we didn't buy them. Most of the reasons are lame (too expensive, bland styling, didn't come with a certain must-have option, etc).

Car enthusiasts are always their own worst enemy. Always. We'd rather complain about what we don't have than support what we do. We demand a certain product then refuse to buy it.

ASH's perspective is 100% dead on accurate.
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DocWalt
09/02/09

@Uncle Bo: Enthusiasts alone aren't the only people that can sustain a car. I do agree with your sentiments though. We're never happy with what we have, I think it's human (enthusiast?) nature.
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DocWalt was starred DocWalt was unstarred

eggwich del fiero
09/02/09

@Ash78: Ah yes, the Jalop Paradox: if it's not available, we lust after it; if it is available, some small flaw is now to blame for it's undesirability. Choose at least one:
Too heavy
Fail Wheel Drive
Too expensive
Image/Mullet Issues
It's not a BMW
It's not a used BMW
It's made in Mexico
C4C is to blame
Some Accord tossed taco salad all over its face

I gotta go send back my lunch order, I didn't want it to be this delicious.
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eggwich del fiero was starred

TimTim
09/02/09

In reply to 2011 Ford Focus: Small Car, Big Promise
So much oil-burning optimism, how do you keep your hopes up? I don't know that whining will do it, maybe if we whine via Twitter and Facebook... Actually, a semi-sporty euro diesel/manual hatch sounds almost good enough to make me to join Twitter and Facebook.
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acarr260
09/02/09

@TimTim: The RS would be the straw that broke the camel's back for me to join FB and Twatter. Until then, I'll stay somewhat old school.
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pauljones
09/02/09

In reply to 2011 Ford Focus: Small Car, Big Promise
To whom should we direct our whining?

And can anyone say SVT Focus?
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the dog reads but doesn't drive
09/02/09

@pauljones: SVT Focus!!! I think that pic is of said SVT Focus. Just look and those hoodpins!
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pauljones promoted this comment

Parramore
09/02/09

@pauljones: All the whiners need to step up and put their money where their mouth has been for the past several years.
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pauljones promoted this comment Parramore was starred Parramore was unstarred

Tiberiuswise is all ate up with sarcasm
09/02/09

@pauljones:
I'd put my money on a Focus SHO nomenclature.

/ checks pockets and jar next to the washing machine, sighs heavily.
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pauljones promoted this comment

pauljones
09/02/09

@Parramore: Thus far, everyone in my family has.

In my extended family, there have been eleven new car purchases in two years. All but one of them have been domestics, and four of them were die-hard Toyota fans that converted to GM or Ford. We now have two Malibus, a Fusion, a Mustang, and Enclave, a Flex, a CTS, two F-150s, and a Charger. The other wound up being a Mazda5, but only because the Chevrolet dealership that my cousin went to really dicked her around when she was trying to buy an HHR, so she got pissed off and bought the Mazda instead, which is in fact the better car.
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Edited by pauljones at 09/02/09 10:55 AM pauljones was starred pauljones was unstarred

Amalgamated Stainless Headers, est.1978
09/02/09

@pauljones: And to be fair, the Mazda5 has no real domestic competition--the only thing close to that segment is the Kia Rondo in the US.
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JimmyFo
09/02/09

@pauljones: Same thing. Went to three american dealerships (two ford, one chevy) and got the worst service I could imagine. Ended up buying another mazda.
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pauljones promoted this comment JimmyFo was starred JimmyFo was unstarred

vwminispeedster, pronounded Si-trow-in
09/02/09

@intimidated by the clever: oooh I just thought of the next Kragen/PepBoys/AutoZone crappy mod: Magnetic Hood Pins! Don't want to drill holes in your hood but want to make it look flashy like a real racecar, use the new magnetic hood pin kit for all your "I wanna be fast fantasies!" (Available in suction cup bottom for non-ferrous and fiberglass/carbon fibre hoods).
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pauljones
09/02/09

@Ash78: Sadly, it's true.

Hopefully the Chevrolet Orlando (terrible name, by the way) will step up shortly and knock one out of the park. But in the meantime, I admit that I very much like her little Mazda5. She bought it because she and her new husband opted to adopt a kid. I have been known to volunteer for extra uncle duty (I know it's technically cousin, but in our family it's uncle) for the chance to take it for a spin.
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Parramore
09/02/09

@pauljones: That makes sense when you look at the decent domestic share of the C4C activity. How much of a role did you play, if any, in their purchase decision? I just worry that the uninformed masses won't give it a chance vs. a Civic.
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Parramore was starred Parramore was unstarred

pauljones
09/02/09

@JimmyFo: Strangely, that same dealership gave no fight to my aunt and uncle, who both bought Malibus. In her case, I think that it was a combination of several factors: she is young, attractive, it's her first time buying a new car, she wanted to buy a low margin car, and they assumed that because she is an attractive young woman, she is clueless.

@vwminispeedster, pronounded Si-trow-in: If I start seeing those at Pep Boys in the next few months, I am totally blaming you.
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Edited by pauljones at 09/02/09 11:03 AM pauljones was starred pauljones was unstarred

pauljones
09/02/09

@Parramore: Very little, actually.

The only one I influenced was the CTS. My Uncle Charles was going to buy a 530i, but I pestered the hell out of him until he test drove a CTS. He was impressed by the car and the fact that it was less expensive than the BMW for the same quality and performance, so he bought it.
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r0ver
09/02/09

@vwminispeedster, pronounded Si-trow-in: I fear that they're tooling up the chromeplated plastic factory in China as we type.
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pauljones promoted this comment r0ver was starred r0ver was unstarred

Amalgamated Stainless Headers, est.1978
09/02/09

@pauljones: Isn't the CTS substantially smaller inside than a 5-series? I always saw them as nearly a full class apart (3-series competitor?), but it's been a while since I've sat in a CTS.

Not saying I don't agree with his decision (I do), just curious.
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RLJ676-LS3 Commuter Car - for the environment
09/02/09

@Ash78:

CTS is really only a 3-series fighter in price. Sizewise it's a 5. There is a 3-series sized Caddy coming.....
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pauljones promoted this comment

pauljones
09/02/09

@Ash78: The first-gen CTS was a 3-series competitor in every way, but the new CTS is pushing into midsize territory, and is actually roughly the same size as the 5-series.

Here are the dimensions of each (in inches):

BMW 530i:
Length: 191.1
Width: 72.7
Height: 57.8
Wheelbase: 113.7

Cadillac CTS:
Length: 191.6
Width: 72.5
Height: 58
Wheelbase: 113.4
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pauljones was starred pauljones was unstarred

Amalgamated Stainless Headers, est.1978
09/02/09

@RLJ676-LS3 Commuter Car - for the environment: Ahhh, gotcha. Is that the BLS you're referring to? I heard about it for the Euro market, but didn't know if it was coming stateside, as well.
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pauljones
09/02/09

@Ash78: I don't think that it will be the BLS, as, if memory serves, the BLS was FWD. I think that they are developing an entirely new RWD platform, the Alpha platform, for their 3-series fighter.
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Edited by pauljones at 09/02/09 11:57 AM pauljones was starred pauljones was unstarred

vwminispeedster, pronounded Si-trow-in
09/02/09

@pauljones: If I start seeing those at Pep Boys I totally want my share of any profits.
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