Fizzboy7

The latest photos of the next Escape looks very promising. I'd consider this vehicle if it stays close to the prototype and offers a refined engine.

Blackraven

The new Focus looks amazing. Whoever Ford is hiring for their automobile designers, well........THEY SHOULD KEEP THEM PERMANENTLY

mmarshall

Well, to some extent, that lack of "oomph" is one thing that helps it get 40 MPG on the highway without it being a diesel or hybrid. Of course, sometimes one can give up too much in the name of fuel economy.....the Fiesta I test-drove felt like it was possibly running on too-lean a fuel-mixture (too much air, not enough gas), causing some low-RPM surging.

LexFather

I think it looks great in pics. Will wait to see in person how it translates.

mmarshall

It's a noticeable step up from the Fiesta, especially in back-seat room. Its interior decor, though, doesn't quite match that of the rival Chevy Cruze. GM, in its latest models, seems to be outdoing Ford in the interior-trim department.....so, to some extent, is Chrysler.

GS69

2012 Ford Focus: Sexy, Sporty, Noisy & Pricey

If the rest of the 2012 Ford Focus were as well-executed as the artful styling, a lot of compact-car rivals could simply take their toys and go home.

But not so.

Based on drives of 2 examples of the completely remade Focus, a $20,000 midlevel, 4-door sedan and a $28,000 hatchback, it's clear that Focus could be better.

Good stuff 1st.

The appearance is edgy, daring and qualifies as eye candy, especially the hatchback. 1 neat touch: To avoid breaking up the flow, Ford cleverly camouflaged the gas-filler door by tucking it next to the taillight and shaping it to match surrounding lines. What rule says fuel doors all need to be round and obvious?

The driving behavior is satisfying. The hatchback had the optional ($595) handling package, which included 18-inch-diameter wheels (vs. standard 16-in.) shod with wider tires and sport suspension. The sedan lacked those. But both were fun to fling and encouraged you to do just that. The sport model, of course, handled snaky spots with more élan — less body lean, mainly — than the standard version, but clearly the sport ethic is baked in.

Helping the cause: Ford again has tuned hard-to-master electric power steering nearly to a fare-thee-well, something it's now managed on vehicles as big as the F-150 pickup. The team getting it so right, so often deserves a raise. There are plenty of other automakers who still can't do it so consistently.

The drivetrain generally excites. Ford's growing use on gasoline engines of direct injection (GDI) creates punchy powerplants of modest size. The Focus 4-cylinder is rated 160 hp and acts as if it has more.

The 6-speed automatic shifts brilliantly most of the time. It's a "manumatic" of the sort that Ford also uses on the Fiesta subcompact. Ford calls it PowerShift.

Such manumatics use less fuel than conventional automatics without imposing the rubber-band personality of also-gas-efficient CVTs (continuously variable-ratio automatics). PowerShift and its ilk are true manuals, but there's no clutch pedal. The transmission electronically engages and disengages the clutch as needed to move through the gears.

While Test Drive was enamored of how the Focus drives, there were bitterly disappointing aspects that need noting:

•Size. Too small, at least inside. Similar outside to rivals, but about 5% less people space — including shortages in key areas such as headroom and legroom — making the car feel smaller than its dimensions. Too, the console is small and there is no other space for phones, etc., if the 2 cup holders are in use.

•Noise. Too much. The suspension clunks on rough, patched and broken asphalt — that is, almost every road surface. The hatchback's bigger tires threw up a hounding roar, and the sedan's smaller skins weren't exactly silent. Test Drive kept reaching for the power window switches, convinced that the outside racket seeping in couldn't happen unless a window were down a sliver — and none was. A lot of today's small cars have backslid on noise, reintroducing the suspension thunks and tire howls of yore.

•Price. Too high. The base model is about $17,000, and that quickly seems expensive in contrast to the Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra and Kia Forte. The midlevel test Focus sedan test car, for its $20,000 price, lacked some expected features, such as backup alarm, and forced upon the buyer ugly steel wheels with tacky plastic hubcaps supposed to resemble alloy wheels.

Not in this lifetime.

And the $28,000 hatchback — while furnished with gadgets galore, including front and rear "you're getting too close" alerts as well as an excellent backup camera and leather in a breathtaking, black-and-cream — still imposed the size and noise penalties.

Also not in this lifetime.

•Drivetrain. Too coarse. The powerful, eager GDI unfortunately sounds like a tractor and shakes at idle. The manumatic transmission, though mostly laudable, shudders and stumbles on low-speed downshifts, a common flaw for the type.

In the end, Focus is a heartbreaker. Because it looks great and drives the same, it's 1 you'd love to recommend enthusiastically. Alas, no can do.

2012 FORD FOCUS

•What: Full makeover of front-drive, 4-cylinder compact; now nearly the same as the Euro-market version. Available as 4-door sedan or hatchback, with 5-speed manual transmission or 6-speed, automatically shifted manual (aka "manumatic") that Ford calls PowerShift.

•When: On sale since March.

•How much? 4-door sedan starts at $16,995 including shipping. Hatchback comes with more standard features, starts at $18,790. Midlevel sedan test car priced $20,285. High-end Titanium model hatchback tester priced $27,790.

•Where: Made at overhauled truck factory in Wayne, Mich.

•Why? A more dramatic compact to battle new Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra, Chevrolet Cruze, others.

•How powerful? 2-liter, direct-injection, gasoline 4-cylinder rated 160 horsepower at 6,500 rpm, 146 pounds-feet of torque at 4,450 rpm.

•How big? Similar outside to Civic, Elantra, but tighter inside due to slightly less head and legroom. Focus sedan is 178.5 inches long, 71.8 in. wide, 57.7 in. tall on a 104.3-in. wheelbase. Hatchback same except 171.6 in. long.

Sedan trunk is 13.2 cubic feet. Hatchback cargo area is 23.8 cu. ft. behind back seat, 44.8 cu. ft. when back seat's folded down. Passenger space: 90.7 cu. ft. (about 5% less than rivals). Weighs 2,907 to 2,948 lbs. Turning circle diameter 36 ft. (about 1 to 2 ft. wider than rivals').

•How thirsty? Rated 28 mpg in town, 38 highway, 31 combined (automatic), 27/37/31 (automatic with manual-shift mode), 26/36/30 (manual), 28/40/33 (optional SFE package).

Trip computer in test cars showed 21.9 mpg (4.57 gallons per 100 miles) in suburban driving with frequent bursts of wide-open throttle, 31 mpg (3.23 gal./100 mi.) in generally easy-going driving mostly on rural 2-lanes.

Burns regular, holds 12.4 gal.

•Overall: Eye-candy looks, sporty driving feel almost outweigh road noise, tight interior.

spwolf

i really dont like the looks so maybe i will like the rest of it? :-)

IS-SV

According to the Test Drive article a lack of refinement makes it a heartbreaker. Sadly typical of so many American small 4-banger cars.

mmarshall

Unlike past American-market Focus models, this is (supposedly) a Euro-market design, not really an American-designed product.

(The Chevy Cruze, BTW, drives quite well, IMO, and has a far better interior than the Focus, but is a little low on power/acceleration in the base N/A model with automatic)

IS-SV

Unfortunately (in the context of my comment), the small car with unrefined 4-banger is typical of American car company offerings in the US. My comment was not about origin of the design, it was about driving characteristics.