New NA spec Ford Focus
 

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I can't even begin to think how much I hate this car. Why couldn't we have the European Focus? Why did Ford waste money developing a whole new car when it already had a new car in the same niche, the same size, and the same name? And why does it have to look so ugly? It looks like the Chevy Cobalt with the Ford Fairlane/Fusion face and Hyundai Coupe/Tiburon side glued on to it. Ford Focus...Ford F*ing Failure...
And I'm especially worried by the fact that Ford thinks the most important engine for the new Focus is the super clean, yet pitiful 130-something hp 4 cylinder. If Ford keeps screwing up like this, it deserves to fail.

what about the pitiful 87 hp euro crap econoboxes taht everybody raves about that do something besides go fast in a straight line ?????

I agree the styling is on the very very low end, and ultimately looks very korean... but... perhaps that is how to win back the american market?

I beg to differ, at least in terms of styling, it is some what fresh. Yes it does seem a bit Korean, I will agree with you there, but at least it isn't the old stodgy Ford image. For example that new Ford Mondeo look good too.

The only way this will win back the US market is if the price range battles a small Hyundai or Kia.........and we know that wont happen.

The focus has lost its "coolness" in the US ever since the SVT went out of production, and this thing wont revive.

It looks terrible. Most people would much rather spend a little more and opt for a nicer looking and more valuble Honda Civic.

I was really hoping we would get the Euro styled Focus....I know a Ford engineer and I am surley going to ask him wtf is going on with them.

this is exactly why toyota and honda have been taking market share from ford/GM in the United States for the past several years...........

Right now, the Japanese have the American market nailed down. They give us good performance, quality, low running costs, style, etc...........

I recently began looking at sports cars. What amazed me was the massive running costs of owning an Audi or BMW (used M3, S4, etc) when compaired to Japanese rivals such as Supras, 300z turbo's, 350z's, STI's etc.... About the only Japanese car I avoided due to running costs/reliability issues was the Rx7........

Perfect example: Buying an E36 M-3. The tires and such are prone to early wear and are expensive to replace. The rotors must be replaced with each pad making breaks very expensive. The suspension (camber and such) is not fully adjustable, etc etc etc..... Its just an expensive car to own considering the performance the E36 give you. After much debate I decided against an E36 M3........Oh and one more thing, its very hard to find a good one these days that hasnt been beat to hell or highly modified......so that made me reconsider too after much searching.

Ultimately, I came down to looking for a Porsche 944 turbo. That seemed to me to be the only Euro sports car within my price range that offered good performance along with relatively low running costs and good quality/reliability.

Anybody have any ideas?? Im still looking for a nice used performance car in the $10,000-15,000 range.......perhaps going as high as $20,000 if I can find a really good deal.....

Man that car is ugly! Why not give the Americans the same Focus we have :bah:

Looks like a Saturn to me..

And I would much rather have a 5 cylinder turbo Focus like you Europeans have..

What were the Ford designer thinking when they designed this crap? With each "refresh", it's been getting worse and worse. The first gen NA focus is still the "coolest" IMO. Unless their reasoning is to dumb down the car to fit the general public, there's no reason to make it this ugly.

With all the designing talents in the Ford group, why cant they just spend a minute or 2 telling the Focus designers their design sucks? :cry:

From the look of things, the only good looking compact car from the (ex) big-3 would be the Saturn/Opel/Vaxuhall Astra...

The current one's doing that right now, and this won't be different either from the looks of things.

We would gladly pay a bit more than what we'd pay for sh*tty Corollas and Civics for a genuine WRC bred Focus. This will ruin Ford. I know it.

...although, sadly the American consumers are infamous for having low, low demand for those kind of things... I mean, how else can the Toyota Camry be so popular?

The current Focus is about 10 times better looking than that!! Wow what a disappointment. I guess if you are considering a Focus make sure you get a 2007!

And I dont see the problem with 130HP. This car will compete with the 126HP Corolla and the 140HP Civic. Plus right now all but the top Focus model have 130HP. So this seems fine for the base/mainstream model. I'm sure they will offer one with the 2.3L/151HP engine like they offer in the current Focus.

But its still damned ugly.

The E36 M3 is the ABSOLUTE king of bang for your buck in england. How do i know? My dad had one for 5 years, and my best mate now has a 3.2 evo and has had for 2 years now.
All other comments you made are ridiculous, as Brembo pointed out. Someone's telling you bullshit with respect to brakes, the front tyres are the only ones that wear the inside edges slightly quicker than the rest, therefore meaning a 'slightly' smaller lifespan for them. But as for reliability, and the performance you can get for the cost the euro E36 M3 in the UK now is easily the best choice IMO.
Oh, and as soon as you see 'turbo' and high milage, cheap sports car then your in for a hefty maintainance bill.

Korean design:

they are right now only hiring \american deisigners... they are testing V8's (not much success right now... a lot of broken engines at thier Geddes rd. facility lol)...

design is a touchy subject at ford right now IMO...

Yeah, I owned one for the past 2 years, and I would say what you are talking about is a load of shit. And oh yeah, the maintenance on a Porsche is cheaper than a E36 M3 :roll: , give me a break.

Even in US, the E36 M3 is definitely one of the most bang for your buck. Now I can't argue that if you want cheap fun, German isn't the way to go. But if you driven an M Car or a Porsche, I don't think you would be saying the same. It isn't just about the numbers, it is about the experience of driving.

If you want cheap fun, get Japanese, and be happy, you will be saving a lot of money.

well, according to BMW and several mechanics...the rotors are intended to be changed with the pads.....and they dont recommend you try and stretch this out to 3 pads or so like Im sure many do......BMW themselves replace the rotors with the pads even on current model M3's......In addition, the tires DO wear quickly on the M3's. Pure and simple. I really dont know why Im being called out for saying this.

Dont get me wrong, I love the M3 but when I seriously looked at buying one used the running costs were a bit high for the price I was planning to pay and the performance I was getting. I mean, for a really good low miles E36 M3 you could expect to pay $15,000-20,000...........and I was recently offered a 2006 350z with 600 miles on it for $24,900. Just had me thinking, thats all......and the question was: Do I REALLY want an M3 that bad or would I rather just walk down to Nissan and get a well specced out 2006 Z for under 25.......

Instead, I spent money on other things, and then I found a 944 Turbo "S" in very good condition for about $10,000 that Im trying to buy. The E36 M-3's in my area going for that amount of money have nearly 200k miles and have been trashed........One even had a salvage title. I just got frustrated looking for a decent E36 M3. It seems they dont exist anywhere near where I live!!!!

I dont know guys. Help me out here. Right now Im leaning towards the Porsche 944 Turbo S (in great condition) Im trying to convince a person to sell me.