Ford announces 2008 Focus pricing; first drive coming soon

Looks pretty good, except for that ugly silver dash. Where’s the wagon? Seems like every other Focus I see is a wagon. I can’t believe Ford would drop it; wagons are big in Europe. I think wagons will make a return in the USA now that fuel economy is an issue.

That car is not pretty, and that extremely awful silver dash-thing is, well, extremely awful. I think we’ll be seeing a refresh shortly with that dash removed plus a hatch version. And power windows standard on the base version. C’mon Ford, this is 2007. If you can provide air conditioning and a CD player standard, are power windows that expensive?

I think this is really bad move. It isn’t as good as a Civic and costs as much or more than a comparable Civic. The Euro Focus is a much better car. Ford has a great car in the Fusion, the Freestyle is a very good cross over. The Focus is… Well it is probably as good as the Cobalt…

I’ll be curious to see if they drop the hatchback in Canada. You see more hatches and wagons than you do sedans around here. I know for a fact other cars, such as the Echo, have been available in Canada as hatches and not in the US. No announcement from Ford of Canada yet. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

This face-lifted Focus is just plain ugly and an enormous disappointment! It’s not terrible but Europe has been getting a much better (and better-looking) all-new Focus for some time.

I’m sure that Ford dealers will be offering the car with substantial discounts very soon after it reaches showrooms and that most buyers will end up paying less for a Focus than for a comparable Honda Civic.

Q.Why would anyone buy a car that doesn’t have the reliability or resale value for roughly the same money as a Honda/Toyota, and that is homely to boot?
A. They don’t.(that is if they have half a brain)

As someone stated above, the european version is much nicer. One has to wonder about the decision making process in Detroit. It would appear that Ford missed this one – again…

The Focus has to be one of the most maintenance free and reliable powertrains in North America. 100K mile tuneup! If you buy a honda you are going to spend thousands in maintenance at the dealership (brake fluid changes, timing belt changes, WATER PUMP (since when do you consider replacing a major timing belt driven part like a water pump routine maintenance!). The quality of Honda and Toyota has recently declined significantly and the JD Power awards are now going to North American manufactures, but the so called “reputation” of the foreign cars is still fresh in the consumers minds and the rumor of foreign quality is a rumor perpetuated by the media. Buy from company that best supports it’s workers, there are many middle class jobs depended on it!

Nobody HAS to go to the dealership to change their timing belt (try several hundred, at 100k miles) and all other maint. can be handled at jiffy lube just like a Ford…But if you really want to avoid service hassels, just lease a Mini for 3 years and they even change your oil for nada! Looks-wise the Focus is ugly/plain…it hasn’t got any endearing qualities…as to Ford supporting its workers, that wouldn’t be the ones on Oakville, Ontario or Hermosillo, Mexico, or Korea would it? Ford closes plants here and opens new plants abroad and fires our workers, while those “foreign” companies open plants in Tennessee, Alabama, Ohio…companies like Subaru, Honda, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes…just because an american founded company wraps itself in a flag on TV, it doesn’t mean that they care one bit about America…only the bottom line my friend…just ask the residents of Flint, Michigan!!

Well said Mr. don. I was trying to think of a way to argue with you but I can’t think of one. A lower paying job at a toyota plant is far better than no job at all because it left the country.

Congratualtions Ford for your continued dedication to the decline of the american car. This is a worthless piece of garbage. Why would anyone consider purchasing one of the over the European or Japanese cars. Bravo my friend, bravo.

Oh yeah, Will? Comparing a Honda quality to Ford is like comparing a Rolex to a sundail. Drive around sometime and notice how many civics still drive. I have 187,000 on mine. I haven’t replaced anything but the water pump and I probably did not need to. They only reason you see Fords is because rental car agency’s sell them cheap after the first 25K because they are already on the downward spiral in their life. The Taurus, Tempo, Escort, Fusion… These are just awful cars. I hate it when the rental place gives me a Fusion. Though it is better than the PT crusier. American cars might as well be French.

Gary et al.,
I feel your collective pain. I am a humble American who wants to see the founding companies of our domestic auto industry survive and thrive. I hate to see the great name of Henry Ford, who I admire (except for a certain despicable book he once wrote)go down into the humiliation of bankruptcy and corporate dissection thru corp. raiders. Why can’t we get some of the great cars the Big Three design in Europe, the orient and Australia? Why do they continuously “dumb down” the choices we get to buy, whether it be models or engines? Fire the bean counters and listen to the autophiles…look at the long term and forget about what the stockholders will say at the next gathering. Show a long term goal with innovative vehicles gas, hybrid, solar, hydrogen or whatever it takes. The Japanese always take the long term perspective. They were small once, but their long term vision was long. They learned from us and were innovative enough to surpass us. Let us be humble enough to admit that we have stumbled and be wise enough to learn from them and stand up one day and compete again!

Will — In Honda’s defense, they do not mandate a new water pump at 90k; most people replace it with the timing belt since it’s a part that wears and it adds only 20 extra minutes to the timing belt job.

Gary — my sis-in-law put 220,000 relatively trouble-free miles on her Ford Aerostar. And they didn’t even take particularly good care of it. Watch the comments and you’ll see lots of owners of high-mileage American cars who have had few, if any, problems. I, too, own high-mileage Hondas — one Accord with 123k, one with 193k — but they have not been totally trouble-free. The higher-mileage one has received care (or neglect) comparable to the Aerostar, and it has had more problems.

Don –

The Big Three have tried bringing European and Austrailasian designs to the US — cars like the Ford Fiesta, Mercury Cougar, Merkur Scorpio, and Pontiac GTO were all designed for (and did well in) other markets but fell flat here. The problem is that Americans *think* they want European cars, but they really don’t. Even the VW Golf, best-seller in Europe, does poorly here, and that’s with a unique bigger engine for America. There’s a reason the European automakers don’t bring cars like the Mercedes A150, C180, and E200, Volkswagen Polo and Golf Plus, BMW 318 and 116i, and (now defunct) Volvo 440 to the United States– those are the cars Europeans want. but Americans don’t buy them. Frankly, I think Saturn is making a very gutsy move by bringing the Opel Astra to the US (in 1.8 liter hatchback form, no less). Aside from the Astra, GM seems to be the one global automaker that has figured it out: Platform sharing is the way to go. American’s tastes are just too different from the rest of the world for a true “world car” to work — and since we’re the biggest auto market in the world, it’s worth the investment to dance to the beat of our drummer.

True…sadly, I did enjoy my Merkur XR4Ti one of the truest handling cars I’ve known)and my Scorpio (even bought one for my dad)which was not given the same drivetrain here as in Europe. You are right that in the past we thought we wanted Euro cars but we didn’t. I think that we have matured into drivers first and hedonists second.(referring to the crushed velvet/landau,vinyl topped land yachts of days gone by)

Naming those european cars that failed here is not a very good indication of the success that good europeans could get in the states.

These were car sized in between category already existent here (you forgot the Contour btw). They were too small for a price too high.

But today, most european cars could fit just right in our market and i think that Saturn is the American division who will have the best success in the years to come.

And let me add that yes, this Focus look terrible, it

Well everyone, I bought a 2008 Focus and love it. I had a Benz E320 and was repairing it all the time, so one day I drove to the nearest dealer and there was the Focus bought it never looked back. Good gas milage, quite, fun to drive, and I like the looks