@FromBrazil:

That’s a worrying thought. The hatchback Focus is so much better than the sedan that it’s the de facto choice in Focus buying… and for a market the prefers sedans uber alles… that’s a bad thing…

I agree with the comments of some others. Even if the car is no better than our half-assed reskin…can we at least get the Euro model so Ford can sell a small car that does not look like a deformed creature that spent too much time roaming near the nuke plant?

Having driven: Focus, Astra, Stilo, previous generation Brava, Megane, 307, Golf.

From worst to best:
Astra
Golf
307
Stilo
Megane
Focus
Brava

My brother had both a top-of-the-line Brava HGT and Focus Ghia (and father had the top Golf, which I hated) back-to-back. Though the Focus had the bigger engine, my brother sorely lamented having sold the Brava to get the Focus. It was just a better car.

Now, as according to Katie, the new Bravo looks the best of the bunch. Great driveability, reliability, guarantee.

The Focus is a very good car. Its behavior is second only to the Brava. Its internal space is so-so. Economy is so-so. Design is good on hatch but boring on sedan and a little disappointing (Peugeot derivative and all). Finishing is good. US Ford will probably kill it though only offering the sedan, being that the hatch is clearly the pick of the litter.

Once again Americans and hatchbacks, not the best of matches. They’ll probably have a hard time selling the new Porsche as well.

The Focus after years of refinement has finally adapted to the US market. It had a rough beginning, but now is Ford’s best selling car. I have a feeling Ford will keep the current Focus around due to its decent sales. Why risk having a sales flop with the new Focus.
Everything about the Astra was wrong for the US market. Its shape, hatchback design, interior, and performance weren’t what American’s were looking for. I mean Saturn could not even sell the 15,000 they were given. This European Focus also looks wrong. Hey, it is no skin off my back if Ford flops. It is only a matter of time until Ford follows GM and Chrysler into bailout city. With cars like the upcoming Focus that will happen sooner than later.

I think it highly depends on which Focus you’re talking about. This is the most miserable trim level, with the least expensive, least ambitious tires, cheapest trim and meanest feature set. It is not the Focus RS or ST that American reviewers dribble over, and it feels like it.

It’s akin to reading about the 335i, getting some seat time in a sport-package 328i, but actually driving a 316i (or, in my case, the base Canadian 320i) with base tires, stock suspension, cloth seats and an automatic transmission. It really changes one’s opinion of the car vis a vis the reviews published.

We have a 2005 Focus SE, and the seats are fine with me. They provide more lower back support than the seats in our 2003 Accord EX. The car has been quite reliable, too.

akear: GM keeps the Impala around for this very reason, in fact (get this) the Impala was the best selling American car last year.

The Impala is a fleet queen, and GM loads it up with incentives to move it out the door to retail customers.

It reminds me of the doddering Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera of the 1990s – it was the best-selling Oldsmobile, but each one that went out the door hurt, rather than helped, the division’s image.

It sells because it’s cheap and fairly big, not because it’s good.

The new RS is just SHWEEEEEET! and it looks even better in the flesh…

http://www.caradvice.com.au/wp-content/gallery/2009FordFocusRS/Ford-FocusRS-15.jpg

There’s a slight flaw in your thinking.

Until the recession, all media (except TTAC) believed GM, Chrysler and Ford were in no danger of bankruptcy and such talk was considered nonsense.

Just because the media say something is so, doesn’t mean it is….

@Jamie1

I’m British, losing ones marbles is practically a birthright. But I still stand by my comments. I’m not overenamoured with Euro Fords. I just think there are better cars out there. There are some I like (S-Max, Galaxy, Mondeo’s styling), but on the whole, I can leave it.

Even the American spec Focus doesn’t suck – until you compare it with a Civic. The Focus (Am/Euro) isn’t a bad little car, it’s just not a great little car.

You don’t have to be the best, just so long as you don’t want to sell the most.

Having driven all the competitors, nothing else comes close. A review of some poorly treated rental car (aren’t they all) hardly constitutes as a well-rounded piece of journalism.

Echo this.

The current-spec Focus has excellent insulation… it takes a hell of a lot of beating to elicit creaks from the Focus (maybe a few hundred days of a 200 pound renter leaning on the door while it’s open) and the brakes are amazing. A friend runs them in a race series, and all they’ve done for the discs is add better brake pads. Very good warp resistance and great stopping power (and the ABS-programming is second-to-none).

True, the 1.6 just barely gets the car moving. Expected when the Focus, like the Golf, is as heavy as a tank. But it’s not all that bad for the segment. It’s likely though, that the minimum amount of engine American buyers will tolerate will be the torquey 1.8, the 2.0 or the diesel, which is a gas.

The seats are a weird thing… some people hate them, some people don’t. Just like the Civic (which feels like it has an anvil sticking into the small of your back), but on the opposite side of the coin.

And strangely, I have the same problem as Mike does when it comes to the Focus/Mazda3… despite having a near infinite range of motion and tilt/telescope steering, I can never find the right seating position. Just about the only thing the Civic has over the Focus (besides the excellent R18 engine… oh, and the better plastics), in my opinion.

Now we can have sour grapes, too.

I get the feeling that the NA car lineups are designed to make a person feel bad about their purchase…

Okay Detroit – hurry up and go broke – okay? Maybe somebody will bring more itneresting products here…

Euro-origin models will do well in Canada. We’ve always loved hatchbacks and are open-minded about things like diesel and fun firm riding cars.

America is opened minded to; hatchbacks are fine.. as long as you add a trunk to it before you sell it. Ergo, sayonara to the previous cool Focus hatchback, hello butt ugly 2-door sedan pretending to be a coupe.

No effing shite! Those seats suck my @ss. If the brake pedal was a self destruct button they couldn’t be worse than those g0ddamn seats.