Ohio Civil Servants: The New Ford Focus Sucks
Cleveland.com says Ohio state officials are downsizing their fleet. Of the state’s 350 new cars, some 50 percent will be the “more fuel-efficient— and less stylish” (ouch!) Ford Focus. Some government workers are bitching about the decision, claiming the Focus offers “less headroom and legroom.” Department of Administrative Services (DAS) spokesperson Ron Sylvester told them to go on a diet. "People concerned about getting their girth from a midsize car into a Ford Focus – we may be helping them think about reducing their girth a little bit." The big fish are not affected. Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher and Attorney General Marc Dann are all “driven to work” in Suburbans. Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner drives a Chrysler 300C. And Auditor Mary Taylor has a 2007 Jeep Cherokee. Ohio taxpayers should be pleased with their State Treasurer. Rich Cordray turned down a state car in favor of his very own beige 2006 Pontiac Montana minivan.
Glenn is a baby-boomer, born in 1954. Along with his wife, he makes his home in Connecticut. Employed in the public sector as an Information Tedchnology Specialist, Glenn has long been a car fan. Past rides have included heavy iron such as a 1967 GTO, to a V8 T-Bird. In between those high-horsepower cars, he's owned a pair of BMW 320i's. Now, with a daily commute of 40 miles, his concession to MPG dictates the ownership of a 2006 Honda Civic coupe which, while fun to drive, is a modest car for a pistonhead. As an avid reader, Glenn enjoys TTAC, along with many other auto-realated sites, and the occasional good book. As an avid electronic junkie, Glenn holds an Advanced Class amateur ("ham") radio license, and is into many things electronic. From a satellite radio and portable GPS unit in the cars, to a modest home theater system and radio-intercom in his home, if it's run by the movement of electrons, he's interested. :-)
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Talk about a diet - the Tata Nano is just 60" across. You're going to need a smaller @$$ to fit into that car.
no need to lose weight, starlightmica, the Indians were thoughtful enough to tell us "You fatties can just put one cheek on each seat!" Anyway, I just read a letter to the editor about the budget shortfall in Thursday's Repository (the local Canton, OH paper) and the writer gave the same facts about the shortfall, but they also mentioned a "rainy day fund with 1 billion dollars in it" that Ohio has had to tap once before, or they had depleted it, but they REPLACED THE MONEY. So Ohio does have the 1 billion dollar rainy day fund if they need to tap into it again, and if that letter to the editor was correct.
P71_CrownVic: I'm in total agreement with you -- it doesn't matter to me where the car is built--but there's a whole raft of politicians in Ohio (Gov. Strickland and Sen. Brown among them) who run on a protectionist platform. scooter: You wrote: The Focus is built in Wayne, Michigan exclusively. Didn't know that. Of course, to a full-bore Ohio State fan, having the state government buying made-in-Michigan vehicles is appalling!
If they are going to give them a piece of s*** like the focus, they might as well give them a Kia Rio!