The new 150hp Focus

[driftor]

What do you think? comes in standard transmission only; and they gave up on getting us the hotter Euro Focus based on the Mazda3 platform.

Good move or cop-out? I still have to stop at a Ford Dealer to see it.

[driftor]

looks ok now

[The General]

Yes, but only if they can keep the price down with incentives and rebates. When the New Focus comes out, it certainly will be competitive.

[driftor]

Surprise. Drove it (Focus) and I love the handling and high seating even more than the Mazda3 sport's. But then the 2.0 Liter 3's stiff chassis and supreme balance with light front weight bias, won me back to the Mazda3 again. And Kenzie tells me"Mazda 3 is a Focus" (only in Europe you say)

And the acceleration on the Focus, though torquey, just didn't have the top end oomph I've gotten used to since riding motorbikes, and since being economy-minded

Now I'm checking out the BMW to see what is better still.

Hey Jyaahhh (I'm Arnold style Austrian too)--"I'll be back!!"

And now the Focus comes in the Guise of a Volvo Turbo producing over 200 horsepower.

Always thought Volvo was too boring to look at since I drove one in the 60's. But you've finally convinced me to test drive one.

[The General]

Kenzie said that the 2005 Focus is the same as the 2005 Mazda 3?

I enjoyed the Focus: http://www.auto123.com/en/community/...opic.php?t=147

The New New Focus available in Europe should be even more interesting.

Which BMW will you compare tho these cars? A 320i?

[driftor]

C'mon now. Please don't misquote. I Put Kenzie's statements in quotes for that reason. Context is personal correspondence. When I compared the 3 Mazda to a Focus, he replied the Mqazda 3 IS a Focus. I understood it as saying it is a Euro-Focus, and the American is not quite there yet, which is true, except that steering precision is still something to be emulated makeing the American Focus superior to the Mazda's great replica of the Euro-Focus

I am comparing the handling to to the BMW 330 and it is better on paper--.86g, and the acceleration is pretty close, even if the expected sophistication is missing I can't complain. Still looking like my next car.

[The General]

Fair enough. I would have been very surprised to hear that Mr Kenzie made such a mistake. Europe'e present Focus is our Mazda 3 and Volvo S40/V50.

Unless I have misunderstood again, I tend to disagree with the steering issue. Myself and the other car tester here at auto123 preferred the 3's steering over the Focus. The reason is slightly less assistance in the case of the Mazda.

330i! What about the price difference?

[driftor]

OK General Matt,

I read in a couple of articles, including the Consumer Reports :shock: after I had expressed my opinion here, that they also came to the same conclusion that the Focus steering was better, and its long-travel suspension more supple. I still think that conclusion applies for the 2.3 L Mazda3 Sport and GT as comparison.

After driving the 2L Mazda3 however, I was so blown away by the handling balance and chassis rigidity that the Focus' slightly better ride and steering feel seemed to pale in light of the 3's overall superiority.

Seems that the 3's got the edge now. But did you see the Euro Focus wagon--beautiful. I would probably have bought that instead if it were available here, and my local paper showed its picture representing it as the Canadian model--nice dream while it lasted.

I'm waiting for the delivery of my 3.

(And for those wondering about the V in my signature--that is the Suzuki SV650--another target and a slightly revised model is coming out. If I can get a test drive, I'll drop a note in the motorcycle section to see if the e :idea: rgonomics have really improved as claimed. That was the only problem with the earlier version.

[danbouc]

check out http://www.thefocus.ca![/url]

[driftor]

PRICE IS #2 FOR ME; IF THE CAR DOESN'T HANDLE I DON'T WANT TO BUY it period

ACTUALLY FOR bmw I WAS THINKING 'MOAH' OF the 325 with the 3L V6 engine Kenzie first wrote about and I could not confirm--finally it has actually appeared here as promised and proven better--but now my rental company stopped renting them out--darn.

Haven't test driven the Beemer yet. Still, I could probably take my 3 down to 7 second 0-100 (k) times with some modifications that seem to be starting to come out now. What first? cold air intake or exhaust.

I lucked out by forming a piece of cardboard I'd used to block the radiator in the winter into a bent interior spoiler inside the grill. Turned out it must have increased the cold air pressure at the air intake to take advantage of my K&N filtercharger which preivously did little but breathe in little below 90kph now it starts breathing harder at 50kph. But milage is still at 32mpg(Imperial) 5 less than the Elantra SE it replaced.