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2012 Ford Focus

1316 messages,  Last post on Feb 25, 2013 at 4:53 AM

You are in the Ford Focus Forum.

What is this discussion about? Ford Focus, Ford, Car Buying, Future Vehicle, Coupe, Hatchback, Sedan, Wagon

Messages Page 51 of 132

#501 of 1316 Re: More reviews [shipo] by bamacar

May 17, 2011 (7:37 pm)

Replying to: shipo (May 17, 2011 6:33 pm)
I have to agree with m6user here. I have been wondering how bad the Focus was so I went to the Ford dealership and sat in the Focus. I am over 6 feet and large and I set the Focus front seat comfortably (SE no sunroof as I hate them and the space they eat). I got in the back seat and found the space not good but I could handle it for around town without any problem. It was below average for a compact but far from unacceptable. I got in a Fiesta and there was no comparison. I couldn't even jam by leg behind the front seat. That is unacceptable for anyone over about 6-8 years old.
 
I then went to Mazda and if it has over 36 inches of rear legroom it must be invisible. The previous generation had reasonable room. The 2011 appeared to have about equal space as the Focus.
 
The Focus doesn't have the legroom of the Jetta or Elantra, but I was not turned off by the space. The headroom seemed better in the Focus than just about every competitor to include the Mazda3, Jetta, and Elantra.

#502 of 1316 Re: More reviews [bamacar] by creakid1

May 18, 2011 (12:22 am)

Replying to: bamacar (May 17, 2011 7:37 pm)
The Focus doesn't have the legroom of the Jetta or Elantra, but I was not turned off by the space. The headroom seemed better in the Focus than just about every competitor to include the Mazda3, Jetta, and Elantra.
 
Right, the problem is not the head room, & not even the knee room -- only the stretch-out leg room, which a child-seat won't have problem with.

#503 of 1316 Who buys a Focus for adults in the back? [m6user] by creakid1

May 18, 2011 (12:37 am)

Replying to: m6user (May 17, 2011 12:46 pm)
But who buys a Focus for crosscountry cruising with adults in the back anyway?
 
Today's Focus, like all the old Honda Accord's prior to 1998, could not allow my legs to stretch out in the back. But wait a minute, yesterday's Focus got adult-size leg room in the back PLUS adult-size chair height, which is something today's Golf/Jetta don't got while my Mk1 Jetta does!
 
That's right. Just 24 hrs ago, I drove my '07 Focus ST to go test drive the GTI & Golf, which may have enough leg room in the back but w/ low chairs. So the rear seating is still not that comfortable. While on the way home, the hydraulic steering in my '07 Focus ST felt so alive by comparison, even when driving in a straight line, & therefore felt so good. Despite slightly less steering precision plus slightly less comfort due to less quietness & front suspension travel, I still find my old Focus more fun & enjoyable.
 
So if you have driven the head-of-the-class new Focus, chances are you might turn selfish enough to buy it despite realizing that most rear passengers will be suffering (like how the Accord sedans used to offer)
 
Me too, I was wondering why those old Accord sedans got rear doors...

#504 of 1316 Re: Who buys a Focus for adults in the back? [creakid1] by m6user

May 18, 2011 (9:29 am)

Replying to: creakid1 (May 18, 2011 12:37 am)
Me too, I was wondering why those old Accord sedans got rear doors...
 
Yeah, it's a wonder how they sold any of those Accords when the backseat was clearly unusable.

#505 of 1316 Re: Who buys a Focus for adults in the back? [m6user] by creakid1

May 18, 2011 (11:06 am)

Replying to: m6user (May 18, 2011 9:29 am)
You're right. Even w/ no rear leg room (by American std), the Accord was the best selling car in America! That's b/c America is the most wasteful country w/ very high percentage of drivers not using the carpool lane.
 
So the new Focus will be a selling success here after people test drove it.
 
Maybe it was about 9 yrs ago when I traveled to Asia. They happened to have a prettier version of the Sentra which was stylish enough to be an Infiniti, while our Sentra was fugly (& still is today). I was wondering if that would hurt their Maxima's sales. Well, they carpool a lot, so they need to buy the Maxima anyway.

#506 of 1316 Achieving the sharper Focus by markus5

May 18, 2011 (11:31 am)

Last week, I saw a very stunning New Focus silver SE Hatchback model in the parking lot of my Gym. I pulled my '04 zts Focus right along side, which gave me an opportunity and a perspective which was not available to me at the dealership visit last month. ( for some reason cars look better in the environment than they do in a showroom or dealers' back lot)
From the standpoint of replacing my '04 ( it feels & drives exactly like new at over 100K, remarkable), I had become quite concerned that the new car had appeared small in that first encounter. Casual observations recounted in this blog space had bolstered that original impression.
Now looking at the two vehicles side by side, my old one did have a few more inches of length over the Hatchback, but in every other quality of a vehicles' "presence", this new model showed me more heft. The latest reviews I have read and seen on PBS's Motor Week also seem to confirm my emerging perspective, that Ford which after all spends millions on Marketing Studies, may have their Focus just right.

#507 of 1316 Re: Achieving the sharper Focus [markus5] by creakid1

May 18, 2011 (11:45 am)

Replying to: markus5 (May 18, 2011 11:31 am)
The new Focus is super wide 6ft, while the ZTS is only 5'7" wide -- a big difference in bulk that small-car drivers might not get used to.

#508 of 1316 Re: More reviews [bamacar] by dodgeman07

May 18, 2011 (1:23 pm)

Replying to: bamacar (May 17, 2011 7:37 pm)
Amen. I'm 6'1" and 210 pounds and can comfortably sit behind myself in the new Focus. Roomy? No, but certainly acceptable for a compact sedan. After reading the comments here I was shocked I was able to fit very well behind the driver's seat (which was adjusted for myself). Easily as large as my old A4 that I regularly hauled 4 adults in and plenty of size for me and most people in the market for a compact sedan.

#509 of 1316 Re: More reviews [dodgeman07] by shipo

May 18, 2011 (1:33 pm)

Replying to: dodgeman07 (May 18, 2011 1:23 pm)
Granted I'm only 5' 9" (ish), but I'm rather long of leg for someone my height; when I set the front seat for my preferred driving position in my Mazda3 (all of the way back, height medium, seat-back raked back only a few degrees) and then sit in the rear I have an easy two inches between my knee caps and the back of the front seat. When I do the same in the 2012 Focus (all of the way back as well) my knee caps are firmly implanted in the seat in front of me; not even remotely comfortable.
 
If I was 6' 1" and had the same proportions as I do now (i.e. same inseam to height ratio) there's no way I'd even be able to sit in the rear of the Focus even for a short trip.

#510 of 1316 Re: More reviews [shipo] by dodgeman07

May 18, 2011 (7:47 pm)

Replying to: shipo (May 18, 2011 1:33 pm)
If I was 6' 1" and had the same proportions as I do now (i.e. same inseam to height ratio) there's no way I'd even be able to sit in the rear of the Focus even for a short trip.
 
That is amazing. My inseam is 34" and I had no problem sitting in the back seat of a 2012 Focus yesterday. I actually checked it out because of so many here called it "unusable".
 
The rear seat legroom is very similar to my former 2000 Audi A4 1.8T and 1992 Honda Accord LX sedan. It's fine for full-size adults on short trips or kids on any trip. If I was hauling around 4 full-size adults all the time, I wouldn't be in the market for a compact seden.

Messages Page 51 of 132

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