Ford Focus

investmenttool.com technology journal

During my recent west coast trip I got a chance to drive a Ford Focus. This much maligned company got a chance to redeem itself with me. They did manage to do this, though only partially.

At the Payless rental counter, I was informed that the small Suburu or Toyota I’d been promised wasn’t available. So I was being upgraded to a mid sized car for an extra $8 a day. I let them know I wasn’t paying extra and asked them what the mid sized car was. The told me it was a Focus. That is not a mid sized car.

Risking a difficult situation I told them to honor the rate or I was walking. They honored it and gave me a Focus with 39,000 miles on it. This was good, because I’m very interested in seeing how the car wears.

The fuel economy was excellent, topping out in mixed driving at well over 30 miles to the gallon. I can’t be more specific because Payless didn’t completely fill the tank prior to giving me the car. Kind of sick that they’d rip me off on a couple of bucks worth of gas.

While not as sprightly as my six cylinder truck, to focus accelerated well when pushed and did not emit excessive engine noise. The transmission shifted smoothly and defeating the overdrive gear was helpful with accelerations.

The controls were laid out in a normal fashion. Rarely did I have to take my eyes of the road to find a control. The radio and sound system was excellent, including a CD player.

The car felt twitchy with quick adjustments, like getting back in my lane after I’d started to drift a lot. The suspension seemed to roll excessively. Gladly, there was no cause for emergency maneuvers during the trip.

After 39,000 miles of wear and tear, the car had competent braking and overall performance. Though Consumer Reports has attacked its reliability, I suffered none of the problems that other owners have had to contend with. The wheels stayed attached, and the car got me to my class every day.

I can’t recommend any car that fails the CR reliability test, but if you fall in love with this car, it should be a fun drive until the warranty runs out. Don’t count on a high resale value or trade in.

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Shmuel Protter
investmenttool.com

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