Test drove 2013 Focus

[CSVT#49]

Good lord that car shifts like butter. I purposely test drove a 5spd as I will never buy an automatic again in my life unless it's a truck. Of course to do that I had to drive a bare bones car. The ride was pretty nice... took it over a set of train tracks on purpose and it wasn't that bad. Also going down the highway at 75mph it stuck right around 3100rpm... not to high. Pretty quite ride as well. Although I had to laugh as I was looking for the master window switch on the driver... thinking where the heck are the rear window switches... I turn around... yea the rear windows are manual cranks?! WTF. Driving the car I go to rest my right arm... yea no armrest. When I get back to the dealer lot I look around at the other cars and they had one... looking closely at it... yea you can buy it as separate assembly piece as an option and it just sticks into the hole that is there for storage in the center console. The steering wheel on the car with the stitched leather option seemed like it dug into my fingers. They tried to give it a racing wheel like look and the 10 and 3 positions on the wheel are not very comfortable. While with my A plan discount the car is pretty affordable I feel that the car is built EXTREMELY cheaply. I mean they really cost reduce the crap out of this car. Looking into the trunk it did come with a spare tire (somewhat rare these days), but the carpeting piece was raised about 2 1/2" off the floor of the trunk looked kind of weird and I can see crap falling over the edge in the pocket there and possibly under the carpet and into the tire cavity. Although there may have been foam there preventing it from doing that. All and all... I like the drive, I like the powertrain, but I do not like the interior. Even sitting in the fully loaded model on the showroom floor I wasn't impressed.

[gorman]

Hi CSVT#49;

the other day at work, we were talking about a re-run of Top Gear where the new reasonably priced car arrived ( cee'd). Jeremy announced it was only £14,000.

We agreed that we wouldn't waste 14k on a rubbish new car, but instead would buy a top of the range model from years gone by .... in your case the RS Focus. The reasoning was, that we are able to do our own repairs, the car had already depreciated and you had alot more car for your money.

I know you can't just buy a car with your own personal needs in mind ... but it does make you think about the possibilities ..... G.

[bgrogan01]

I rented a 2012 focus and drove it to Florida last year and I agree with you about the interior. I had an auto and I hated there transmission they had in it. It got great mpg but when I floored it.... it took a second before the car would take off. It was like it was delayed.

[SQuAlL-NT]

I rented a 2012 focus and drove it to Florida last year and I agree with you about the interior. I had an auto and I hated there transmission they had in it. It got great mpg but when I floored it.... it took a second before the car would take off. It was like it was delayed.

I rented one too, last year summer in east coast. it was SEL. It feel very slow response and has to use the sport shift to get it going. We were disappointed.
However, after we arrived the hotel, drop down 5 heavy luggages. then, we recognize we loaded the car with 4 adults, and 5 heavy luggages with some laptops and backpacks.
After we dorp all the weight it was very smoothe, fast even not in sport shift mode.
And later we compares rental cars with other relatives , a Charger, Altima, Cott. You know what, the focus was the fastest on both local and freeway.
With the handling, i didn't miss my CSVT at all in those 2 weeks.

[MAZDASPEED]

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/01/25/f...-transmission/

[troll96se]

i just bought a 2012 cruze yesterday, 6m of course...god it makes my csvt feel like its shiffting through a bag of bolts, and my tranny is in great condition and has synchromesh in it. it has no slop, the gears are perfectly placed....and that one thing the svt is missing, a 6th speed for highways.

[CSVT#49]

I never did mention it before, but yea the Focus I drove with the 5spd definitely had some get up and go if I pushed it to 6500rpm.

[BrApple]

I'm disapointed to hear that the 2013 was a let down. I have been very happy with the load SE 2012 I got back in the beginning of Feb. I have found that the interior is very nice and I have been very comfortable in the car. There is plenty of power for a 2L - 4 cylinder engine. It does wake up in the upper RPM range.

You must have driven a S base model. My SE has four power windows and an armrest. Actually I had no idea that the base model came that way.

[Pete D]

It sounds like you were looking at the stripped-down S trim level. Both the sedan and hatch (my choice) can be purchased in the SE trim with a manual.

[BrApple]

It sounds like you were looking at the stripped-down S trim level. Both the sedan and hatch (my choice) can be purchased in the SE trim with a manual.

I would agree also.

Until last month the only way to get a 5-spd was on a S or SE. The Titanium now has a no cost option for a 5-spd, but its price is just to high for a Focus, imho.