Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General 2005 Ford Focus

Looks a little better than they do now at least. I'd like to see the hatchback.

Zetec family of I-4's dies after 2004 model year. The new Duratec I4 family is 2.0, 2.3. No relation to the Duratec V6 and any other 2.0L or 2.3L engines Ford has sold before.

^^^ He's correct

If anybody wants to read in depth about it head over to focaljet.com forums and read about it under Focus News and Ford news. For more info on the Mazda 3 look under the Triospeed Garage.

We'll be getting a redesign a la post 98 Contour. The earliest we'll see the C1 platform would be 2007, and I doubt it's going to happen. All production is going to Wayne, which already produces the current platform, not the C1.

The Mexican plant used to build the ZX3/ZX5 and SVTFs will be used to build the new midsize sedan.

The thing that I find baffling about this is that the new 5 door Mazda 3, based off the new platform, only costs the same ammount as a loaded ZX5 which has less power, less options and despite the facelift, is an older platform. Hooray for Ford.

The redesigned interior shares none of the originality present in the current design. Yes the current design is wierd, but the new interior reminds me an aweful lot of my $50 Micra.

Why would you buy this:





When you can get this for pretty much the same price?





We all know how well this "new" Focus will be marketed too

The interior, especially the dash controls, remind me alot of my Mazda Protege. The 2000 and on Focus really had a crappy interior.

hey...i like it a lot more than the current focus..am i weird? ha
but really, i think it's a little more masculine looking, the hatch could be cool

Thank you Honkeytonk! Not the same as the current US focus, but same as the new euro focus. Still FORD underpinnings. And, the 2.0 and 2.3 used in the 3 will also be used in the '05 US focus as well. There is definitely more than just corporate ownership being shared . . .

And that said, the 3 is infinitely sexier and cooler than the current or new focus design wise. And with the 2.3 it will match or beat an FSVT in a straight line, and only slightly fall behind it in handling! And that's just the base model, wait till they come out with a Mazdaspeed car!

Ford is not doing a very good job of saving itself, is it?

If I was a shareholder and saw those pics I'd cut my losses and sell all my stock today. That is not even close to what it's going to take to compete in the growing compact-to-mid size sedan/hatch market.

Ford's saving grace is its' 1/3 stake in Mazda. At least they'll make some money when Mazda takes all their market share from them. Only die-hard Ford buyers will buy this POS when they can buy a 3, and if this is any indication of what Ford is doing, I wouldn't expect the Futura to compete against the 6 -- which would be an extremely hard thing to do in the first place.