Ford Focus Mark III

AugustusMinimus

While I'm sure that this car will be built sturdy and will have the best road handling in it's class, I simply cannot get over it's looks.

To me, the Mark I was a design revolution. Far more angular than other similarly priced cars at the time, it also brought with it, the use of more completely flush panels, especially around the bumber area.

I didn't like the Mark II too much at the start, but I thought the mid-life restyling did a lot for it, especially with the front redesign.

The Mark III though I find hideous. Ford hit gold with the new Fiesta. I love the design. The new Focus though seems as if they decided to base the design on the Fiesta, but then thought that they had to change it enough to disguise the fact.

The gap between the bonnet and front bodywork is horrible. The square grill with two triangle on the side even worse. For me, the lines just don't work with the side view (bonnet looks wrong compared to the rest of the car). And last but not least, is the mad rear light cluster on the hatch back which seems to have been designed by a 5 year old with a crayon.

The rear on the saloon is a lot better but Ford seems to have complete ripped off recent Audi designs with the rear light cluster.

Have Ford made a major error here or will the middle classes of Ireland flock to buy this year like the previous two models ?

Looks like a C4 from mid 00s crossed with a Kuga. 'twill sell in it's droves due to the badge, just like the Mark 4 Escort did which was a total heap of sh1t. Loads of Ford customers wouldn't even test drive another vehicle.

Will the European one be the same as that though?

AugustusMinimus

RoverJames wrote: »

Looks like a C4 from mid 00s crossed with a Kuga. 'twill sell in it's droves due to the badge, just like the Mark 4 Escort did which was a total heap of sh1t. Loads of Ford customers wouldn't even test drive another vehicle.

Will the European one be the same as that though?

Very minor details I'd say.

The bumpers will be fully body coded anyways.

Henry Ford III

It's a world car, and their will be only negligable differences between the various markets.

It'll probably be a very good car too, like all Foci.

p.s. The 1.4 "dirt" version has been discontinued

Leonard Hofstadter

Apart from the way it drives, it is meant to have lost a lot of the poise and agility that made the outgoing car stand out. That said, it is still supposed to be a decent drivers car, but not the really special driving experience the Mk1 and Mk2 Foci were.

YouTookMyName

Had a 2002 Mk1.5 Focus, back in the day. One of the best cars i've ever driven, would drive it for miles for no reason.

Strange looking car that, won't really be a focus with the lights beside the boot window.

YouTookMyName

YouTookMyName wrote: »

Had a 2002 Mk1.5 Focus, back in the day. One of the best cars i've ever driven........

Seriously?
Try and take a spin in an FTO or a Prelude, you'll be in heaven if the Focus impressed you that much.

YouTookMyName

RoverJames wrote: »

Seriously?
Try and take a spin in an FTO or a Prelude, you'll be in heaven if the Focus impressed you that much.

No one i know owns a FTO or a prelude,:P:P.

R.O.R

Invited to drive it on the 24th March and definately not missing this like I did the Volvo 1.6t.
Base model is very base. Edge version is a bit below current style, zetec looks good then titanium above that.

1.6d in 95 and 115ps and a couple other engine options I can't remember.

Have full details in work so if anyone has questions post them up and I'll try to answer on monday.

dr.fuzzenstein

Henry Ford III wrote: »

p.s. The 1.4 "dirt" version has been discontinued

:eek::eek:That's like 80% of the market beside the Diesel in Ireland!
1.4 boggo spec has got to be the bread and butter in this country, it's like deleting chips and mash from a pub menu.
What will the grannies and Captain Slow buy now?

bazz26

captainspeed wrote: »

Apart from the way it drives, it is meant to have lost a lot of the poise and agility that made the outgoing car stand out. That said, it is still supposed to be a decent drivers car, but not the really special driving experience the Mk1 and Mk2 Foci were.

Afaik the new MkIII has switched to electric power steering over the hydraulic steering of the older models which gave better driver feedback.

On the new model, don't like the styling around the rear lights, they are too big and that fuel filler flap is just too much in your face.

Mc Love

I think the rear light cluster is like the new megane - something a ford car salesman wasnt too impressed with me saying

Mc Love

Looks good here: Still undecided on shape though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjlVbLf-dq4

Henry Ford III

Mc Love

Did you get to see it already?

Henry Ford III

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Is that one lhd ?

VolvoMan

This is what happens when you let accountants run car companies. The present guy who is head of Ford isn't really a 'car guy' and found it hard to understand why Ford had different models for different markets. He has therefore decided to globalise each new model launch and the following Mondeo will be next.

This strategy is going to be an epic failure of course. The Americans like their cars cheap and nasty, whereas the Europeans are willing to pay that little bit more for things like better interior quality and multi-link rear suspension. Volkswagen have even realised this and have now therefore decided to differentiate their US Passat and Jetta models from the cars we get here.

VolvoMan

VolvoMan wrote: »

This strategy is going to be an epic failure of course.

I dunno about that, the blue oval brigade will just buy it.

Mc Love

RoverJames wrote: »

I dunno about that, the blue oval brigade will just buy it.

I dont know about that - a lot of focus owners are disappointed with the new "globalisation" of the model range.

Same as me - my opinion might change once I see it in the flesh.

Schorpio

VolvoMan wrote: »

Volkswagen have even realised this and have now therefore decided to differentiate their US Passat and Jetta models from the cars we get here.

I know that the American's have a very different taste in cars than we do here, but that doesn't mean that they get the worse car.

Personally, I've only seen pictures of the American version of the Passat, but I think both externally and internally it's a far nicer looking car than the Passat we're getting here. The one we're getting just looks like a re-hashing of the old version.

Mc Love

Mc Love wrote: »

I dont know about that - a lot of focus owners are disappointed with the new "globalisation" of the model range.

But are you one of the sheep who has never bought anything but Ford stuff? The mark5 Escort was an awful heap of sh1t but they sold in their droves. One of my Uncles has never driven anything but Fords, started off with Anglias, then Escorts, then Focus', he has a Fiesta now as he's 65+ and reckoned the Fiesta was fine sizewise. He's one of these dudes that bought a new car every 2/3 years. He's not an ex Ford worker either so he doesn't even have that excuse :pac:

C4Kid

a lot of focus owners are disappointed with the new "globalisation" of the model range.

In my opinion the newer fords are more ugly with the big wide grilles. I will probably buy an older focus at some stage. The fiesta was Ok but that new focus is horrible. I think that such a gaping hole should be left for jet engines, not cars.

Personally, I've only seen pictures of the American version of the Passat, but I think both externally and internally it's a far nicer looking car than the Passat we're getting here. The one we're getting just looks like a re-hashing of the old version.

I've seen videos and pictures of US mk4 Golfs like mine and theres so many extra switches for extras You couldn't get on them here.

Henry Ford III

RoverJames wrote: »

But are you one of the sheep who has never bought anything but Ford stuff? The mark5 Escort was an awful heap of sh1t but they sold in their droves. One of my Uncles has never driven anything but Fords, started off with Anglias, then Escorts, then Focus', he has a Fiesta now as he's 65+ and reckoned the Fiesta was fine sizewise. He's one of these dudes that bought a new car every 2/3 years. He's not an ex Ford worker either so he doesn't even have that excuse :pac:

More OTT rubbish.

Yes some of the fwd Escorts were indeed pretty poor efforts (with a few notable higher performance exceptions - RS Turbo, RS2000, and Cosworths) and it showed in the sales figures too.

Ford has a reasonably loyal customer base, but it's insulting to label them as "sheep". The products are generally pretty good & sometimes exceptional, and running costs and parts are more than competitive.

Henry Ford III

Henry Ford III wrote: »

More OTT rubbish.

.

Where is the OTT rubbish? The mark 5 Escort was a heap of **** which sold in great numbers primarily to folks who had a Ford before. I don't see how that's remotely over the top, it's quite factual actually.

All the comments about my Uncle are completely truthful and there are loads out there like him, I fail to see how it's OTT. Referring to those of the Ford customer base who have been loyal to the brand over the 80s and 90s as sheep is hardly abusive or out of the way.

Did you ever part with your hard earned for a new Mark 5 Escort?

Regarding much of the fwd efforts being poor, the boggo Sierra was a lump of muck too, much of the yokes wouldn't start in the winter.

PS - any update on the question I asked about how my Fiesta comments made me out to be jealous?

Mc Love

From what I have seen most yanks actually prefer the shape of the 2/2.5 mark focus - where did they get the idea that this is the progression for one of the best selling cars in the irish and british isles?

BrianD3

RoverJames wrote: »

Where is the OTT rubbish? The mark 5 Escort was a heap of **** which sold in great numbers primarily to folks who had a Ford before. I don't see how that's remotely over the top, it's quite factual actually.

All the comments about my Uncle are completely truthful and there are loads out there like him, I fail to see how it's OTT. Referring to those of the Ford customer base who have been loyal to the brand over the 80s and 90s as sheep is hardly abusive or out of the way.

Did you ever part with your hard earned for a new Mark 5 Escort? :pac:

The 1980-1990 Escorts were also poor. Rust prone, unreliable, unsafe (even by the low standards of the day) and with few plus points. The Sierra was better but was also a ruster as was the Fiesta up until the introduction of the 2002 model. Ford Ka mk1, yet another ruster with an ancient engine design.

Even the "good" Fords i.e. the Mondeo and Focus are not worthy of the praise lavished on them by the UK motoring press. Some pretty poor engines in them. Average/poor performance in the ADAC breakdown statistics and still with a crap 2 year warranty in the Irish market.

I tend to make allowances for the mark 4 to be honest, I only recently found out that it was not a mark 3 :pac: I was close to buying a Mark 4 as my first car but thankfully I worked in a motor factors at the time and all the customers (trade lads) I asked told me that it was an awful heap of a thing for a 1990 car. There was something decent looking about the shape of them.

Stinicker

Forget
Or
Repair
Daily

Leonard Hofstadter

Good to see the "I won't buy it because it's a Ford"/"all Fords are rubbish" brigade out in force in this thread:rolleyes:!

Seriously, Ford have been producing class leading cars for the past 18 years (the Mk1 Mondeo by all accounts ripped up the rulebook and showed it was possible to make a decent family saloon and Ford have kept up the trend ever since), and even the new globalised Mk3 Focus is still meant to be a good driver's car as well. Autocar doesn't seem to think it's up to much with regards to driving pleasure, but everyone else seems to think it's still a great car to drive, especially if you choose one of the Ecoboost petrols.

A Ford may not have the soft touch plastics of a VW but a Ford will still be working long after a VW has had yet another electrical fault or engine and gearbox trouble.

And so what if people are sheep? What's wrong with buying the best? A lot of people in this country specialise in buying awful drivel (just look at all the Toyotas that have been sold this year), so why begrudge those that actually like to buy decent cars for themselves?

ShadowHearth

YouTookMyName wrote: »

Had a 2002 Mk1.5 Focus, back in the day. One of the best cars i've ever driven, would drive it for miles for no reason.

Strange looking car that, won't really be a focus with the lights beside the boot window.

I agree. It's not a focus if lights are not beside the boot. It was a focus signature which really looked well! Why they ditched it?

I would prefer older focuses. This new One has too much stuff going on... Lime there. Curve over here. Triangle squeezed here.... Jesus sitting here!

I never said all Fords were rubbish did I? Reckoning Fords are the best is a tad OTT though.

Henry Ford III

Morning all.

1/. Sierra was a groundbreaking car - it took over from the Cortina in 1982 with a new aerodynamic shape, and independent rear suspension. It's peers at that time had slab styling and live rear axles. It drove very well. The high performance models were legendary and still retain extremely high values.

2/. For what it's worth I had a new MkIV Escort (1998) 1.3 ohv, 3 door, 4 speed as a company car. It was slow but handled ok. It lived a hard life.

3/. Ford have been making interesting cars from the 1960's. MkI Lotus Cortinas for example. In the wider market MkI Escorts were superb at the time. Try buying a true rarity these days like an original Twin Cam or RS1600. You'll need very deep pockets. Ford has always produced "blue collar performance cars" even in the fwd Escort ranges (MkIII-VI).

4/. Mondeo's were excellent cars from the off and still are.

Just to balance the debate a little.

maidhc

Sitec wrote: »

Very true, the Mondeo 93-96 shape was an absolute heap of dirt yet still hyped up by the GB motoring press as "The Best In Class".

That is nonsense anyway. I (still) have two. One with 250k miles and no breakdown ever and no work ever done to the powertrain (i.e. engine, clutch...) and one with only 50k miles from new.

The Mk1 Mondeo was fanstatic car to drive, with excellent engines for its time bar perhaps the diesel. Also served as the underpinnings for the focus, with the "control blade" being a simplified version of the rear suspension of the Mondeo estate.

yupyup7up

I've recently bought a 1.6 2007 focus petrol and I love it! I'd seriously consider this Focus as a replacement eventually. Especially the 1.6 turbo petrol 150 bhp and 48 mpg!

maximoose

Not mad on the shape of it, the back lights are horrible IMO but at least it's a little different. A lot of new hatchbacks look far too similar.

Mc Love

yupyup7up wrote: »

I've recently bought a 1.6 2007 focus petrol and I love it! I'd seriously consider this Focus as a replacement eventually. Especially the 1.6 turbo petrol 150 bhp and 48 mpg!

Sure it has the power but the diesels still out rank it on mpg and the same size engine still has lower CO2 emissions

Henry Ford III

Henry Ford III wrote: »

2/. For what it's worth I had a new MkIV Escort (1998) 1.3 ohv, 3 door, 4 speed as a company car. It was slow but handled ok. It lived a hard life.

They must have thought a lot of you to give you a thing that was hanging around somewhere for 10 years before it was registered :pac:

maidhc

maidhc wrote: »

The Mk1 Mondeo was fanstatic car to drive, with excellent engines for its time bar perhaps the diesel.

The 1.6 was 90bhp and felt like there was less there.

Mc Love wrote: »

Sure it has the power but the diesels still out rank it on mpg and the same size engine still has lower CO2 emissions

Awful seeing comments like that on a motoring forum, let's buy the diesel so and save €4.50/week

yupyup7up

Mc Love wrote: »

Sure it has the power but the diesels still out rank it on mpg and the same size engine still has lower CO2 emissions

yeah of course, but I dont do a lot of mileage so I'd have awful DPF, DMF etc. problems. This is why I bought petrol.

Dr. Loon

It doesn't look like a Focus anymore. Looks crap. I love the Focus by the way, have had a MK1 and 2.5. I initially didn't like the MK2 design, then the updated design I quite like. Which I currently drive. I'd like to see it in the flesh, and test drive it, but I'm not liking this new design at all. Pity.

Henry Ford III

RoverJames wrote: »

They must have thought a lot of you to give you a thing that was hanging around somewhere for 10 years before it was registered :pac:

I was clearly way ahead of my time

VolvoMan

Schorpio wrote: »

I know that the American's have a very different taste in cars than we do here, but that doesn't mean that they get the worse car.

They do get the worse car, but for a knockdown price.

I think the sole reason Fords have been praised in recent years is their handling. I don't think there was a single thing unique about the Mk2 Focus other than it supposedly drove well.

maidhc

VolvoMan wrote: »

I think the sole reason Fords have been praised in recent years is their handling. I don't think there was a single thing unique about the Mk2 Focus other than it supposedly drove well.

A fundmentally important quality for a car!

Mr.David

I've seen them in the flesh at the Ford engineering works in Cologne. Awful looking yoke, especially from the back.

Mk1 - superb, pissed all over the Golf IV.
Mk2 - decent, good to drive (although not as epic as some journos seem to claim )


I know there are an awful lot of VW bashers on motors and often for good reason too but I know if I had to pick a Mk3 Focus or Golf which I'd choose!

maidhc

Mr.David wrote: »

I've seen them in the flesh at the Ford engineering works in Cologne. Awful looking yoke, especially from the back.

Mk1 - superb, pissed all over the Golf IV.
Mk2 - decent, good to drive (although not as epic as some journos seem to claim )


I know there are an awful lot of VW bashers on motors and often for good reason too but I know if I had to pick a Mk3 Focus or Golf which I'd choose!

Mk III Golf?

I think I agree that there has been a bit of a decline over the lifetime of the Focus.

You know better than me, but is Ford feeling the departure of Richard Parry-Jones?

VolvoMan

maidhc wrote: »

A fundmentally important quality for a car!

I think "good to drive" is quite a subjective thing. Not everyone wants to feel every road imperfection through the steering.

I find Fords in general to be cheap ass things built down to a price and loved by the British motoring press because they get fantastic holiday package deals in return.

Henry Ford III

VolvoMan wrote: »

I think "good to drive" is quite a subjective thing. Not everyone wants to feel every road imperfection through the steering.

I find Fords in general to be cheap ass things built down to a price and loved by the British motoring press because they get fantastic holiday package deals in return.

Can you substantiate this claim?

VolvoMan

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Can you substantiate this claim?

Well yeah, most of the Autocar roadtest team look quite portly. It's obviously all from those fancy Ford press launches and three course dinners.

maidhc

VolvoMan wrote: »

Well yeah, most of the Autocar roadtest team look quite portly. It's obviously all from those fancy Ford press launches and three course dinners.

I think all the manufacturers do that, and for the most part road testers are a sheepish bunch.

The reality is though that Ford make cars that are good to drive, reliable and very cheap to fix when they go wrong. Not the best "specced" cars in the world, and their interiors are not the greatest in the world, but there is a reason why Rover who did the latter are dead and Ford are not.

And while referred to earlier in this treat as not being a "car man" Alan Mulally is one hell of a CEO in keeping Ford US from following the path of GM and having the prescience to sell Jag/LR/Volvo at the better end of the market and concentrate on building the core brand. He did just as well at Boeing before he joined ford.

Spec and interiors have f all to do with what happened Rover.

dr.fuzzenstein

RoverJames wrote: »

Spec and interiors have f all to do with what happened Rover.

It's all Clarkson's fault!