2008 Ford Focus SES: Parting Shots

I'd say middle of the road pretty much sums it up. If it didn't offer Sync there'd be even less talking points.

Still my first car was a '99 Escort ZX2 and I loved that thing. It never really gave me trouble. But then I bought a Honda and knew that this is what an engine is supposed to feel, sound, and perform like.

I haven't recently driven a Ford other than my brother's '08 Mustang, but I still like Ford, and hope to purchase one in the future.

Surprised that most of these comments where fairly positive coming from spoiled editors used to driving around automobiles more expensive than 10 Foci.

It's a competent, cheap workmobile. Glad to see that it wasn't needlessly impugned for being just that.

I can't think of one reason to dislike this car, but there's nothing really to motivate me to like it either. The only thing that makes it stand out from the cheap, economical pack is SYNC. But if you take that out of the equation, The Elantra is just as good (and newer), there's always the Civic and Corolla (nothing really bad about those either), and even the Fit, Versa, and SX4 compete for your commuter car dollars.

Again, without SYNC, it doesn't stand out. And if that's the only thing that makes this car special, then I'd take my dollars elsewhere, because I don't need SYNC.

Thanks for the ZX3 love, Erin! My wife's car is an 02 SVT Focus and she can't bring herself to part with it. She says it's by far the longest she's ever owned a car. It's definitely one of the most under-appreciated cars by the general public (it got nothing but good press back in the day.)

The Elantra and Fit are clearly superior choices, but the feature content of the SX4, Corolla and Civic don't match up to the Focus in terms of value.

WooHoo! My winning caption!

I agree with Oldham 100%. The Focus is a lot like my Cobalt coupe. It isn't the most sophisticated car on the market, nor particularly interesting to drive, but it is cheap to buy, cheap to run, cheap to maintain, almost never goes wrong, and gets you to where you need to be with zero fuss. When I bought my Cobalt I was at a stage in my life where that was entirely what I needed in a car. I'm thankfully in a different place now, but I won't deny that for many people that is all you need. My Cobalt was my college commuter car and took me on those long drives to the distant internship. For that it was perfect.

Ahhh... the Focus. I remember the door handle falling off, guessing the Stig was in there and getting an honorable mention on the caption contest above. I'm glad to here it served the Fleet well :)

"Farewell, humble friend. I'll see you on the other side."??

a bit melodramatic for a car that doesn't inspire passion. and what's "the other side??" someplace both cars and humans go when they've departed?

"What's the other side?"

Riverside, of course.

So it looks like the Focus served its purpose. Granted it's not anywhere near as fun to drive as a Mazda 3 or a Civic Si, it served its purpose well. A reliable, economical source of transportation for those to utilize as an appliance not a show piece.

IMO the Focus is a solid 4th place behind the Mazda 3, VW Rabbit and Honda Civic.

It did everything asked of it and did it reliably!! There are several cars in the fleet..all of them more expensive..... that cant say that. It was and is the right product at the right time and it is selling like crazy. Sounds like the perfect economy car to me. Now get a Lincoln MKS or a Taurus SHO....please please no more BMWs.

I second bodyblue ^^. Flipping through the old posts, it's kinda funny how the predominant sentiment slowly evolved from pure derision to a sorta grudging respect.

We just drove a Focus rental all over Montana's Glacier Park and it was fine. It could do with a little more power but handling is actually very good. It's too bad they dropped the hatchback, though.

Seeing that final picture makes me eternally glad that I've never had to drive or own one.

Whenever I feel a little sad about this car leaving the fleet... I'll just go out to my '08 Focus Sedan and drive it in memory of this car :) I can also confirm the solid reliability of this vehicle and the manual transmission makes it even more fun to drive.

I guess this will be my last chance to comment on how I think most people completely miss the point when it comes to this car. I realize that the Edmunds staff enjoys their Audi's and BMW's, but this is an ECONOMY car. It's supposed to be inexpensive.

According to the wrap up article, you guys paid just under $18K then you proceed to complain about the automatic transmission and extraneous interior lighting options. You do realize that you could have gone with the stick shift and passed on the fancy lighting for an even lower out the door price (maybe you don't). As a matter of fact, you could have selected the (still sporty) SE model for less money and still found one with SYNC.

I bought a used silver 2008 Focus SE coupe (13K miles, auto trans, no SYNC) from a dealer back in June for a few hundred dollars less than the fire sale price Edmunds was asking for theirs. What I got was a solid, safe, comfortable, quiet, refined, dependable, fuel-efficient vehicle. In mostly city driving, I am averaging 34 MPG. In short, it is the best car I've ever owned.

A lot of the reviewers keep talking about the lack of passion and inspiration. I'm not sure why anyone would be seeking such things from an automobile. IMO you either already possess these qualities or you don't. Maybe the problem is not in your cars, but in yourselves.

Shortly after I purchased my Focus, a friend of mine bought a brand new Honda Civic LX coupe for only about twice what I spent. Each and every time we go for a spin in his car I'm reminded that I have the better vehicle. The Civic has less headroom and legroom, the seats are less comfortable, it's noisier (especially on the highway), the ride is rougher, the smaller displacement engine constantly needs to be revved for even modest power as the automatic transmission perpetually hunts between gears, and the rear bench doesn't offer the 60/40 fold option when trying to expand trunk space (which, I admit, probably doesn't really matter since the rear seat is pretty much uninhabitable anyway). Oh yeah, almost forgot, it also did not perform as well as the Focus Coupe in recent crash tests.

In redesigning the Focus, Ford utilized an already proven chassis to keep costs down while concentrating on improvements to NVH, fuel economy and emissions. I'd say they were successful. Plus, they somehow managed to make the Focus feel more like a mid-size vehicle, whereas the Civic is only priced like one.

With its comfortable seats and smooth ride I can enjoy driving my Focus on long stretches of highway for hours at a time, but thanks to its light weight, quick steering and fully independent suspension, it's still composed enough that I can handle charging through curvy backroads with confidence. For me, this all adds up to a very fun to drive car.

Then again, what do I know? Perhaps I should more seriously consider all the virtues the Civic has to offer. After all, their owners are always waxing poetic about quality plastic interiors or praising their state of the art, high-tech key fobs. Maybe if I didn't have such warped priorities and spent more time fondling my dashboard instead of simply driving, I too could learn to appreciate such passionate and inspirational automotive minutia (not to mention, of course, the extra cost associated with such details).

Until that happens, however, I'll try not to gloat as my friend complains about the vibrations and buzzing emanating from somewhere in the cockpit of his Civic every time he goes over a bump or whenever he needs to use a pillow to get comfortable in the driver's seat.