Ah, finally a good break! We got the chance today to testdrive a brand-new Ford Focus 1.6 Trend (European mk2, same platforum as Mazda3+Volvo S40/V50 and probably C30 as well). I could drive it naturally from the getgo! It may be modern, comfortable and sophisticated but I could feel exactly how much throttle to use for a normal relaxed start, I could hear the engine even in slow driving so I could get hints of speed changes and engine-strain, I could feel the clutch point, the brakepedal feel was natural and re-assuring (in sharp contrast to the Subaru on all counts sadly) and best of all, my mom could get in and out of it and sat comfortably (and that's better than the Peugeot) and we could get a good trade-in price for our old car! I must say thoug, it's weird that a Golf-class car is listed to be no less than 184cm wide without mirrors (72.4 inches)! That's a full 9cm wider than most cars in it's class and 19cm wider than the 206 and 20cm wider than the old Ford Orion (which the Focus sedan is actually the successor of, with a few generations inbetween my model and this of course).
Btw, we looked at a Golf too, but it's more expensive, and the lower part of the body under the doors sticks out a fair bit like the 206 which is a bit of an obstacle when getting in and out, also for me, the Focus however was better and for the price of a 5-door Golf hatchback we can get 4-door Golf sedan which is one heck of an elegant car (in contrast to the original mk1 Focus sedan), and you can't go wrong with well over 500 liters of trunk space
We never got a chance to see the Honda Civic (the european model is different inside and out but still very wild but it was in the pricerange and the fuel economy should be good), but the Mazda3 and Opel Astra were nixxed from the list and I doubt the old model Toyota Corolla can hold a candle to the Focus mk2. So now we're just waiting for the new counties to get their paperwork in order. Until now Denmark used 3 levels, State, large regional counties and then smaller counties but now it's being remade and we'll just have state and regional counties now, but there are a lot of things to get done so no idea how many weeks or months we're going to wait, and in the meantime our car looses value and the Focus will upgrade to a new equipment level from january that has flat pushbuttom dual-zone climate control, front foglights, rear power windows etc. etc. and I don't need any of that and I'd prefer the turn button ventilation too and the normal A/C is fine to us.
The attached picture shows a used Focus trend but it's identical to the one we want/can get right down to the hubcaps. I think that's the colour called Tonic since the normal silver is brighter and more grey while this is blueish tinted, which is actually quite like my old Orion's Strato Silver colour
I'm not sure but I think the picture is in a bad perspective but the car is 449cm (176.8in) long and 150cm (59.1in) tall for reference and the std. wheelsize is 195/65-15 with optional 205/55-16, 205/50-17 and 225/40-18 (I'll stick to 16" wheels and some great looking but easily cleaned Ford alloy wheels). I think it might be delievered with Pirelli P6 tires, at least another Trend sedan that was to be delievered from the dealer had that.
Frank
