Ford Focus SEL

Ford deserves to be proud of this car. It is leagues better than the prior Focus, which was a boring POS imo. For one thing, it doesn't have any of the slab-sided, boxy styling that plagues most American economy cars like Cobalts, Avengers, Calibers, etc. The catfish grill might be a little overdone, but the rest of the body is excellent.

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This SEL version has a leather-wrapped steering wheel with a couple of awesome “bulges” at 10 and 2 o’clock, the way all steering wheels should. Like many Fords, there are adjustable LED mood lights for the footwells, map pockets, cupholder, and door releases. The windshield wipers are cool, because they sweep in opposite directions like a Mercedes. And like a good European car, the turn signals give 3 signals if you blip it for lane changes. The only shortcoming is that the basic seats don't have any lumbar adjustment, but there are better seats available.

The Microsoft “In-Sync” system is ok I guess, if you get off on such things. There is also a bigger system available called My Touch.

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The climate control setup is very good --- It has dual climate zones first of all, and it doesn’t turn on the AC compressor unless you push the AC button, unlike some cars that try to make that decision for you.


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The steering is VERY good for an economy car. Firm, accurate, etc. Handling is very decent as well. The upcoming Focus ST will be even better. As far as ride quality goes, it’s decent over small bumps, but over larger bumps it bottoms out and sometimes forces the car to step out, revealing the economy origins of the setup.

The brakes are a little too abrupt and over-boosted, IMO.

The tranny is a 6-speed auto, which means good acceleration if you're flooring it, but if you’re just taking it easy, the first 3 gearchanges feel kind of confused & random. It also has a Sport mode which provides higher rpm shifts, and downshifts when you brake.

Overall, I see no point in buying a Fusion over this car. The only thing the Fusion does better is ride quality. I doubt if it offers much more room inside. Plus the Fusion's dashboard sucks IMO.

Chevy Malibu for a week.

Seats weren't terrible, though I'm pretty sure both front seats had assprints in them by the time we returned it. Pretty sure it had a 4banger in it, we were getting ~30mpg highway, with <200miles city driving mixed in. Plenty of room for my shortness and 2 tall male type people. Power ports front and rear so we didn't have to argue over who was charging what. Could've used a rear AC/vent thingie, but the child back there wears a coat all the time anyway, so it didn't REALLY matter.

Easy to drive, satellite radio subscription was still active, woohoo! There was a phone button on the rear view mirror, and it looked like it was set up for bluetooth, but I couldn't get it to pairing mode, and didn't care enough to get the book and find out. Boyfriend was NOT a fan of the soft blue lights that shine down on the center console area, but I liked them.

Saved me probably $100 or better in gas compared to my truck, and has a damn working radio :lol: (that's another story).

Ford mustang for the week, will provide a writeup next week, but I will say the v8 has some big balls and it took a fairly tight on ramp starting at 40 and getting a little squirley around 80 when I roasted onto the highway

You sure it was a V8? Seems like most rental places would only stock the base-model V6.

M beight the v6, but it's st least as powerful as the last model v8, if not more powerful

I loved the Malibu I got. Small 4 banger + 6 speed with paddle shifters = fun!

The new v6 is more powerfull than the prev v8. My neighbor has one for his wife and it's real nice.

I did a small burnout last night, now the car smells like burnt rubber

dammitsomuch, I got the wrong one :lol:

ours had a "manual mode" but the gear "shifter" was on the regular shifter... and was freaking broken. so it was just a plain-ol automatic

Many are stocking the GT model as well, for the "sports enthusiast".

I think Hertz has some special branded ones for awhile too.