what commuter car should i buy

[GreyGhost]

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The auto tranny in the current Focus is a 6-speed dual-clutch transmission with no torque converter (they call it PowerShift). It has nothing whatsoever in common with the 4-speed torque-converter automatic in yours. And yes, Ford had calibration issues with the PowerShift early on, but they are sorted now. I have had three different rental Foci and they have all been fine.

But, the suggestion to take it back is the right one. There should be a TSB to upgrade the software.

Do they give you a sport button yet? I had a rental focus (in 2012) that wasn't so bad, but the transmission always wanted to be 2 (or more) gears too high. Driving up a mountain at 30 km/h in 5th or 6th gear, great idea ford, you only need to drop 3 or 4 gears to accelerate. It had autostick (or whatever ford calls it), but shifts were delayed (as with most of these systems). A sport button which moved the shift points to a more reasonable spot (like 3K) would probably remove my biggest problem with the car.

 

[Brian P]

That's the one thing I don't like about that transmission - at least on the rental-spec version. There is no way to select a gear. You have two choices, "D" which selects the highest possible gear, and "L" which selects the lowest possible. There is a button on the side of the lever which turns on a yellow "downhill" light on the instruments, but I haven't established what this actually does. I did a Deals Gap run with the last Focus rental and just left it in "D". Every corner exit, it dropped three gears, and in the braking zone for the next, it upshifted three gears. 318 corners, 1,908 gearshifts. Not my car ...

For normal people commuting in Ontario who are just going to slap it in "D" and let it do what it wants, this doesn't matter.

It's possible that the more up-market versions have a way to do it. And with the Focus, if you want to row your own gears, just buy a manual one in the first place. (I would.)

 

[Touchit]

SRT8 Charger? Lots of room and will get you from A to B when you need to get there and on time. I do not promise that this car is the best choice for gas mileage...

I drive a Charger with a V6 so not the best choice for gas, but lots of room and very comfortable. I'm 6'2" and 245lbs so about the same build as you. My commute is about 7 minutes if I hit every light so I wasn't overly worried about gas mileage, I went the comfort and features route. I paid $18000 for mine and I have everything but the SRT engine. It's a 2010 and I'm happy with my purchase.

Maybe check out the Mazda 3. My buddy has one and it's okay on gas but not the best on comfort.

Best of luck with your hunt!

 

[kellen]

I just bought a 2014 focus SE plus Black package, leather, heated seats, 4 door hatchback came with full set of winter rims and tires. Gas mileage is good, plenty comfy, build quality is great and zero percent financing. Took the 6 year route and with undercoating and prepaid for 6 years schedule maintenance it was $475 a month with an open loan to pay it sooner. Would recomend to any commuter or friend.

Damn thats a lot of $$$ for a focus! Nice cars though

 

[mimico_polak]

Damn thats a lot of $$$ for a focus! Nice cars though

Yup! I remember when Focus was the cheapest Ford...I guess the Fiesta took that spot. I think it's easy to get up to $25-30k with all the options and goodies. The ST starts at 30k

 

[Bradsma]

My focus has the S mode which does allow you to choose your own shift points for climbing hills and such as mentioned above. I checked a lot of boxes on my focus, I'm sure a plain base model would be cheaper.

 

[Red_Liner740]

Well it is a commuter car, therefore gas mileage is of big concern, hence the aggressive "must be in highest gear ASAP" programming.

I too found that city driving with that dual clutch automatic was finicky...

 

[Jayv]

Well it is a commuter car, therefore gas mileage is of big concern, hence the aggressive "must be in highest gear ASAP" programming.

I too found that city driving with that dual clutch automatic was finicky...

My winter commuter is an old Acura TL, lousy fuel economy compared to a small car but the ride and feel is far superior. I've done the small commuter car in years past, won't go back.

 

[muddysixtysix]

I am about your size ( my one knee is shot too) and I have a 2000 Honda Civic with 350,000 KM. Had it since new and the thing is a tank. Never any problems. Slow as hell but good on gas. Best car I have ever owned. I was thinking of going with the Prius C when the civic calls it quiets.

 

[Paul1000RR]

I just bought a 2014 focus SE plus Black package, leather, heated seats, 4 door hatchback came with full set of winter rims and tires. Gas mileage is good, plenty comfy, build quality is great and zero percent financing. Took the 6 year route and with undercoating and prepaid for 6 years schedule maintenance it was $475 a month with an open loan to pay it sooner. Would recomend to any commuter or friend.

$34,200 for a ford focus? Jesus christ...

What's wrong with your Elantra?
I love my Elantra, lots of room & a good bang for the buck. I need to do more customization.

Oh yeh, it comes with iridium spark plugs stock

Got a brand new elantra rental car. The thing had more squeeks and felt worse than my 11 year old acura el with 250,000 + km on it

 

[Red_Liner740]

My winter commuter is an old Acura TL, lousy fuel economy compared to a small car but the ride and feel is far superior. I've done the small commuter car in years past, won't go back.

I guess you havent ridden in a new Focus...its not an econobox, the ride is nice, its very quiet on the highway, can hardly tell that the engine is running. I've also rented a Toyota Corolla for 4 days and the Focus is head and shoulders above it.

I also dont understand how you're comparing an Acura TL with MSRP of 40K to a Focus of MSRP of 20K.

 

[Jayv]

I guess you havent ridden in a new Focus...its not an econobox, the ride is nice, its very quiet on the highway, can hardly tell that the engine is running. I've also rented a Toyota Corolla for 4 days and the Focus is head and shoulders above it.

I also dont understand how you're comparing an Acura TL with MSRP of 40K to a Focus of MSRP of 20K.

I drove a Focus while on vacation in Florida, so i'm fully aware what they drive like.

Used TL, not new.

 

[xfactor]

Anyone know when the Cosworth is being released in NA? I heard rumblings from Ford couple of years ago but nothing yet.

 

[Roomie]

That would be never.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

 

[cybernation]

One of the best new car values on the planet. Around $24g cdn nicely equipped. Snickety snick 6 speed manual. Reliable and fun to drive. Great gas mileage. Roomy. You won't miss the leather.

it's not a bad car but I had a 2008 accord v6 ex-l and I found it ate gas, and was pretty pricey in the end.. 32k. the one pictured is about the same price after tax etc.

 

[cybernation]

I've thought long and hard about a civic, I had a 2004 lx and I sold it because it was too damn slow. I think it had 127 hp, and I bought a acura rsx. Instead. Then I sold the rsx then I went to a Honda accord v6 2008. Sold that 2 years later for a Honda ridgeline. Now I have a Toyota rav v6. I'm just torn what to buy. I don't think i'll pick up a ford / gm/Hyundai. I'm also not sure if I should pay cash for this commuter vehicle or get a loan. Are the new civics 2012 actually ok for acceleration?

 

[cybernation]

the camry hybrid xle + prius are still better than the other cars on the highway. I know hybrids are best in city, but it looks like they are beating other cars on the highway according to fueleconomy.gov

 

[Brian P]

Are the new civics 2012 actually ok for acceleration?

Define "OK".

The average person in traffic takes at least 15 seconds to reach 100 km/h and often more than 20, and that's no matter how powerful the car is that they drive. I've never owned a car that had more than 120-ish horsepower and I've put the better part of 800,000 km on VW diesels, which are hardly examples of blistering performance, and I've never had an issue keeping up with traffic. All modern cars are "OK for acceleration". Period.

Whether you want more than 90 horsepower in a 3300 lb car (that's what my Passat TDI was) is quite another matter, but to stay with traffic, you don't need it. That 90-horse Passat TDI towed many a motorcycle trailer with two bikes on it to Deals Gap and back.

The main issue with a good many cars is not that they are short on power, but that they are geared reeeeeally tall in the interest of fuel economy, and the transmission upshifts to a high gear as soon as possible in the interest of fuel economy. The diesels do better here; they're still geared tall, but 100 km/h in top gear in a VW TDI has it running at 2000 rpm give or take, and that's right where the torque peak is, so you don't get the typical gas-engine feeling of nothing happening when you step on the accelerator.

The current Civic is two generations past your 2004 model. But they're still tall-geared four-bangers. It will scoot ... but it will take revs in order to do it. The engine is a smidge bigger (1.8 versus 1.7) but I'm sure the car has gained weight. Every gas-engine small car short of the performance-oriented models (VW GTI, Ford Focus ST, Civic SI) is more or less like this. But the performance-oriented models don't get the gas mileage ...

It sounds like you have your mind set on Honda/Toyota. No sense asking us, then. Quite a number of us have told you what the current best-in-class vehicle is, and it's the Ford Focus!

P.S. I'm back home. The Focus got around 37 mpg US (6.4 L/100 km) with me driving it, suburban-type driving.

 

[Brian P]

the camry hybrid xle + prius are still better than the other cars on the highway. I know hybrids are best in city, but it looks like they are beating other cars on the highway according to fueleconomy.gov

The hybrids use Atkinson-cycle operation (basically, cam timing trickery) which helps a little with the highway driving compared to the standard version of the same car. Crunch the numbers to see whether it's economically viable to pay the extra up front for hybrid system ... it probably isn't ...

My beef with both of those cars isn't the hybrid system ... it's the steering. Toyota family-type vehicles typically have what I call video-game steering ... it feels like the steering wheel is mounted on a ball bearing and is not connected to anything; the car miraculously and coincidentally changes direction when you turn it but there is ZERO communication back through the wheel about what is going on, just like a video game. Waaaaaaayyyyy too much power assistance. I had a Nissan Altima (CVT) rental lately that had a variation of this ... it returned to center okay, but the return-to-center force had no discernible connection to traction at the wheels - it almost felt like a spring/damper pulling it back. VW/Audi seem best at getting this right, but the Focus is darn close.

 

[Brian P]

Anyone know when the Cosworth is being released in NA? I heard rumblings from Ford couple of years ago but nothing yet.

You might be thinking about the Ford Focus ST (not Cosworth). It's out now, and it is a real rocketship. 2.0 Ecoboost, plus a different front suspension design to handle the extra power. Obviously it's priced higher than the regular model, but it's not way out of line.

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