<p>I have had the Ford Focus as a rental car several times when traveling on business - and really liked it - to the point that when my Honda Accord wears out in a couple of years, I will seriously consider it. </p>
<p>For me it appears to be a very well designed and made car. Fit and finish were excellent, it had some nice pep, quiet on the freeways at speed, and generally comfortable for 5. With the hybrid option, it seems to me that Ford may have a winner here.</p>
<p>Our paper had an article on the design of the Focus. I liked the display it described. It features a tree, with a variable number of leaves on it. The more fuel conserving you drive, the greener is your displayed tree. The author of the review liked that feature, and felt that it really impacted their driving techniques to conserve gas. (I didn’t read the article that started this thread, so sorry if I’m repeated the obvious.)</p>
<p>The biggest question mark for me with any American built car is–Is it designed and built well enough that it won’t turn into repair nightmare? My Volvo/Ford has been a boondoggle and I would want to see the repair record of any Ford built car before buying one.</p>
<p>I am planning to sell my car, how do i go about doing this?</p>
<p>My beloved station wagon is nearing the end of its days with us as the repairs are becoming too frequent and expensive. This is going on my list of cars to check out. I typically would not look at a first year model but Ford Focus has been around for awhile now.</p>
<p>So, is this Ford actually going to be built in the US? Such as engine, transmission, and body coming from the US, and being assembled in the US?</p>
<p>Being an “American” car and a “Japanese” car no longer describes where a car is built.<br>
There are “foreign” cars that spend more time being built in the US than most “American-made” cars do.</p>
<p>One thing you must remember before you decide to sell your car is that you generally can get a lot more money by selling the car yourself than by trading it with a dealer. To get more tips on how to sell your car at a higher price. Make a visit to [Autoselect.com](<a href="http://autoselect.com/“”>http://autoselect.com/"</a>) you will get more details.</p>
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<p>Agreed. American workers have proven that they can built good cars. Just give them a well-designed car to build!</p>
<p>It is the Ford Fusion Hybrid, not Ford Focus Hybrid.</p>
<p>The Fusion is more like the Camry.</p>
<p>^^^ bomgeedad: You are right - my mistake above (in post 21) - it is the Ford Fusion that I have had as a rental car and really liked…</p>
<p>Cartera - you mentioned that you thought I should be getting better mileage in city driving than highway with my Prius. I don’t think that’s correct; the hybrids excel at city driving <em>compared to gas only cars</em>, not compared to highway driving with a hybrid.</p>
<p>Anyway, my Consumer Reports arrived yesterday. There is an article on the Prius, and a mileage chart for the base touring model, which is what I have. According to the chart, the mileage expectation for the touring model is 42 mpg overall, 34 city driving and 47 highway conditions.</p>
<p>That’s strange. The Prius is designed to get better city mileage - unless they changed that recently or for the touring model. 2008 EPA estimates are 48/45 city/highway. Those estimates have come down over the years to better reflect the average driver. My mileage is much higher than that but mileage has always been higher in the city because the gas engine is used less. It is counter intuitive to me that better mileage occurs on the highway.</p>
<p>yeah, I was surprised by the differences - both experienced in my car, and documented in Consumer Reports. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it is the touring model. I had heard that the tradeoff is a slight loss in fuel efficiency for better handling.</p>
<p>The EPA ratings for the Prius (2008 and 2009) at [Fuel</a> Economy](<a href=“http://www.fueleconomy.gov%5DFuel”>http://www.fueleconomy.gov) shows the milage as catera45 states 48/45 city/highway. It is also my understandting that hybrids do better in the city than the highway because that is when The website is good for looking up the epa ratings for any cars and will also provide epa ratings for older cars as they would be under the new rating system.</p>
<p>Thanks for that link. Note, it doesn’t rate the <em>touring</em> Prius, which reputedly does not quite match the mileage of the regular Prius. I was told by the Toyota dealership that 95% of the Prius models sold in the U.S. are the base model, <em>not</em> the touring model (also called the “Europrean Prius”).</p>
<p>However, even accounting for that, it still seems a very different result from Consumer Reports. Je ne sais pas!</p>
<p>I have a Prius and also get significantly better mileage on the highway than in the city, especially in the winter. “City driving” is hghly variable when it comes to the Prius. If your city driving consists mostly of long (>= half-hour) drives in reasonably warm weather, you will reap the benefit that cartera talks about. But if you drive mostly short hops (a couple of miles here and there) or if the weather is cold, you will find that the engine warm-up cycle – which occurs every time you start the car and also whenever the engine temperature falls below a certain threshold, and during which the gas engine runs regardless of whether the battery is charged – takes up a disproportionate amount of your driving time, and mileage will be reduced accordingly. I average 52-53 mpg on the highway in the summer and 45 or so in the city. In the winter, the figures are more like 50 and 41-42.</p>
<p>There is an after-market plug-in add-on which duplicates the effect of a plug-in hybrid and allows you to run on battery even at start-up but it’s fairly expensive and I’m not sure that it doesn’t affect the warranty on the power plant.</p>
<p>There are a number of websites on which hybrid drivers – some of whom are borderline insane – trade “hypermiling” tips and also swap technical info which is hard to find elsewhere. I can’t link them here, but one I like is called “Prius Chat,” which you can google.</p>
<p>On the leg room issue, my three teen aged daughters fit comfortably in the back seat but I don’t think three defensive linemen would do very well.</p>
<p>I agree that mileage is erratic in the winter. I guess I benefit some from keeping mine in a garage and living in Maryland where I don’t have to use the heat every second in the winter. When I replaced my tires, I went with the Goodyear OEMs too and they help keep the mileage high - but don’t last as long or handle as well so there is a trade off there. I’m procrastinating on my decision as to what to do about new tires now. Some of the folks on the Prius forums are pretty crazed about their mileage. I have over 80k miles on my '05 and the vast majority of that is highway miles.</p>
<p>Check out Obama’s new set of wheels:</p>
<p>[Obama’s</a> wheels: Secret Service to unveil new presidential limo - CNN.com](<a href=“Obama's wheels: Secret Service to unveil new presidential limo - CNN.com”>Obama's wheels: Secret Service to unveil new presidential limo - CNN.com)</p>
<p>It is a “hybrid” limo, but not the kind of “hybrid” we are talking about. 
Isn’t it the ugliest car on the planet?</p>
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<p>[Ford</a> Hybrid Goes 1,445 Miles On One Tank | Autopia](<a href=“http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/04/ford-hybrid-goes-1445-miles-on-one-tank/]Ford”>Ford Hybrid Goes 1,445 Miles On One Tank | WIRED)</p>
<p>$37 to drive 1445 miles. Now that’s an inexpensive ride!</p>
<p>The Fusion Hybrid is getting great reviews from the car mags. Car & Driver called it the “best mid-size hybrid” and says it “wipes the floor with the Camry”–in their opinion, better styling, better performance, better ride, more nimble, more fun to drive. Top safety ratings, too, and Ford’s product quality ratings based on consumer complaints are now almost at the same level as Toyota’s (and well ahead of GM’s and Chrysler’s). Other reviews are similar. I’d love to test-drive one, but my local dealers are not getting many in and they sell out quickly, so it’s hard to find one in stock even to take a spin. It’s not completely an “American car,” however. Assembled in Mexico.</p>
<p>This is either a game-changer for Ford, or the end of the line. I hate to say it but they’d benefit from another spike in gas prices. Sadly, not many people are willing to pay an extra $8,000 for a hybrid unless there’s a rapid payoff in fuel costs. The Prius became fashionable in some circles and is regarded as a successful brand, but a lot of people think Toyota is still losing money on them, and Prius sales are way down now, too.</p>