Cars.com Faceoff: 2008 Ford Focus, 2008 Honda Civic, 2009 Toyota Corolla

In honor of graduation season, Cars.com took three of the most popular compact sedans on the market and decided which one should get a big bow put on top. Even if you’re a Hoops McCann and no one gets you a car for your hard work, these three are sensible first-car choices for the newly employed, too. But which one takes the cake? See if the Honda Civic can stand up to the redesigned Ford Focus and all-new Toyota Corolla.

Cars.comparison: Graduation Gifts

Frugal Compacts Add Up with Basic Options

The compact car segment is no new place to find low base prices and a good deal on a new car. After having three major players in our hands over the past few weeks, including the 2009 Toyota Corolla, 2008 Honda Civic and 2008 Ford Focus sedans, we were scraping together specs and options to evaluate the competition. When we started to compare the cars, something surprised us. Mostly optional features that we think are necessary for a comfortable and safe daily driver — automatic transmission, air conditioning, power windows, cruise control, keyless entry, power locks, antilock brakes, side airbags and a CD player — have a funny way of changing each car’s relative value.

New Ford Focus a Surprise Success

I’ll admit it: I did not think the redesigned Ford Focus would be a huge success. I mean, just look at it. There are some interesting angles, especially on the sedan, but come on, the coupe? It’s a dog. My old Escort had better lines.

Still, in our current economic surroundings the little economy car with a small price tag and high mpg is doing well. How well? The plant where it’s built in Wayne, Mich. is ramping up to produce 30% more Focus this year.

I reviewed the new Focus in November and thought the interior was well done. The Sync entertainment system is a genius idea actually implemented properly. Still, the Honda Civic is a far better choice, not to mention the other solid competition from Toyota, Hyundai and Mazda.

In any case, the Focus just passed the Chevy Cobalt in sales last month. Now there’s a car I’m even more shocked to see selling well — tepid economy or no.

Ford to build 30% more of its Focus small cars this year (USA Today)

Friday Fleet Notes: 4.11.08

This week's fleet notes takes on two competing hybrids, the Honda Civic Hybrid and the current champ, the Toyota Prius. In addition the Ford Focus makes an appearance, so if you're interested in how our staff felt about the Sync system, this might be a Friday fleet note you don't want to miss.

Toyota Prius

• Having driven a rental Prius in Denver a few months back, I was dreading the worst: an uncomfortable ride, a whiny engine at freeway speeds, a brake pedal that felt like a steel rod pressing up against the tires. Boy, was I surprised. This non-rental Prius could not have been more different. It was a much smoother ride. The engine, even at 70 mph, purred quietly. The brakes still felt a little funky, but I wasn’t in any doubt about their abilities and I still managed to get around 50 mpg. This experience gets the Prius off my hit list. — Patrick Olsen, Editor-in-Chief

Ford Incentives Up, Include Specialty Models

April has begun, and Ford has updated its incentives for the rest of the month. There are some very interesting deals to be had. We’ll break down all the models soon enough, but the most interesting tidbit of information for car enthusiasts is that both the Ford Mustang Bullitt and the upcoming Ford F-150 Chip Foose Edition are getting cash back just like their plain-jane brethren. 

The 2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt is already on sale, and the Bullitt package costs an additional $3,310 on top of the cost of a regular Ford Mustang GT. Rebates range from $1,000 to $1,500, with an additional $1,000 offered in some regions if you go with Ford Credit to purchase the vehicle.*

Depending on where you live, that means you could pay just a $810 premium to have the special edition, which adds horsepower and suspension tweaks.

The 2008 Ford F-150 Chip Foose Edition isn’t on sale yet, but the roughly $55,000 sport truck will come to market over the next few months with between $3,000 and $3,500 cash back (plus that potential $1,000 in financing cash) on the intricately detailed hood.

Other rebates are more pedestrian, but still noteworthy:

Best Cash-Back Finds: 2.15.08

President’s Day is Monday and you’ve probably seen a lot of commercials about big car sales. Automakers had a pretty dismal January for car sales across the board and they’re looking to pick things up in February. Besides our full list of incentives you can find here, many are offering short-term incentives for just the weekend. Here are some of the best we’ve found in terms of quality, safety and value. Yes, there are three minivans.

2008 Kia Sedona

MSRP: $20,695
Cash back: $1,500
Percent off MSRP: 7.2%   
Expires: 3/3/08
5-Year Ownership Costs

Kia’s minivan has been an underachiever for some time, but still is one of only three minivans to earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Top Safety Pick award. The interior isn’t the best in the class but the base price and long warranty are mighty alluring. Add up to $1,500 cash back depending on where you live and the Sedona seems mighty sensible.

Best Cash-Back Finds: 12.07.07

Sifting through sales, incentives and various offers from car companies can be almost a full-time job for shoppers — and it is a full-time gig for some Cars.com staffers. We maintain a list of the Top 10 Cash-Back Offers here and a list of every available incentive here to help thrifty car shoppers. 

However, those charts aren’t helpful if you’re not sure about the cars on them. Is it OK to get the 2007 with a rebate and not the 2008? Could a car with a $4,000 cash-back offer be any good? The editors at Cars.com look at all the incentives and let you know which vehicles they recommend. These cars may not have the biggest rebates thrown on the hood, but our recommendations take into account our experiences driving the cars, along with some other factors, including safety and ownership costs. 

2007 Ford Edge

• MSRP: $25,320
• Cash back: $2,500
• Percent off MSRP: 9.87%
• Expires: 1/2/08
• 5-Year Ownership Costs
• Why it makes the cut: This is a classic example of a model where not much has changed for the new model year, besides the availability of that cool Sync feature we recently tested. If you don’t care about that, there are plenty of 2007 Edges left on dealer lots. The SUV has a lot of style and a healthy V-6 engine standard along with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick award. We’re not big fans of the interior fit and finish, but there’s a lot of utility here for the money.

Cars.com Reviews the 2008 Ford Focus

Facing stiff competition from Honda, Toyota, Hyundai and Mazda in the small-car market, the Ford Focus was in need of more than a face-lift. Unfortunately, that was all Ford was willing to do for the 2008 model. Reviewer David Thomas does find some improvements and attractive new features to recommend it, but at the end of the day the Focus fails to set itself apart from competitors that are either less expensive or simply better cars.

2008 Ford Focus Expert Review (Cars.com)

Ford's New Sync Wins Over Jaded Car Critic

Do this job long enough and you’ll get jaded. It’s almost unavoidable. After driving the latest and greatest offerings from automakers from around the world, little is likely to really impress you. After taking the Ford Focus for a quick test a few weeks back, I wasn’t impressed with the car itself. Now that it’s in the fleet for a full review I’ve had some time to test both the car and Ford’s new Sync system. I’m still not sure how I feel about the Focus, but the Sync is a masterpiece in user-friendliness that should be adopted by every car company out there.

Now, I didn’t get to hook my Bluetooth phone up to the Sync, I just tested the music aspects. Most automakers have voice-activated Bluetooth systems as options. What they don’t have is a voice-activated music system. Plug in your iPod — or in my case a 30GB Zune — and you’ve got your own request line, open for call-ins with the touch of a button on the steering wheel.

First Impressions: 2008 Ford Focus SES Coupe

• This exact car will come into the Cars.com fleet for a full review in just a few weeks, and I can’t say I’m waiting with baited breath. First off, I prefer the styling of the sedan to the coupe, and I assume most people will buy the four-door. That said, I liked the new interior, especially the center stack. Ford has really made strides there. The highly touted Microsoft Sync multi-media system seemed to respond to voice commands well, although I couldn’t figure out why the provided iPod — no Zune, Ford? — chock full of dozens of artists would only play one: the Doors. Ugh. Don’t worry, folks, I’ll be testing it out more extensively, with a Zune, in the coming weeks. As for the driving experience … if you don’t have anything nice to say … let your colleagues do it for you. — David Thomas

Ford Changes New Focus Due to Consumer Complaints

It’s not often that a car company will listen to complaints and actually change a product because of them. It’s even more rare when it happens before a model launches, but that’s just what Ford did in preparation for its launch of the new Focus compact car. The new 2008 Focus debuted at the New York Auto Show in April, and Ford got a lot of feedback about the not-so-hot Focus.

The company reacted and changed a number of features, most notably the front end. It changed square fog lights to round, added more mesh to the grille, and changed the leather and other highlight materials inside. What do you think? Should more automakers do this kind of last-second modification?

Ford Adjusts Focus Facelift (WorldCarFans)

Redesigned Ford Focus Prices Relatively Unchanged

For 2008, the Ford Focus gets a new exterior and interior design to keep competitive in a booming compact-car market. Ford says the car is 30 pounds lighter, 10% quieter and has 3% more horsepower. Considering new standard equipment like side curtain airbags, the redesign is a welcome change, yet the prices remain almost identical to the outgoing 2007 model.

The 2008 base model Focus S coupe starts at $14,075 not including destination, which is $360 more than the outgoing two-door hatchback. The 2008 Focus S sedan starts at $14,375, $335 more than the 2007. Air conditioning is also standard on the S models for 2008; it was a $910 option in 2007.

The better-equipped SE models are actually closer in price for 2008, coming in at $15,075 for the coupe and $15,375 for the sedan, just $35 and $60 more, respectively.

Top-of-the-line SES models will cost $16,075 and $16,375 for the coupe and sedan, respectively, roughly $300 more than the 2007s. Ford’s SYNC interactive multimedia system comes standard on SES models and is a $395 option for the other models.

The two and four-door hatchbacks along with the Focus wagon have been discontinued for 2008. The new coupe and sedan go on sale this fall.

Related
Ford Announces Sync Strategy, Price (KickingTires)
More Ford Focus News (KickingTires)

Ford Announces Sync Strategy, Price

Ford’s new Microsoft Sync in-car entertainment and communication system has a price tag, and it’s not that bad. For $395, buyers will be able to add the option onto selected Ford and Mercury vehicles and it will be standard equipment on Lincoln models.

Besides Lincolns, higher-end trims of Ford and Mercury vehicles will eventually come with Sync standard. The first models to get Sync will be the 2008 Ford Focus, Fusion, Taurus, Taurus X, Edge, Explorer and Sport Trac, and the Lincoln MKX and MKZ. Sync should start becoming available on those models before the end of the year. 

Sync has Bluetooth capability and integrates peripherals like MP3 players into the system using voice recognition software. That means you can surf through your iPod’s playlists with voice commands. It also will read text messages from your phone aloud, even translating abbreviations like LOL. Plus it’s multilingual for English, French and Spanish speakers. Check out the video below for Ford’s promotional take on the new technology.

And on a personal note, as a Zune owner, I’m excited to finally see a press photo with something other than an iPod in it.

Fantasy Ford Lineup

It’s a few days before the NFL Draft, baseball season is in full swing and plenty of people are sitting at their desks “working” on mock drafts or setting their fantasy team’s lineup. So, why can’t we do that with our friends in the auto industry? In an article in the Detroit News today, analysts (How do you become an analyst, anyway? Is there an analyst school or something?) talked about how old Ford’s lineup is and how they don’t see much in the pipeline.

All the brands Ford owns — Volvo, Land Rover, Mazda and even Jaguar — have bright future lineups. But Ford itself, along with its siblings Mercury and Lincoln, has a bleak outlook. The only future vehicles we know about are the Flex crossover, which isn’t coming until late 2008, and a new Mustang sometime in 2009. That’s it. Otherwise, we’re looking at the renamed Taurus and Taurus X and the freshened-up Focus and Escape. The only bright spots are the Fusion and Edge. So what does Ford need to develop to turn things around? We give our fantasy ideas below; leave your thoughts in the comments.

A Closer Look at the 2008 Ford Focus Interior

One of the most openly discussed and debated debuts of a production car at this year’s Detroit show was the new Ford Focus. Commenters and even our staffers are divided on it. Whatever your stance, one aspect that hasn’t been addressed fully is how good the interior looks. Here’s what I noticed when I got some seat time with it.

2007 Detroit Auto Show: 2008 Ford Focus Coupe

When we saw the new Ford Focus sedan, we thought the redesign was well-executed considering it was based on an existing format. Now that we’ve seen the two-door coupe Focus — a first — we’re not as excited. The rear side windows are not in proper proportion, and they ruin the sedan's lines. Keep reading for more pictures, but it doesn’t get much better.

2007 Detroit Auto Show: 2008 Ford Focus

Ford has radically redesigned its Focus economy sedan for the 2008 model year. As is easily evident in these photos, this is a significantly new design with a higher beltline — where the windows meet the doors — and new front end, headlights, rear, taillights and even a sporty vent on the side. Nothing resembles the outgoing car, inside or out.

Actually, the only parts that are the same as in the outgoing model are the ones that drive the car. The 2008 Focus will sport the same four-cylinder engine as it has since it was introduced in 1999. The suspension has been revised slightly, but the previous Focus was always a good handler in its segment.

The inside is also all-new and features Ford’s shift to blue interior lighting, from the company’s past green work. We were surprised Ford was able to so radically change the look of a vehicle that is structurally very similar to its predecessor. We’ll have more photos later in the day, but rear and interior shots are below.

2007 Ford Focus Gains 3 mpg

We were reading an interesting story on the Detroit News’ website about future plans for Ford’s Focus compact car. There were many tidbits, but one that struck us was the fact that the 2007 Focus gets 3 mpg more than the 2006 model.

This news was released last month with a slew of other information, but Ford didn't highlight the increase in fuel economy: up from 26 mpg in the city and 34 mpg on the highway to 27/37 in the five-speed manual with the 2.0-liter engine. Even the more-powerful 2.3-liter engine gains 1 mpg in 2007. The increase is due to slight tweaks made to the engine and Ford representatives say the revised Focus due in 2008 should get even better mileage. Otherwise the vehicle remains almost unchanged from 2006.

[Big plans for tiny Focus, The Detroit News]