Tweaked 2009 Ford Focus coupe debuts

[mikeyb]

+1, but the one posted above does not remind me of any of those (oh wait, both have the same badge )

Isn't the one you posted a faced lifted North American model not a Euro?

maybe I am THAT old but it sure looks like they went back in time....
does anybody else remember the Ford Topaz's?

I just thinking it looks like a Tempo or Topaz 2 door.

 

[coolmazda5]

Isn't the one you posted a faced lifted North American model not a Euro?
.

My bad, I referred to the one you posted not the one I posted. The one I posted is for sale in Mexico (North America, but not that north, LOL). The ones in Europe are these below, and, as a matter of fact, are like the one sold in Mexico now that I see it.

 

[coolmazda5]

I just thinking it looks like a Tempo or Topaz 2 door.

Hey, my mom had one (lol2). Ugly as hell, we used to called it the cake, because it had layers and layers of paint and paste after so many dents and minor accidents.

 

[BlackCherry06]

I LOL at some of the descriptions written by auto journalists...

Ford has heard all the criticism thrown at the 2008 Focus for its electric shaver looks.

I've been looking for a way to describe the looks of the Focus, and it was handed to me on a silver platter. STILL LOLing.

 

[mountjonas]

maybe I am THAT old but it sure looks like they went back in time....
does anybody else remember the Ford Topaz's?

ugh. that was my first car. 87 tempo GL. if you made a left turn and let go of the wheel it would keep on spinning and you'd start turning right. if you made a right turn and then let go of the wheel, it would just stay there. you also had to left foot brake or else it would stall out at stop signs and lights. the car didn't even last 80k miles and yet our 94 toyota pickup is still strong with 220k on the engine.

 

[altspace]

Your 87 Tempo would beat my 85 Hyundai Excel with a whopping 74HP. I'm glad I started driving a slow car. Helped me understand the limits and push it to the "extreme" without getting hurt.

 

[mountjonas]

I'm glad I started driving a slow car. Helped me understand the limits and push it to the "extreme" without getting hurt.

I concur.

back on topic. I've never driven a focus so I don't know how good or bad they are. I do hope the next generation is a little more handsome, though.

 

[Raynman]

...And Ford was doing so well when they released the Focus ST SAP. Now they just took a major step back in styling.

 

[jinzumkei]

We do not consider ourselves experts on the buying habits of small car shoppers anymore, not after watching the redesigned 2008 Ford Focus streak to extremely strong sales despite sporting what we considered to be deal breaker bad looks. You can credit the car's success to good marketing, exclusive availability of SYNC, a big car ride with small car fuel economy, whatever... regardless, the Focus is selling better than it has since the car first debuted in 2000.

Ford has heard all the criticism thrown at the 2008 Focus for its electric shaver looks, and in a very unusual move has solicited feedback from Focus fans and tweaked only the Coupe for 2009 and not the Sedan. The newish 2009 Focus Coupe features a front end with a larger lower air intake that's supposedly inspired by the new Fiesta, and those garish faux fender vents are now completely gone (hopefully the sedan gets stripped of these, too). The flanking foglamps are also now better integrated into the body and the two-bar grille and other accents feature a dark, almost bronzed look rather than bright chrome. There are also new Dark Chrome 17-inch aluminum wheels and a roof-mounted spoiler, both standard on the top-shelf SES Coupe in addition to electronic stability control and SYNC, that make the Focus look more sporty than before. The overall effect of these changes reminds us of the last-generation SVT Focus Euro package. You can make up your own minds and let us know in the comments.

Though the Focus SVT is surely not returning, Ford did give the new coupe a new freer-breathing exhaust on models equipped with the five-speed manual to free up some horsepower, and also added a new 4.2 final drive ratio to make off-the-line acceleration a bit quicker. The 2009 Ford Focus Coupe will have a base MSRP of $15,920 when it goes on sale in late Summer, and you can check it out later tonight when Ford officially debuts it in a video on American Idol. We want to hear what supercar collector has to say about the new look Focus Coupe. Is it a Clay Aiken or a William Hung?

wow talk about BLAH

 

[TheMAN]

here's a repeated trend... remember the old early 90s escorts? sure they were boxy as hell, but they were neither pretty nor ugly... then late in the 90s, they took that same car and added some curvy headlights and tail lights into it and called it the ZX2... god, what an ugly car it became

 

[Hughes412]

here's a repeated trend... remember the old early 90s escorts? sure they were boxy as hell, but they were neither pretty nor ugly... then late in the 90s, they took that same car and added some curvy headlights and tail lights into it and called it the ZX2... god, what an ugly car it became

You know, I bet the hard part for the designers is what to do next! I mean there is only so much you can do to a small car and not have it look like another one and only so much to keep it priced right. I would HATE to be those guys.