[Ubie]

So, the clutch dropped on my wife's 2003 ZTS sedan the Thursday before Christmas. It has enough problems overall that it wasn't worth getting it fixed so we are donating it to a local charity.

Thus began the search for a new (to us) car for her. I am proud to say we are the new owners of a 2012 Ford Focus SE Hatchback! Has a bunch of fun goodies (Equipment package 203a, sport package, winter package including heated seats that actually work) and since it was a 5sp and we live in an area that nobody knows how to drive one we were able to get the dealer to come down quite a bit on price.

We looked at a few others, Mazda3, Nissan Altima and even a few Ford Fusions before we found this bad boy. The wife wanted to stick with the Focus because she likes how it sits (I have a Saturn SL2 that she refuses to drive due to how low it is to the ground). Finding a hatchback was a huge plus for us too as the wife really likes them in general.

First impressions so far are pretty dang good. It has a ton more power than the 2003, and has a much quieter ride. We'll see how well things go in the future, but for now we're definitely in the honeymoon phase.

 

[felixthecat]

Great that you found a stick. Makes it more fun to drive & no issues w/ the later trans.

 

[CorvZ061]

You'll be very happy with that car and get many many miles out of it, you also got a 5spd which is the better of the 2 transmissions offered in 2012. have fun with it and remember, they like to be driven hard.

 

[Tabor]

Your wife has good taste in cars.

 

[OldGray320i]

I have a '12 5sp - if it's anything like mine, you'll have a long honeymoon period. No issues at all, 50k miles.

 

[Duffman355]

Nice find dude. Mine is a stick, but the only options I got out of the factory were the Sport package and wheels.

 

[onlycodered]

Very nice! Glad you got the manual! I wish my fiance would agree to drive with a manual transmission. Cheaper to maintain and less expensive to buy in the first place.

 

[jamesgjt]

honestly, focus is a nice car and is addictive to drive. but i still think the non st focus is not powerful enough... i m driving a titanium and think that it will be way better to hv 20 to 30 hp more. but those hp increase are pretty hard for me to get because i m driving the dct one... I will be very happy if ford do something like the honda did to their CRV owner that allow existing owners to pay some money to upgrade their car for more hp...

 

[Ubie]

So she had her first drive to work today and we have our first complaint; Her hands are too small to easily reach the steering wheel mounted controls. I offered to switch cars with her (my 1999 Saturn SL2 with 235,000mi), alas she was not amused.


As for having enough hp, well 160hp isn't anything to shake a stick at. Its 30hp more than our 2003 ZTS had, so we're not complaining. It also feels pretty good when compared against the much heavier Fusion that has 175hp from the four banger.

 

[CorvZ061]

So she had her first drive to work today and we have our first complaint; Her hands are too small to easily reach the steering wheel mounted controls. I offered to switch cars with her (my 1999 Saturn SL2 with 235,000mi), alas she was not amused.


As for having enough hp, well 160hp isn't anything to shake a stick at. Its 30hp more than our 2003 ZTS had, so we're not complaining. It also feels pretty good when compared against the much heavier Fusion that has 175hp from the four banger.

just think about the ST with 252 hp.. I smile everyday on the way to work and back home after.

 

[schrodingersbox]

Very nice! Glad you got the manual! I wish my fiance would agree to drive with a manual transmission. Cheaper to maintain and less expensive to buy in the first place.

Weird in Canada the manual was more expensive to purchase.

 

[devildog]

So, the clutch dropped on my wife's 2003 ZTS sedan the Thursday before Christmas. It has enough problems overall that it wasn't worth getting it fixed so we are donating it to a local charity.

Thus began the search for a new (to us) car for her. I am proud to say we are the new owners of a 2012 Ford Focus SE Hatchback! Has a bunch of fun goodies (Equipment package 203a, sport package, winter package including heated seats that actually work) and since it was a 5sp and we live in an area that nobody knows how to drive one we were able to get the dealer to come down quite a bit on price.

We looked at a few others, Mazda3, Nissan Altima and even a few Ford Fusions before we found this bad boy. The wife wanted to stick with the Focus because she likes how it sits (I have a Saturn SL2 that she refuses to drive due to how low it is to the ground). Finding a hatchback was a huge plus for us too as the wife really likes them in general.

First impressions so far are pretty dang good. It has a ton more power than the 2003, and has a much quieter ride. We'll see how well things go in the future, but for now we're definitely in the honeymoon phase.

This was the same for me. I had a '12 SEL DCT and I just wasn't happy. It was a great car but I just really wanted a manual. I looked and looked and finally found a '14 SE Sport with the manual that was about an hour away. Since the dealer was in an area that favored automatics they had already taken 6k off of the sticker. So instead of it being 20k it was already down to 14k. I then sold my '12 to my mom who then gave her '13 SE Sedan to my sister. I took my sister's car and traded it in for an extra 3k so I only financed 11k on a brand new Focus. I really got lucky.

 

[devildog]

Weird in Canada the manual was more expensive to purchase.

That's really weird. Every car that is a manual is cheaper here in the States. But everything seems to be more expensive in Canada. I saw 2015 F-150 with a mid-grade trim level go for like 60k.