Small is Big

The crash of America’s real estate sector explains the truck flop. Construction companies are not buying as many new work trucks this year. It’s a good time to be a mechanic, in fact; older vehicles are being repaired, not traded in.

And with soaring gasoline/diesel prices, many buyers are stepping down for their next vehicle, settling for what satisfies their needs instead of their wants. The effects of corporate layoffs and frightened consumers have combined to ratchet down the standard of living for many. This year’s bleak economic news might explain why I’ve been sent a number of smaller cars for test driving lately.

Frankly, I welcome a chance to drive something under $20,000, to get a proper contrast to luxury cars topping $100,000. But the automaker’s motive is more likely to spotlight what has a realistic chance of finding buyers. That’s probably the reason a 2008 Ford Focus was dropped off and left for an unusual two weeks. This popular four-door has a suggested retail price of $16,375. Slap on just about every desirable option, from satellite radio to heated seats, and it tops out at $20,200.

That’s about as affordable as today’s market offers. And it probably explains the first-quarter report in which Ford sales took a hit, as did most manufacturers, in higher-priced vehicles, but showed an 11 percent increase over last year with sales of the Focus.

This little car has caught on. Think of it as an American alternative to the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and Nissan Altima.

There are several models of Focus, and young people tend to gravitate toward the coupe, which was redesigned for 2008. The sedan is more desirable for those with young children; entry and exit, front or back, is easy, even while carrying a baby and car seat.

The sedan has some flashy features that detract from its basic good looks, in my book. A curved piece of chrome is located aft of each front fender, apparently to create a kind of racy air-intake look. It’s out of place on this car. So is the mini-wing atop the rear of the trunk lid. These wings add downward air pressure for race cars at high speeds, helping to stabilize them; it looks silly on a small sedan like the Focus.

More chrome circles the taillights, which display more light from a side view than a rear one. A bigger surface is needed to help those behind a Focus at night.

The real attraction is not found in the Focus’ exterior, however. In two weeks, I drove the Focus about 700 miles and averaged 35 miles per gallon in mixed city/highway use. That is outstanding. (With an extended interstate trip, it averaged 37 mpg.)

I’m a bit disturbed that anti-lock brakes are paired with traction control as a $385 option. Those need to be standard equipment. Other options? The automatic transmission is $815. Leather bucket seats cost $695. Something called ambient interior lighting was $295 on our tester. And a spare tire was $60.

Our ramped-up audio system was $645, and adding the satellite radio feature tacked on another $195.

But many makers of small cars have a practice of making almost everything optional. That low sticker price seen on TV is never the actual purchase price. It’s hard to imagine telling a Ford dealer you want a stick-shift Focus without a spare tire.

Lately, I’ve had a succession of Hyundais, Kias and other small cars, and they all have this in common: Their build quality cannot match higher-priced cars.

So it is with the Focus. A large plastic cover fell into the front passenger’s footwell. It appeared to clip under the glove compartment, but no one crawled under there far enough to find out where it went.

As price for a vehicle goes down, so do quality factors involving noise, vibration and harshness. In less expensive cars like the Focus, wind noise created from the windshield can be heard inside the car. Tire noise can be a factor. Clearly, less insulation—and perhaps of lower quality—is used to cut costs. If your need is primarily a commuter car, however, and you need 35 mpg fuel economy to help your budget’s bottom line, you’ll not likely let wind noise stand in your way.

Overall, the Focus performed well. It cruised and passed at interstate speeds, then crawled for two hours through traffic stopped by an accident. It didn’t buck or surge, or show any effects from heating up in that slow traffic as some cars do. I came to understand why its sales are up while most others are down.