Official 2008 Ford Focus Pics and Information!

[sixt5cuda]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

The first non-media shot of the sedan I have seen - I'm really liking it.



>8^)
ER

From all the pictures, it looks like the side mirrors will still not fold away. Upper or lower trim level, it looks like the same mirror assembly.

[orionlion82]

Originally Posted by sixt5cuda

The chrome door handles and the glued-on front fender trim look terrible in these pictures.
On the interior shot. As others have commented, the whole interior is very stylish, looks much better than MK 1.5. The downsides:

All the "silver" chrome plastic on the dash looks so bright as to be nearly white.
Substantial work is going to be required to replace the factory audio system, and it will not use the special "top-of-dash" display unit.
I want my cupholders in front of the shifter, not under my elbow.

yeah, i dont like the chrome and silver trend, but OUR SPONSORS *hint* might be wise to come up with a variety of replacement trim kits ASAP, as well as some lighting kit expansions

because if i bought one of these i would want to take flat black spraypaint to that stupid silver and chrome, unless its High End models only. i hate shiny stuff in the sun.

[brandon0133]

man i like the car but i dont like the indentions on the side and headlights and grille are just ugly,,,,they should have just redone the newer body style...not that much

[brandon0133]

now that silver one is just plain oll ugly

[BLOWNSTANG]

I like it. My wife likes it. We'll be getting rid of her xB for one this fall.

[Angelus897]

Originally Posted by sixt5cuda

My Focus is without power locks or power windows. And I specifically ordered the car that way. The window and door lock systems of my car will never have an electrical fault.

ABS? Got it, didn't pay extra for it, hardly ever use it.

Rear discs? Good in emergency and high-performance situations, not that much better for everyday use, compared to drums.

Yea, my focus is without power locks/windows either. You know, my family owned 10 Fords over the last 10 years, and not one of them had a problem with power locks/windows (heck if you think like that, then we shouldn't have power brakes/steering either, cause they might break too).

ABS should be standard on EVERY car that comes out of any factory.

Rear discs might not help when you drive like a grandma, but when you have a spirited driving style (actually have fun in the car), you need them. Also drums are a bitch to change.

On another note, after sleeping on it, I'm already used to the new styling.

[focaljet-1]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

Also, you can see in the background that there are four trim levels:

SE
SES or SEL?
Deluxe
Sport

There are also color swatches. I wish we could see all of those in the shot.

[panchocito]

Originally Posted by ccubedzx3

If Focussport sold a dynamite kit for this thing, I would be all over it....one stick of dynamite would do...along with a detonator...that would be the best thing for this car...blow it up, and start over...!

wahahahaaaa

[DeltaT]

I like it, but maybe thats because the 05-07 design was terrible.

[zurno]

Originally Posted by BUR_ZX3

You know what I mean. Its pretty easy to upgrade a D20 to a D23.




All in all, I'm dissapointed in a couple things:

lack of performance version being the key point.


But I see this as falling back to what I call the "Escort Strategy."

Take a hatchback that has sold well for us initially, watch it slump in sales after you remove the GT/SVT/performance version, redesign the car, but remove the hatchback and make it into a coupe/sedan, watch sales fall off entirely, and the death of a model.

The front end is wrong wrong wrong. That Grille needs to go quickly. I understand the point about the brand identity with the chrome bars, but it doesn't work on the Focus. Specially with that hideous black crosshatch stuff.

Memo to aftermarket: Make us a new grille, and make us a new front bumper.



But I'm glad to know my eye is as sharp as ever on calling out that rear spoiler under the camo on all the spy pics.

I think that the escort coupe you are referring to didn't do too bad, you see a ton of them out there

[zurno]

Originally Posted by Primaris

Well I'm glad I bought my Focus when Ford still had a clue how to build cars.
The new one has a Fusion grill, (why? the Taurus out sells the Fusion and the Fusion is not hot enough to be worthy of copying), mustang creased doors, and it looks like a Saturn. Blah. Ford needs to sell off the car business. What they make now is offensive to a car lover like me. Ford concentrate on building trucks, you will improve the entire car market by doing so!

you do know they quit making the Taurus, right?

btw, the Taurus was heavy into the fleet sales

[halftoned]

figured since theres no way to change what ford plans to do for design, why not start concepting what we can do to it...

started to play around alittle... chopped the grille, tinted the windows, vented the hood, swapped out the headlights, adapted the bumper, and put svt wheels on it..

[zurno]

Originally Posted by sixt5cuda

I didn't see anyone mention, how much the sedan looks like a Saturn L200:

moreso than an ion

and the headlamps kinda remind me of the L300 headlights. just a little though

scratch that, newer body style L200/L300

http://www.charles.cc/~meghan/2004-06-15_Car/IMGP0862.JPG

[hatched]

Wow. I'm much more impressed than I thought I'd be. I think both the seadn and coupe look really good. Not too terribly fond of the vent-in-front-of-the-door treatment, but overall very nice. I'm quite shocked, actually.

[boostedzx3]

I like it.

Theres a reason some of you are sitting where your at. You guys are rediculous, most of you have no belief in anything. You guys can be so negative its not even funny, you bring out no positive at all. No wonder some of you will be driving focus's the rest of your life, no beleif at all unbeleivable. No wonder RoRo rarely comes around he's obviously suceeded and realizes that he needs to stay away from the negative. I wont be revisting this post just because I know there will be nothing but negative comments on it and I dont need to fill my life with that. I'm sorry I read some of those comments.

[JFord]

Originally Posted by Davor

I actually like the design, but as a next-gen Focus? There is lots of resemblance to this...

I didn't bother to read the entire thread but where and how do these resemble each other, removing the fact that the color is in the same band.

As for the new design, someone said it best early on it looks "futuristic rocket". Everyone complained about how the focus need to be more modern edgy and futuristic, this model delivers. Modern edgy and has some progressive styling with a compliment of upcoming technology, I love it.

[2focusd]

Wow some of you guys are so quick to be completely negative The new interior looks pretty awesome for the most part, though the radio/climate control setup looks like a nightmare if you'd ever wanna upgrade to aftermarket The grille, well, I hate the blinginess on the Fusion and though this is different (you were right Ron ) I'm still not feeling it. And I'm hating the fact that the two-bar grille line is carried over onto the headlights The rear looks too much like an Aveo/Malibu/Impala for me to immediately fall in love with, plus I haven't thought factory "altezza" tail lights have looked good since the Altezza or Altima. The gills on the side are a blatant Tiburon copy and don't flow at all, so congrats on one-upping Pep Boys there Ford The side profile on the sedan REALLY reminds me of a Saturn L-series or ION as already said by others, and I don't know if that's the youthful approach Ford needs to take here in order to turn things around

Would I buy one? Maybe if there was a decent bit of room in the coupe, something to remedy that grille/headlight combo, and a sporty, lower suspension available in the near future mixed with a good out-the-door price. Though in all honesty I'm much more inclined to go out and find an '05 ZX3 and make a call to F2 for a front bumper and Randy and company for a trip out to Focus Sport to tune/install my turbo kit

-Brian

[Cloud 9 Roush]

No hatch? C30 is on my list then...

[Zekester]

Well, after looking at it quite a few times since this thread was started, I like it. But will really have to see one in person really get a good feel for it.

Design wise I think Ford did a pretty good job. IMO they have borrowed a lot design cues from both inside the "Blue Oval", (Fusion, Mustang, etc), and from outside competitors, (Saturn, Chevy, Honda). Ford is not unlike anyother car company out there. Everyone "borrows" design aspects from everyone else. Unless your talking "exotic", there are very, very few original car designs out there.

I like the new interior, but again will have to see one in person to check on the quality of fit, finish and materials used.

Like some others have stated I am disappointed with Ford on few things: 1) No 2.3 option, (A really, really big omission IMO), 2) I still can't understand why they can't make ABS w/ 4 wheel discs standard, (yeah I know, the bean counters at work), 3) No hatch option., (hmmmm, maybe my '04 2.3 ZX3 will be worth something after all at trade in time... )

All n' all, as I stated earlier, I think it looks pretty good. I mean when the pictures of the Fusion were released, I absolutely hated it, but it has grown on me quite a bit as of late. I guess with the being said, for me that it is, not hating the new Focus right out of the gate is a good thing.......

[2focusd]

There hasn't been a hatch officially for quite some time bro

-Brian

[RallyRide]

The interior looks nice but other than that I can't find anything else I like about.

The reason I was into the 1st gen hb was wrc. It was cool that you could buy a car which resembled a real rally car somewhat.

The body on the version looks huge! I cant get over that.

[bluebyutoo]

The interior looks good but the outside lines don't seem to flow. Seems they threw everything they had at it.

Those bumper creases are just too sharp and the side "vent" just looks out of place.

Lets hope they get it right in 2010

[rpvitiello]

I figured out what this focus looks like!

It looks like the next gen mondeo with an americanized front end!!!

[orionlion82]

i consider myself balanced and not negaitve entirely....
it is HEAVILY mondeo, but NOT the mondeo at all.. look closely.
focus aint no stinkin contour.

look at the door panel seams up top

[JFord]

Let's face facts if the following aren't applied 75% of FJ won't like it:
98+ style Ford Focus (Verbatem)
Released in Europe first
AWD Turbo for under 20g
Another 10% won't like it just because the band wagon doesn't, even though they asked for everything the 08 Ford Focus is OR because they had their mind made up when they saw the camoed prototype. I'm so incredibly suprised by this thread....