Official 2008 Ford Focus Pics and Information!

[wilko]

Originally Posted by CrUziN4L

all-new interior + edgy new look = solid sales from common consumer for 2yrs


the only equation that was in fords mind for this, period. This was designed two years ago as a place holder for the revamping/euro invasion. Starting with the Mondeo

And believe me, when the new engines are leaked for the C2, you all will forget about "only having a 2.0"

-chris

Well 2010 is only a few years away. By then Ill be redy for a ST or whatever the top dog Focus will be. Hopefully I will have some I5 turbo lovin.

[rpvitiello]

Originally Posted by CrUziN4L

all-new interior + edgy new look = solid sales from common consumer for 2yrs
the only equation that was in fords mind for this, period. This was designed two years ago as a place holder for the revamping/euro invasion. Starting with the Mondeo
And believe me, when the new engines are leaked for the C2, you all will forget about "only having a 2.0"

First this was not designed for 2 years, it was to be the full 6 year replacement to the focus and we were never going to get the C2 either.

Also you are talking about future products not THIS car. This will not come anywhere near the volume the 2000 focus had in the states and it will come nowhere near the competition.

Originally Posted by igor2

there is no indication the 2.3l was EVER planned to be in the 08+ Focus .. it is possible Ford wanted to save the $$ of building the "special" 151hp version of the 2.3l ... I do not know why they did not just drop the 160hp 2.3l from the Fusion in there... but that is another story.
And I agree with Chris - this car will appeal to quite a few "common folk" - it will have good mileage, be cheap and stand out in the crowd... we enthusiasts were not thought of when this was approved.

i just don't get how people on this site keep saying this car was meant for the common person, and then everyone keeps talking about how it has potential if modified. Honestly this car seams like the worst of either side...

It is not going to be great for an enthusiast from a styling point of view because it will only be out 2 years. The only mods to preform on it will be carry overs from the previous 2 generations.

From a consumer point of view it lacks allot of things people want stock. they styling has a lot of unresolved issues with it, and there is a noticeable lack of performance even for a C class car. Also consumers are not concerned about the "next" generation of car and have no idea we are getting another car. All they see is this thing that is getting ridiculed in the press for being outdated, not all new, and just a funky looking focus refresh

[Chalz]

Originally Posted by igor2

Chalz ... I owned an 05 Focus .. and the one you posted looks awesome but it is HEAVILY VISUALLY MODIFIED .. any car can be made look DISTINCTIVE ... the 05 Focus was so bland it could be used to defined the very meaning of blandness.. sure with bunch of street effect kits and other mods it looked sleek, but it needed the mods to look decent ..

the 08 Focus is polarizing, and it is a little too negatively received which means it is edging on falling to the category of Aztec instead of the category of say .. the 08 SuperDuty .. but it is DISTINCTIVE .. in a case when Ford does not offer ANYTHING in the Focus that really makes it stand out - the unique looks will help a lot ... Ford will drive off the lot with a car that looks like nothing else on the road ..

it is a small victory .. but if you compare it to the 2004 Five Hundred (ehm Taurus) you see the opposite extreme at Ford ..

I think the 08 Focus is a step in right direction .. it is clumsy design-wise, but it introduces a lot of Ford EU design clues which will make the transition to the C2 Iosis-inspired MkIII Focus much easier ...

Igor

I know it looks bland stock...but so do the 00-04 Foci. Tint, drop and rims get you this:



I know it's personal opinion, but I don't think that looks to bland. I can see the 08 front end looking even hotter than that, the rear end however, will take EXTENSIVE work to make look sporty.

[rpvitiello]

Originally Posted by Chalz

I know it looks bland stock...but so do the 00-04 Foci. Tint, drop and rims get you this:

well the 05+ focus just looks cheap to me compared to say a 01-02 focus. There is just so many little details they stripped out of the cars to make them cheaper. Even if you take the front end off the 05 and bolt on a 00 style it still looks cheaper/worse than an earlier focus.

Also there was the SVT focus that looked great stock, and even came as the EAP package. The ST has NOTHING on these cars looks/pasckage wise. The ST may not be a bad value or a bad car, but it IS a step down from what an SVT was.

now for 08 there i not even an ST model.

sorry but a base modle focus does absolutly nothing for me, and i have no interest in one regardless of year.

[Chalz]

Originally Posted by rpvitiello

well the 05+ focus just looks cheap to me compared to say a 01-02 focus. There is just so many little details they stripped out of the cars to make them cheaper. Even if you take the front end off the 05 and bolt on a 00 style it still looks cheaper/worse than an earlier focus.

Also there was the SVT focus that looked great stock, and even came as the EAP package. The ST has NOTHING on these cars looks/pasckage wise. The ST may not be a bad value or a bad car, but it IS a step down from what an SVT was.

now for 08 there i not even an ST model.

sorry but a base modle focus does absolutly nothing for me, and i have no interest in one regardless of year.

...So if a base model Focus doesn't do it for you, you are looking at modifying a Focus...As with just about any other car under $20,000. The thing I always thought was so cool about the Focus was that you take something with some awesome potential and make it into your personalized masterpiece. I don't know of any car at all that I would be happy with completetly stock. (Within reason of course...I can't afford exotics)

We just have different outlooks on tuning cars. I know the 05 has cheaper parts than the 00-02...but so do the 03 and 04's...I don't expect leather on a base model, and plastic is to be expected on a car you can pick up for $13,000. One of these days I'll buy an Exige or Elise...perhaps an Ariel Atom, but for now the Focus has exactly what I need. The 08 will too, but I have a MUCH harder time seeing any potential in the rear end.

[wilko]

I dont see how the rear end of the 08 needs any less work than the front. IMO the front bumper has to be replaced, and so does the rear. And thats about it.


Oh yeah... No rear spoiler.

[rpvitiello]

Originally Posted by Chalz

...So if a base model Focus doesn't do it for you, you are looking at modifying a Focus...As with just about any other car under $20,000. The thing I always thought was so cool about the Focus was that you take something with some awesome potential and make it into your personalized masterpiece. I don't know of any car at all that I would be happy with completetly stock. (Within reason of course...I can't afford exotics)

We just have different outlooks on tuning cars. I know the 05 has cheaper parts than the 00-02...but so do the 03 and 04's...I don't expect leather on a base model, and plastic is to be expected on a car you can pick up for $13,000. One of these days I'll buy an Exige or Elise...perhaps an Ariel Atom, but for now the Focus has exactly what I need. The 08 will too, but I have a MUCH harder time seeing any potential in the rear end.

the 03-04 were pretty bad and cheapened as well. I would not buy those either because of that.

I dont necesarally want a CHEAP car, i want a C size car. If i was to buy a car right now a Mazda speed 3 or an audi A3 are on the top of my list (more likley the audi, i do NOT like the rear of the mazda 3 hatch) The focus was never designed to be a cheap car, it was designed to be a pretty nice C segmant car when it first came out. Ford kept lowering the quality to get the price down, and drew in a more price sensative crowd. The Civic, Mazda3, VW rabbit/golf/jetta. Saturn Astra, Toyota Carolla, Audi A3, Volvo c30/S40/V50 all go after a higher price croud, with a realistic base price of $15k-$24k and a selling price around $21-30k with options. The focus seams to have a base price of around $11k and with options around $15k. The focus is in the wrong price bracked for its size. Hell even the Kia spectria outclasses the focus at this point.

honestally all out HP has almost no use to me. There are no straight roads here to drag race. I care about handeling, stopping power/resistance to fade, nice styling (inside and out) and good confort and fit and finish (inside and out) Also safety is a big one on my list for a daily driver car.

My 2002 mach focus was pretty nice, but i can see how it was cheapened over the 01's. the main thing i regreat is not haveing ALL the options i wanted in it, and i can't even order a new focus because they offer them with even fewer options now! I would have to lose features to buy a new focus. Sorry but i don't feel like going backwards technologically with my cars.

[2006FocusChick24]

Originally Posted by igor2

Chalz ... I owned an 05 Focus .. and the one you posted looks awesome but it is HEAVILY VISUALLY MODIFIED .. any car can be made look DISTINCTIVE ... the 05 Focus was so bland it could be used to defined the very meaning of blandness.. sure with bunch of street effect kits and other mods it looked sleek, but it needed the mods to look decent ..

the 08 Focus is polarizing, and it is a little too negatively received which means it is edging on falling to the category of Aztec instead of the category of say .. the 08 SuperDuty .. but it is DISTINCTIVE .. in a case when Ford does not offer ANYTHING in the Focus that really makes it stand out - the unique looks will help a lot ... Ford will drive off the lot with a car that looks like nothing else on the road ..

it is a small victory .. but if you compare it to the 2004 Five Hundred (ehm Taurus) you see the opposite extreme at Ford ..

I think the 08 Focus is a step in right direction .. it is clumsy design-wise, but it introduces a lot of Ford EU design clues which will make the transition to the C2 Iosis-inspired MkIII Focus much easier ...

Igor

Now that is hot right there. I absolutely love that one too!!!
Keep em coming... love the FOCUS

[wilko]

Originally Posted by rpvitiello

the 03-04 were pretty bad and cheapened as well. I would not buy those either because of that.

I dont necesarally want a CHEAP car, i want a C size car. If i was to buy a car right now a Mazda speed 3 or an audi A3 are on the top of my list (more likley the audi, i do NOT like the rear of the mazda 3 hatch) The focus was never designed to be a cheap car, it was designed to be a pretty nice C segmant car when it first came out. Ford kept lowering the quality to get the price down, and drew in a more price sensative crowd. The Civic, Mazda3, VW rabbit/golf/jetta. Saturn Astra, Toyota Carolla, Audi A3, Volvo c30/S40/V50 all go after a higher price croud, with a realistic base price of $15k-$24k and a selling price around $21-30k with options. The focus seams to have a base price of around $11k and with options around $15k. The focus is in the wrong price bracked for its size. Hell even the Kia spectria outclasses the focus at this point.

honestally all out HP has almost no use to me. There are no straight roads here to drag race. I care about handeling, stopping power/resistance to fade, nice styling (inside and out) and good confort and fit and finish (inside and out) Also safety is a big one on my list for a daily driver car.

My 2002 mach focus was pretty nice, but i can see how it was cheapened over the 01's. the main thing i regreat is not haveing ALL the options i wanted in it, and i can't even order a new focus because they offer them with even fewer options now! I would have to lose features to buy a new focus. Sorry but i don't feel like going backwards technologically with my cars.

Thats understandable-- you dont want to loose features that you alredy have. Not everybody could afford a Focus with all of the bells and whistles of a Audi, but it is puzzeling that Ford didnt keep a highly loaded Focus in the line-up (make SES mean more than a 6 disk CD player with a Moon roof). I dont know...

RP; What would you loose specifically? The 04 SES is the best Focus that I have been in, so I dont know what the deal is between the 02 & the 04.


Edit: Not SES... Its a well equipt [sp] SE.... SES is an 05+ thing.

[blazealm]

i think ford still dont get it they need to just bring over the european focus and be done with it but instead they r to busy designing this ugly thing i really dont like it not to mention the dash where r u suppose to put an after market stereo lol basicly ford design team needs some help from there eurpean brothers on what a sport compact should look like i guess they didnt learn in 2000 when they brought over the first focus

[STANG302]

I took these this last weekend at the Minneapolis car show. Couldn't get real close but I want one thing off that car. The seats! A big step up from the unsaportive seats we've been given so far.

[CINCIN]

yeah the interior on that thing is the only thing that i think is nice...

[Thameth]

WTH, is with the gap between the trunk and taillight??? And its on both sides.....

[Chalz]

Wow...I think that red one actually looks pretty cool...err...has some pretty cool potential. **double clicks photoshop icon**

[Chalz]

Quick chop and I'm starting to like the look a little bit. Some 17 or 18's under there might look nice, but I don't have the skillz to do that quickly.

[MrPotatoes]

i'd black out everything else as well. cuz the only thing that will make that thing worth a purchase is if there is nothing else out in the world

[darkness]

Originally Posted by Chalz

Quick chop and I'm starting to like the look a little bit. Some 17 or 18's under there might look nice, but I don't have the skillz to do that quickly.

Those ARE 17's.

[Chalz]

Originally Posted by darkness

Those ARE 17's.

Sorry...I will specify in more detail by adding a word.

Aftermarket 17's or 18's.

kthxbai

[rpvitiello]

Originally Posted by Thameth

its was meant to be a cheap make over, not an all new car. When the trunk is opened you can see they did not actually change the trunk opening since the car came out in 1998. So even though the lights are smaller, and the trunk cover is bigger, the place to put the lights is the same size and shape as the origonal focus sedan, and the plastic in the trunk is the same.

[OmniFocus]

Originally Posted by STANG302

I took these this last weekend at the Minneapolis car show. Couldn't get real close but I want one thing off that car. The seats! A big step up from the unsaportive seats we've been given so far.

Unsupportive? My 2000 has wonderful bolsters, which are probably more supportive than this new one.

Well, they were before my fat ass deformed them over 112k miles.

I've never been in a car with better long distance driving seats than a Focus, and I've been in a lot of cars. I understand we're not all shaped the same, of course.

[GoatRoper]

Originally Posted by STANG302

I took these this last weekend at the Minneapolis car show. Couldn't get real close but I want one thing off that car. The seats! A big step up from the unsaportive seats we've been given so far.

You just have to learn to ask nicely and they will stop the display and let you crawl around it

The seats are really nice, I agree. They are made out of something other than leather but it isn't vinyl. the lady explained it to me but I quite honestly don't remember what she said