Nice buy. I can't stand the car price/package model these days. I would be perfectly happy with a base model Focus S sedan if I could get it with cruise control.
Focus isn't terrible in terms of packaging. Base SE's are *very* well equipped to start. Power everything, 16" alloys, cruise, air, MS Sync, keyless entry. Pretty much every basic creature comfort an economy box would be expected to have. I could have got a base SE hatch for under $15,000. I just wanted a bit more "flair" and other add-ons that jacked up the price. The 201a pack adds leather which is already showing it's value with my kids. A damp rag and I can wipe mud and dirt off things. It also adds an arm rest with cupholders in the back which is nice, some appearance things like 17" gunmetal rims, leather shift boot and steering wheel which are nice touches. Plus a power seat and some other external trim stuff.
The paint and wheel combo was almost another $1000.
At least with the Focus I can get almost any option I want short a few things (backup camera, park assist, some other things) and still equip it with a manual transmission.
The car is a bit bipolar in it's fit and finish. Some stuff is done very well, others you can tell was done to hit a price point. The sound isolation and dampening is unlike any other economy car I've ever sat it. It's almost tomblike inside there. In many other cars I can barely have a conversation with 5 year old due to wind/road noise. In this car it's incredibly quiet. The suspension and steering is also incredibly dialed in. The car is almost *too* nimble and responsive. The slightest movement of the steering wheel and it thinks you want to go that way. I find myself swerving a bit when shifting because of a slight wiggle of the steering wheel. But when making more...spirited...moves the car just wants to dance and the wheel returns back to center almost on it's own and it will bite into a corner and hang much better than my old Mazda3s ever did.
And all of that suspension trickery doesn't come at the cost of comfort. The car doesn't feel abusive at all over the rough country roads I travel.
I'm still trying to find a good position to keep me comfortable over longer distances. The arm rest is too short and too low. Not sure how comfortable I would be in the car in an hour+ long trip.
The carpeting in the back and in the hatch is almost paper thin as well. Thankfully with the cold weather pack came thick rubbery all season mats to help protect. I'll probably cut my own floor liner out of a shop mat for the hatch area to help protect it better. Or maybe look for a drop in rubber tray for it.
The storage space is very limited. You have two very small, very snug cupholders wedged in front of the armrest. There's a large space in the doors that is too awkwardly sized to hold a water bottle. And the space in the arm rest is very small. Another inch or two wider in the car and inch or two added to it's wheel base and stretching out things would help greatly in very basic comforts without adding a lot of unnecessary bloat to the car.
I'm also annoyed with the way bluetooth works for audio. By default your phone will sync up to the car and work. But if you want to stream audio from it you have to go into a buried menu to enable the stream audio instead of USB line in. Or you can shout 3-5 times at sync to change to the "Bluetooth Audio" input. And then do that *EVERY*SINGLE*TIME* you get back in the car. Other cars I have done bluetooth streaming will automatically enable that once your phone hooks up. You don't need to manually add it or change to it as an additional input.
Outside of those issues though, I continue to get *a lot* of comments about the looks. The 3rd gen Focus hatches are not common around here and it's generated a lot of interest as to "what kind of car is that?"
It's very fun, really wants to be tossed around, and so far I've been averaging about 34MPG in a 60/40 Highway/city split without being intentionally fuel minded. For the price I paid I would have a lot of trouble matching the combination looks/options/fun/economy I got.