LOVE the car! Fun to drive!

When I first moved to Cleveland 3 years ago, I needed a new car. I've previously driven my parent's Camry, Civic, and Mazda MPV. As this was my first car that I'm buying, my budget was limited to small sized cars. Basically I ended up deciding between the Focus, Civic, and Corolla. I decided to get the Focus SE (my first Ford) and I love it!

The Ride
This is the best part of the car! The handling is very responsive and the suspension is stiff enough that you feel the road, but not overly stiff that the ride is uncomfortable (like with the Mazda3). The car is very nimble. It is a very fun car to drive. The Corolla has the smoothest ride if that's what you are looking for, but I found it to be a little "boring." Acceleration is a little underpowered, but not different from the Civic or Corolla. There's been no problems merging with traffic; I just can't win drag races.

I have had no problems driving in the snow. The windows do not freeze and they operate in the cold (so I can swipe into the car garage). The engine starts up without any problems.

The gas mileage is slightly worse than my friend's Honda Civic, but almost comparable. I get about 24 MPG city driving and 30+ MPG highway.

The Look
Styling is a personal taste. I personally like the look of the Focus. The paint has not chipped or faded.

The Seating
I found the seating to be very comfortable both as the driver and the passenger. I've been on a few road trips where I've switched off being the driver and its been comfortable. There is plenty of leg room in the front. The height of the steering column is adjustable. The back is a little cramped, but then again, this is normal for cars of this size.

The one thing that took a little getting used to was the fact that the seat is slightly higher off the ground so it feels like you are looking down on everyone. Also, I have a hard time looking out the left edge of the windshield (about 10 o'clock). The car frame is wide and blocks my view.

Interior
The sun visors feel a little cheap. I also had problems with one of the interior handles not attached correctly, but the dealer fixed it for free. I like how there's a clip for a pen on the front center column. The factory stereo is good and the speakers are strong (though I'm not the type to be blasting music and shouting to the world). The rest of the interior is fairly standard. There are cup holders for both the front and back seats. The power windows and locks are positioned in an easy to reach location.

The trunk space is decent and the back seats fold down completely flat and level with the trunk. I was able to transport a twin size bed in it without a problem. They even have a lever to pull to release the trunk from the inside.

The remote is nice in that it has an open trunk button. Otherwise it's fairly standard. The range is a little short and I find that the open door button is not always responsive so you might have to press the button a few times.

Reliability
There has been only one recall thus far and that was to put some car grease on the door latches. The other problem I had were with one interior handle not clipped in properly, which was fixed, and with the power locks.

The most annoying issue I've had with the car is with the driver side power lock that controls all the doors. The car has two sets of locking switches. There is the lock switch next to the inside door handle on each of the four doors that controls each door individually. In addition, on the driver and passenger side, there is an extra lock switch that controls all the doors from one switch.

Sometimes after stopping the car, that lock switch on the driver side does not work. I can get out of the car without any problems (the door latch automatically unlocks the door), and I can lock all the doors by pressing the individual lock button, but the switch that controls all the doors does not work. I use this because I can easily unlock the back door from the front door in case I need to get to the backseat. I have to resort to using the remote or reaching back to unlock the door. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen consistently, so Ford will not fix it.

Other than that, the car has not had any problems. My three year warranty will be up in a few weeks so hopefully things will continue running smoothly.

Safety
I was in a car accident and was hit on the passenger side about a month after I bought the car. I escaped without any bruises. After the repairs the car has been functioning without trouble.

Even if I had more money and could afford a bigger car, I would most likely stick with my Focus. It is such a fun car to drive and I really like the look of it. It has been three years and I plan on driving it for many more years to come!