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On arriving in Boston a couple weeks ago we had to rent a car and were given a 2008 Ford Focus which has a 2.0L engine with automatic transmission.

I wasn't much impressed with the car at first but due to unforeseen variables it turned out we had to do an 800 mile trip to Michigan, at which point the vehicle grew on me given it's consistent 40mpg at 65-70mph (at a consistent 50mph it easily averages 50mpg) with my driving style (mild acceleration to prevent downshifting and some mild DWL and DWB, no SG.)

No I wasn't driving 55 on the interstate with a wife and child and a 14 hour trip (with breaks) so I wasn't expecting much from the car, but I was pleasantly surprised at the performance nevertheless.

I believe the reason for the decent MPGs at Interstate speed is a tall top gear which ran the engine at about 2300rpm at 70mph.

My question is: as I have to buy a car very soon, do the first generation Focuses (Focii?) have the same automatic or manual transmission setup? As that would make the vehicle worth considering.

On arriving in Boston a couple weeks ago we had to rent a car and were given a 2008 Ford Focus which has a 2.0L engine with automatic transmission.

I wasn't much impressed with the car at first but due to unforeseen variables it turned out we had to do an 800 mile trip to Michigan, at which point the vehicle grew on me given it's consistent 40mpg at 65-70mph (at a consistent 50mph it easily averages 50mpg) with my driving style (mild acceleration to prevent downshifting and some mild DWL and DWB, no SG.)

No I wasn't driving 55 on the interstate with a wife and child and a 14 hour trip (with breaks) so I wasn't expecting much from the car, but I was pleasantly surprised at the performance nevertheless.

I believe the reason for the decent MPGs at Interstate speed is a tall top gear which ran the engine at about 2300rpm at 70mph.

My question is: as I have to buy a car very soon, do the first generation Focuses (Focii?) have the same automatic or manual transmission setup? As that would make the vehicle worth considering.

Unfortunately the 2008 has different gearing to get the epa rating of 35 MPG on the highway which is rated higher than my 2.0 M3 @ 32 MPG. It's all in the final drive like you said my car sucks gas @ 70 pulling over 3,000 rpms :eek:

Oh well. Thanks for the info!

Some of the pre-'08 Foci were capable of very good FE. For 2007 that was true for all Focus body styles. For 2001-06, you had to be careful to get the 2-valve engine and avoid the thristier Zetec engine. Unfortunately the 2-valve was only available in the sedan and not in the wagons or hatchbacks (despite the EPA website's listing of such configurations).

So really the only truly fuel efficient Focus wagon was the 2007 (27/37 mpg IIRC). Now they dropped it for '08. Way to go Ford. Trying to sell more Escapes? FAIL!

37 mpg recent averages in a 2005 Focus ZX3 - I would LOVE to see 40 to 50, and probably would if I measured segments, but I go by the tank.

I'll have to check the guages, but I think I'm at 2,300 at 60MPH.

It looks like in 2010 North America will finally get Europe's Focus along with a hatchback.

http://www.automobilemag.com/features/news/0806_america_gets_european_ford_focus_in_2010/index.html

The 2008 Focus is awesome, I have the 5 speed SE with the Deluxe package which includes the on board computer that gives you great clues at monitoring your driving, I'm averaging well over 36 MPG since I picked it up in February. That is a pretty much 50/50 city highway MPG.

Here's the mileage logs from this site as of today:

YEAR Liters Engine Name Tranny Body/Trim EPA MPG Miles Logged Owner
2007 2 Duratec M5 24/33/27 43.263 10321.3 MnFocus
2003 2 Zetec M5 dohc or spi? 41.094 385.3 voytek
2008 2 Duratec M5 Coupe 24/35/28 39.191 1586.7 Boogs
2008 2 Duratec M5 24/35/28 37.41 5353 laserred02
2000 2 Zetec DOHC M5 22/31/25 36.954 5107 Titan1969
2000 2 ZetecDOHC M5 Sedan/ZTS 22/31/25 36.61 10450.2 FocusGuy77
2005 2 Duratec M5 22/32/26 36.165 3444 menglish
2002 2 Zetec DOHC M5 Sedan/ZTS 22/31/25 36.029 1074.3 focusmmuter
2003 2 Zetec M5 dohc or spi? 35.696 12740.4 antrey
2008 2 Duratec M5 Coupe 24/35/28 35.393 2820.8 cam9264
2005 2 Duratec M5 24/35/28 34.7 43021.9 Fredness
2007 2 Duratec A4 SE 23/31/26 33.368 1604 FocusPocus
2000 2 Zetec A4 dohc or spi? 31.783 1928.6 psychojuggalo17
2004 2 Duratec ? A4 31.619 3068.5 mCook
2005 2 Duratec A4 22/29/25 30.424 1687 geekbanter
2003 2 SVT Zetec M6 SVT 18/23/20 30.308 1028.5 yab13e
2005 2 Custom E-85 M5 28.835 1431.8 Fredness
2004 2 SVT Zetec M6 SVT 18/26/21 28.512 6713.3 jcp123
2002 2 Zetec A4 23/29/25 28.471 569 kthy66
2002 2 Zetec A4 23/29/25 25.347 219 focussaywhat


As you can see, there were a lot of different engines for the Foci, including PZEV versions and a 2.3 Duratec in the 2006 and 2007 model years not listed above.

PS - let me know if you can help me with this awful format on the table.

One of the things to take away from that chart is the difference between the sticks and autos. Sticks are getting from mid 30s to lower 40s, while autos are getting mid 20s to lower 30s. The window sticker said EPA 26/32/28 on my 05, and I was always disappointed because I would only get 23-25. For a car this size that is pathetic. The 08 revised EPA rating actually matches what I was getting before hypermiling.

If I remember correctly the big differences between the 08 and some of the earlier models is just a firmware change, trading emissions for gas mileage. I'd love to be able to get a newer model flash on my 05.

I'd love to be able to get a newer model flash on my 05.

There are a bunch of people getting the 08 flash on their 06 and 07s. Don't know if it's that easy or not for an 05. Check out http://focusfanatics.com

One of the things to take away from that chart is the difference between the sticks and autos.Wow, that's pretty dramatic. ALL the cars getting over 34mpg are MTs. And ALL of the ATs are getting less than 34, as are the two SVTs and the one running E85.

Put another way, median non-SVT, non-E85 MT is 36.6mpg (that's you, FocusGuy77). Median AT is 31.0. That's a pretty wide spread.

What's interesting to me is Zetec vs Duratec. Median Duratec is 35.4mpg and median Zetec is very slightly higher at 35.8. Do most Focus owners know which engine they have, and is the Zetec vs Duratec information in that chart accurate?