The 2012 Ford Focus Titanium Sedan by txGarage

The Ford Focus has never been that strong of a competitor in the U.S. market. Although having great success with the Focus, and growing the platform, over seas Ford neglected the Focus brand here in their home market keeping a cheaper and older platform. The enthusiast community, including us here at txGarage, have cried for years for Ford to bring the Euro market Focus here to the United States. We’ve talked about cars like the Mazda 3 and the Volvo C30 which share the Euro Focus platform and how that makes them better than the American Focus.

Well you can forget about all of that now. In 2010 Ford announced that the new Focus would be the same in the Euro market and the American market. Finally they are bringing the enthusiast car into America, but does it live up to they hype? How does the 2012 Ford Focus handle Texas and our great terrain?

Ride/Handling:

Let’s start out with the big thing that set the last two Focus’ apart, the suspension and handling. The suspension is set up for a European feel. You get sharp handling and great steering feel in this Focus. The steering is electrically assisted which usually takes away feel from the steering wheel, yet you still get a great feel for what the wheels are doing underneath you. The new Focus also has torque vectoring control. What is that? It’s a system that helps distribute torque to the front wheels to suit driving conditions and road surface to keep traction. This means you can push this Focus harder and faster than ever before, even hard and faster than most anything else in it’s segment with front-wheel-drive.

Although you get a more sporty suspension setup and our Titanium Focus with the handling package and 18” wheels running Pilot sport tires, you still get a decent everyday ride. Rough roads and even a little off-roading is handled well in the 2012 Focus.

Engine/Transmission:

So what’s under the hood of our new Focus? As for now all 2012 Ford Focus’ come with a 2.0 liter 4 cylinder engine pushing 160 horsepower and 146 ft-lbs of torque. The Focus is front-wheel-drive only with no all-wheel-drive options and is available in either a 6-speed automatic or a 5-speed manual. We were stuck with an automatic transmission in our test car, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. The automatic is dubbed by Ford to be a “Powershift” transmission which is essentially a dual-clutch auto-manual transmission. As such the transmission was pretty responsive for an automatic. You could leave it in full auto mode and toss the Focus around some corners without getting much lag from the transmission trying to figure out the best gear to power you out.

The biggest thing lacking by the Focus to really make this a “sporty” car was the power output. Pushing 160 hp out of a 2.0 liter engine is’t that big of a deal and with the weight of this car it just didn’t seem like it was really enough. Great handing and a great transmission left us wanting more from the engine. We’ve had the opportunity to talk to some people within Ford who reassure us that we’ll be seeing an ST packaged Focus here in America giving an even more sporty edge to the new Focus. They wouldn’t say however what type of engine setup it would have. Will we get a turbo’d Focus here? We’ll just have to see.

Exterior Styling:

Most cars we test with all new styling usually have people that love the style and people that dont care for it much, but in this Focus we couldn’t find anyone during our time with the car that didn’t really like the new body style. Driving down Swiss Ave. in Dallas I was even waved down by a cop who began to tell me how great this car looked. After the initial shock of being waved down by a police man while breaking no laws we began to look over the car as I told him all about this new Focus. Needless to say, it draws attention.

We were really hoping for the Hatchback version of the Focus as I always thought they looked better, but I really like the styling of the sedan. Both versions use the latest evolution of Ford’s kinetic design language. It’s more aggressive and more aerodynamic than the previous Euro Focus and hundreds of times better than the previous American modle. It’s really elegant, muscular, and beautiful all at the same time.

Interior/Technology

If you think the exterior is something just sit down inside the new 2012 Focus. This is by far the best interior in it’s class. Our test car was equipped with two-tone leather – Black and Arctic White – and not just on the seats; we’re talking about the dash, doors, steering wheel. The contrast and colors made this car look premium and it really felt that way too.

Another thing that stands out inside this Focus is their focus on technology. Our Titanium Premium package adds rear parking sensors, push button start, automatic wipers, auto-dimming rearview mirror, and a six-way power driver seat. Our car was also equipped with the newest MyFord Touch infotainment system with a big touch-screen in the middle of the dash. The system took a little playing with to get used to but once you learned the quick ways to get to where you needed, it was really easy and intuitive. Voice commands and hands free features worked well to help program our destination into the GPS while driving.
Ford has had a few problems with the new SYNC software and we did experience an issue on our 2nd day with the car. The system froze while playing from my iPhone and while it continued to play no buttons or functions would work. I couldn’t turn the music down, couldn’t change songs, and couldn’t even turn it off. I literally had to shut the whole car down and restart it to fix the problem. Luckily I was close to home and it want that big of a deal.

Other technology available in this compact car that you would be hard pressed to find in it’s competition is the Parking Technology. When equipped with this package – and our car was not – the Focus can parallel park itself using the same technology found in much more expensive cars like the Lincoln MKS. The Focus can also be had with Ford’s MyKey feature which allows parents to give children a special key then restrict a number of things while that key is driving the car.

Pricing and Competition:

Although Ford has been lacking a serious competitor in the compact car class for years now that doesn’t mean the American market has been lacking. There is a plethora of stiff competition out there for the new Focus. The all new Chevrolet Cruze is much more upscale than the previous offering from Chevrolet. The all new Hyundai Elantra is stylish and enjoyable. The Mazda 3 is and always has been a great choice in this market. Although we have lots of great choices I think the Focus really stands out with it’s styling and features. It’s more sporty and enjoyable to drive than it’s competition.

You do pay for this though. Our Titanium packaged sedan cost upwards of $25,000. Throw in a few other features and you can get that price close to $30,000 in no time. That’s asking a lot of a Ford Focus even if it is one of the nicest cars you can get in it’s class. People are paying for them though. The Focus is selling well for Ford and the average price of a Focus sold in the US has gone up, meaning people are buying them and going for the higher priced ones.

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We had the 2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid for a few weeks during the Christmas break and really enjoyed our time in it. This is our video showing a little bit of what we thought about the new Milan. For a full review check out our post here, or hit the jump to see the video.

Feel free to let us know what you think about the video in our coments here on txGarage or on our YouTube page.

2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid

Driving on icy highways is no fun anywhere, but in Central Texas it becomes downright dangerous. A large percentage of Texans drive trucks, rear-wheel-drive with no traction. Couple that with the fact that we never seem to be prepared for ice or snow and it really gets dangerous. Heading home from visiting family for Christmas Eve, we hit the worst part of a bad snow day. A two hour long journey would be turned into a five hour marathon as we crept along the icy highways. We hit an enormous amount of traffic and hardship along the roads. Trucks would spin their tires desperately trying to climb hills; 18-wheelers would jackknife or would be unable to gain traction; Mustangs and 350Zs littered the ditches and medians; and mangled vehicles crept down the highway trying to get home. All I could think of, after the safety of my family of course, was not hurting this new press vehicle loaned to me by Ford. Surprisingly though, this 2010 Mercury Milan handled the snow and ice with ease, never did I think I would be happy that I was driving a front-wheel-drive car.

There have been quite a few rumors floating around for years now that “next year” is the year that Ford will dump its Mercury brand. Although the entry level luxury Marquee has been around since 1939, the brand hasn’t been a sales contender in any class for as far back as I can recall. The 2010 line-up consists of only three vehicles, the Milan, Mariner, and Mountaineer – you can also still buy a Grand Marquis, but only by special order now. So seemingly the skeptics are right. Ford isn’t investing much into Mercury and has been starving it for years.

I personally, after seeing and driving this new 2010 Milan, hope the rumors are not true. Although the Milan is still nothing more than a Ford Fusion with elegant sheet metal, at least it’s a big step in the right direction from previous generations. With the new looks and standard equipment on this car, it really does have enough to distinguish itself apart from the Fusion. For the money, I believe that the Milan is a much nicer and better looking than almost any other car in its class right now. I say “right now” because the upcoming Hyundai Sonata will be a fabulous car, not to mention the new Buick Regal that is going to hit the auto shows soon. With Ford absolving itself of Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Aston Martin, you would think that in the coming years Ford would be able to put more R&D into the Mercury brand giving them a new life-line.

So why is this Milan so important and so much better than its predecessor? Well just look at it! Mercury was really allowed to break from the Fusion body design and produce something drastically different in looks to the Fusion. Starting with the trademark “waterfall” grille the Milan has a curvy and lustful appeal to the front end. The headlights are more squished and stretched to curve up into the hood with the flowing body lines. The rear of the vehicle is more of the same with a more rounded rear end and tear drop tail lights with a beautiful new lighting design.

The interior of the car, although not distinguished much at all from the Fusion, is still one of my favorite interiors to be in for a car in this class. By far one of my favorite things about the interior is what’s not there as much as what is, namely fake wood grain. Why car makers connect wood grain interior with luxury is beyond me, but Mercury opted for a darker grainy material that looks better and really gives the car an upscale feel. The second best thing about the interior is the seats. The two-tone leather with exposed stitching looks wonderful and the bolstering and eight-way power adjustable seats make it incredibly comfortable, even on a five hour drive. You also get creature comforts like heated seats, dual climate control, ambient lighting, and steering wheel mounted controls. The next best thing about this Milan’s interior is Ford’s SYNC system. It’s a system you have to play with to understand how great and easy it is, although do it before you take off otherwise you will crash your new car. The menus are easy to read and understand, you get lots of information at your fingertips. You also have a great voice interactive system that allows you to hook up a phone or a USB device (i.e. iPod). It didn’t take long before I had my iPhone hooked up and playing my playlists, and when a call came in I could simply answer it via Bluetooth with a touch of a button on my steering wheel. The SYNC system has been hailed as one of the best infotainment systems, even over Mercedes and BMW, and is now being copied by many manufacturers. The only real gripes I would have with the interior firstly would be the extra storage compartment on the top of the dash. It makes good use of the space, but is the only part of the car made of cheap plastic and didn’t look like it fit well. Secondly, my daughter’s car seat had a hard time fitting well in the back seat; it just wasn’t wide enough from seatbelt to seatbelt buckle. Lastly, would be a radio mute button. It is always nicer to be able to hit one button to mute the audio and hit it again to bring it back to the volume you had it, instead of turning a dial or holding the volume button down on the steering wheel. That’s it, my three complaints of the car and they are nitpicks.

I know what you’re saying, yes it looks good and yes it has a nice interior but how does it drive? This is an enthusiast site after all. Well for a simi-luxuries, hybrid, sedan it’s not that bad. The driving dynamics match directly with the Ford Fusion, as it shares the chassis and steering, and we really liked the Fusion. There is not a lot of body roll, although it does exist, and the steering is tight and gives good feedback. This isn’t a car you’re going to buy to take to the track or even drive enthusiastically, but it’s not the boring slush-mobiles of the past.

My test car had the hybrid system in it, with a 2.5 liter four cylinder motor and an electric motor under the hood. The battery pack is stuck back in the trunk taking away some of your space but I still found the room plentiful. You can also get this car with the standard 2.5 liter Duratec four cylinder engine pushing 175 hp and 172 lb.-ft. of torque, or the 3.0 liter Duratec V6 engine with 240 hp and 223 lb.-ft. of torque. No matter what engine you get, Ford says that the Milan and the Fusion are “America’s most fuel-efficient midsize sedan” thanks to the Duratec technology. Of course we got the most fuel-efficient option with the hybrid system that Ford says will do 41 MPG in the city and 38 MPG on the highway, they say you can get 700 miles per tank, and that you can run the car in electric mode up to 47 mph. Let’s start with the mileage statistic because most MPG ratings on cars seem to be inflated. When I first got the car I reset the miles per gallon recorded in the information display, then drove the car like I would any normal day. My normal day of driving consist of two minutes of country road to the highway, then thirty-five minutes of highway driving to my exit, then about 2 more minutes of city roads to my office. So let’s just call that highway driving. My average, normal driving, on the highway was just at 38 MPG, astonishingly right at the advertised number. My next task was to reset the MPG again and take some time to drive some city streets. After a day roaming around Dallas wasting gas, I came away with 42 MPG. Thats 1 MPG higher than the advertised figure! What a great system this is! So I set out another task, two birds with one stone kind of task, where I would drive the car hard and see what kind of fuel economy I would get. This is a two bird with one stone approach because I was determined to prove to other drivers that hybrid drivers don’t have to be slow, pain in the neck, hyper mileage drivers. So after a few days of thinking not about fuel economy and jamming the right pedal to the floor, I came out with an average of 34 MPG. Most cars couldn’t get that if they tried their hardest. I was actually impressed. Of course all this great gas mileage comes at a price, almost $4,000. It is a hefty price for a great new technology, and living in a state where most commuters are like me – having a mostly highway driven round trip – won’t really get the benefit of the gas savings. We also have new technologies coming out with diesel engines and even Ford’s own EcoBoost engines that deliver great gas mileage without stripping an extra four grand from your pocket book. It would be more of a determination of your commute and where you live on if it would be worth it for you, although 34 MPG average is nothing to sneeze at.

All in all, I was pretty happy and impressed with the new Milan. It has a great new body that sets it apart from the Fusion. It has a fantastic interior, and it has fuel-efficient new powertrains. Ford still has a long way to go though to bring the Mercury brand up to a level above everyday Ford vehicles. They need to continue to differentiate their models with nice bodywork and upgraded interiors. They need to focus on competing with brands like Buick, Acura, and even Infinity, not with Honda, Toyota and Chevrolet. More exciting refreshes like the Milan will allow Mercury to compete with these brands if only Ford will give them the opportunity. Otherwise the rumors we all have heard may bring Mercury to the same fate as many other, now non-existent brands.