5-door Focus improves on a good thing

Hatchback is practical, stylish

BY LAWRENCE ULRICH
DETROIT FREE PRESS AUTO CRITIC

The Ford Focus has become boring.

In the best possible way.

In just two years, the European-designed Focus has forged a rare consensus as the best domestic small car: practical, peppy, stylish and affordable.

The boring part is how it's already easy to take the Focus for granted. Before it showed up, people were whispering that American manufacturers might as well raise the white flag when it came to small cars.

But Ford's colossal compact has put to rest suggestions that a domestic would never challenge the Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. Recently, the Focus landed again on Car and Driver magazine's annual 10 Best list. The only other homegrown car to make it was the Chevrolet Corvette.

Fine company.

For 2002, the trio of Focus models -- sedan, hatchback and wagon -- expands to a quintet.

Come February, Ford's Special Vehicle Team, known for hopped-up Mustangs and F-150 pickups, will roll out the SVT Focus. This hot hatch will take on the Volkswagen GTI and Honda Civic Si with performance upgrades including a 170-horsepower engine, Getrag six-speed manual shifter and 17-inch wheels.

On a more practical note, the ZX5 5-door hatchback arrives from Europe, where it's been part of the Focus family from the get-go.

In Europe, 5 doors bowl 'em over. Here, it's been the cold shoulder. (European consumers choose the ZX5 over the sedan by an incredible 5 to 1.)

Suddenly, we're witnessing a proliferation of 5-door hatchbacks stateside, including models from Mazda, Hyundai and Lexus. Pontiac and Toyota will soon weigh in with their Vibe and Matrix siblings.

It's a body style that's functional as all get out for passengers and cargo alike. And Ford is bettingyounger buyers will choose door No. 5.

"We're seeing the tastes of young adults changing, and they're more attuned to global design," said Bob Fesmire, Focus marketing manager. "They're more open to this body style, and they don't see that hatchback stigma from the '70s."

Extra doors and extra features
The ZX5's exterior and interior dimensions are identical to those of the ZX3 hatch. Just add two doors. That limits grumbling from passengers who'd otherwise have to fold, twist and mutilate themselves to reach the back. You can also load, remove or arrange cargo at the rear doors instead of always stretching into the hatch.

The rest is familiar territory for anyone who's poked around inside a Focus. That includes laudable interior packaging and design. Other compacts, including the latest Honda Civic, have emulated the Ford's tall roof and generous dimensions. With nearly 38 inches of rear legroom, virtually identical to the larger midsize Honda Accord, two lanky adults fit very comfortably in back. Back-bench headroom actually exceeds the Accord's by an inch.

Inside, I was reminded yet again of this interior's inviting European design, with its bulging egg-shaped vents and asymmetrical dashboard shapes.

Compared to other Focus models, the ZX5 gets minor interior tweaks, including front bucket seats with dual map pockets. Faux brushed-aluminum trim replaces the synthetic woodgrain around the center stack.

The thick steering wheel nearly reaches Volkswagen levels of grippable appeal, and the seats are firm and comfortable.

The rack-and-pinion steering works in combo with a MacPherson strut suspension up front and a multi-link design in the rear. Tuned to a good compromise between ride and sportiness, the Focus continues to impress with its sure-footed cornering and cheeky spirit.

Rowing the manual shifter isn't the greatest fun. Throws are on the long side, and the rather mechanical feel is one area where the smooth-shifting Civic has the Ford beat.

Being a hatchback, the ZX5 is highly sensible. The rear seats, split 60-40, fold completely flat, opening up usable space that belies the car's tidy size. If you've never owned a hatchback, you'd be amazed at its appetite for cargo.

At a base price of $15,615, compared to just under $13,000 for the ZX3, you may be wondering if Ford is charging $2,500 more for an extra set of doors. But hold that abacus: The ZX5 is aimed at a still youthful but slightly more well-heeled buyer. (Instead of the college student with a back seat full of laundry, picture a college grad with a back seat full of dry cleaning.)

That means many more key standard features, including the uplevel 2.0 Zetec engine with 130 horsepower, 16-inch wheels, air conditioning, an in-dash six-CD player, cruise control, tilt and telescoping steering wheel and more.

Electronic reminders are annoying
Enough unabashed praise. On to the gripes, however minor:

First, the annoying upshift light in the driver's instrument cluster that tells you when to change gears to save fuel. It's always blinking like a faulty bulb in situations where you have no reason or intent to shift gears.

In the same dumbed-down vein is Ford's Beltminder that chimes persistently when the engine's running and your seat belt isn't fastened. But it makes no allowances for when you're sitting in a driveway or parking lot, listening to tunes, warming up the car or waiting for your Aunt Jane.

Now, don't get me wrong. I always buckle up, and I can muster lukewarm support for mandatory seat belt laws as well. But the Ford Beltminder effectively legislates that you will wear your seat belt even in a parked car or suffer the aural consequences. Get used to it, because its pesky ring-a-ling will be heard on every Ford model for 2002.

The ZX5 we drove added some expensive options including ABS and Advance Trac stability control, which senses and prevents the car from spinning its wheels or sliding off course. This remains the lowest-price model in America to offer stability control, a safety and performance enabler that boosts driving confidence in treacherous situations and might one day save your skin. It's pricey at about $1,200, but Ford hopes the charge will come down as more people opt for Advance Trac.

Leather seats and side air bags added about $1,000 more. Loaded to the gills, our test model came in at $19,370.

Not bad. But not as knockout a value as a well-equipped Focus ZX3 or SE sedan. My sense is that any Focus priced much above $18,000 is going to get buyers' eyes at least wandering toward other models.

Ford's own SVT Focus will come in around $18,000, but it's also swaddled in top-shelf performance gear, including a lusty engine and the six-speed tranny from Germany's Getrag. Toyota will send a tsunami at the Focus with an all-new Corolla, making its world debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

For Ford, value was a cardinal factor in creating America's best small car in decades.

Lose focus on that, and the Focus loses.

>Contact LAWRENCE ULRICH at 313-222-5394 or ulrich@freepress.com

April 26, 2002

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