Bye Bye Focus
5/10/1

I�m getting ready to say farewell to the Focus.

I called about my regular car, nicknamed the Kronos now, to see how things were looking since I�ll be leaving town Friday afternoon. Really, I was more concerned with them calling Friday afternoon and since my car would have been ready, the insurance wouldn�t cover the Focus anymore.

When I called, they said that the car was essentially done but they just needed to clean it. While she was on the phone, someone told her that it was cleaned up already. I let her know that I�d be picking it up around four this afternoon.

I called my wife, now nicknamed Aisai since she didn�t like the designation Wifey, and told her.

I really miss the Kronos. It�s light weight and acceptable horsepower are definitely to my likeing. Plus, this Focus was getting around 25 mph where the Kronos gets around 32 right now. And that is with me needing to change the spark plugs.

So, let�s look at the Focus.

The other cars which I had as rentals this year were lacking and I would not want to own them. The Dodge Ram 1500 was like driving a small house, though it did come in handy moving those mattresses. The Geo Metro was as expected, cheaper than words can explain while feeling solid. But with a car that unpolished and small, I�d still expect better gas mileage than the Kronos. But no, it got around 28. The Mitsubishi Mirage was about the same as the Focus, but you didn�t feel so cheap riding around in it. The suspension was arguably worse than the Metro, but the CD player was nice.

The Mirage CD player is nicer than the Ford Focus CD player, which can�t FF within a song.

The Focus, however, is a car that I would like to own. I�d rather have the ZTS than the SE that I have. In Nissan terms, an SE is sporty. In Ford terms, it�s loaded but with the big engine. The two languages should not be confused. The SE I�ll be dropping off is valued at $16k. It has all the bells and whistles, but no sunroof. I�m not sure if it comes with a sunroof at all.

After nearly three weeks with the car I�ve learned it�s limits. It is very fun to drive and yet not too small or large. The trunk is more than adequate for my needs, but the cruise control is not as sophisticated as the one on Aisai's old Kronos, a Kronos wagon.

I really enjoyed the Focus the first week, or as much as I could knowing my car was trashed again. The second week it was getting kind of old, besides it had picked up dirt and didn�t look as nice and I�m not washing their car for them. I did clean the windshield, since I can�t put up with that. The third week, this week, has been a realization that it is a fine car with a good, quiet ride and decent acceleration. On Tuesday, I was actually planning on going to the Ford dealer and asking to drive a ZTS just to see how the extra power was.

But, if I were to get a Focus in the not so immediate future, I would have to drive the ZX5 which has not been released yet. I�m sure the Toyota Matrix will give it a run for it�s money.

I can�t believe that we are getting powerful four door hatchbacks these days.