Ken Garff Ford

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Walk Around

Ford Focus has been reskinned for 2008, giving it a Ford family look while not greatly changing many of the dimensions. The result is at best conservative and at worst awkward and dull.

The front end is dominated by a two-bar version of the three-bar, razor-like chrome grille that first appeared on the Fusion. The grille is flanked by headlights that wrap around to the sides and follow the curve of the hood toward the windshield. A too-large expanse of bumper is located under the grille and below that is a large air intake that houses fog lights at the corners on the topline SES model.

The sides feature a chromed triangular applique at the back of each front fender that simply seems like tacked on ornamentation. This piece, which looks like an F on the driver's side, is the starting point for a pair of character lines that flow back. The bottom line leads to the rear wheelwheel, while the top line rises from front to rear and teams with a high tail to give the Focus the appearance of at least some dynamic motion. The rear of the coupe's roofline stays almost as high as the sedan's, which makes it look a bit clunky. The car looks best from the rear, where the simple angular shapes seem to work.

The overall result is a look that seems like a poor attempt at a family design statement.

Interior

2008 Ford Focus

Inside the Ford Focus is an aesthetically pleasing cockpit. The dashboard is dominated by a shiny plastic silver inset that covers the middle of the dash and leads into the center console. This is surrounded by black plastic top and bottom. There are no soft-touch materials here, but the graining looks nicer than it did in last year's model. The center console is deep, though not especially wide.

On top of the dash is a hooded cutout that displays trip computer, radio, and, when ordered, Sync information. The instrument panel has two large gauges, the speedometer and tachometer, and two small gauges, the fuel gauge and water temperature gauge. With markings every 20 mph that light up with a turquoise hue, it can be hard to judge your speed at a glance.

Thanks to Sync, the center stack has more controls that you'd expect to find in an economy car. Along the top are buttons for 10 radio station presets. When Sync and Sirius satellite radio are ordered, drivers can store up to 60 stations: 20 FM, 10 AM and 30 Sirius. That's impressive.

Below the stereo presets are a group of controls that include the volume and tuning knobs, as well as six buttons around a four-way central pad, all of which control the Sync system. Of course, none of these controls are necessary if you simply hit the steering wheel's voice control button and learn to use the voice commands. An easy-to-use set of climate controls is located below the stereo and Sync controls. None of these buttons are hard to identify or reach.

At the base of the center stack is a nice rubberized tray. This area is fairly important because it is where drivers will keep their phones and iPods when they use the Sync system. We found Sync to be genuinely useful and fairly easy to use. When an MP3 player is plugged in, Sync charges it and has access to the complete playlist. The driver can tell Sync to play a specific song, artist, or genre of music from his MP3 player. Sync will also stream MP3s wirelessly from a source like a phone/MP3 player enabled with Bluetooth technology. When a Bluetooth-enabled phone is in the car and paired to the system, Sync can access its phonebook. It can even play back incoming text messages through the speakers and allow the driver to respond with one of 15 predetermined messages, all while the driver keeps his hands on the wheel. There are a couple glitches, though. I couldn't get the system to recognize "Kirk." Instead it heard my name as "Curt," which is another number in my cell phone. And in general, the system is a bit tricky to learn at first.

The front seats are comfortable, with plenty of head and leg room. Thanks to large mirrors and small rear pillars, the driver's seat affords a good view to all corners. The rear seat has decent room with shorter people up front, but leg room disappears as the seats are moved back for taller front seat occupants. Head room is decent in the sedan, but a bit lacking in the coupe.

The trunk is fairly large at 13.8 cubic feet. That's as big as or bigger than some midsize cars. The second row seats fold mostly flat to allow loading long, flat packages. And in a touch expected of larger cars, the trunk has struts, not large sickle-shaped hinges that can crush packages.

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