New Ford Focus commercial targets Prius

[Cootunit]

I reviewed a Focus earlier this year and I think folks have covered things pretty well in this forum. I found it to be crude in many ways, had no handholds in the entire car and you had to pay $380 to get ABS. This really is an apples and oranges comparison.

Of the Big 3, though, at least Ford does have a passable small car.

[pewd]

at the moment, yahoo autos has a 2007 prius with 25,000 miles selling for $25,000. mine is a 2007, also with 25000 miles - if that can be believed, my prius has depreciated zero $ in 18 months.

i'd like to see a ford hold its value like that

[howgreenru]

Everyone else has covered all the flaws with that commercial, so I'm just going to say this:
Ford is jealous of the Prius

[Mormegil]

Well also have to consider, not everybody can afford the up front cost of buying Prius compared to a less expensive less fuel efficient compact car.

A friend of mine has his heart set on a Prius, but will have to settle for a Fit for now (and get the next gen Prius in a few years).


Another thing that needs to be looked at in the calcs is the price of gas. That's calculated at $4. I'm in Los Angeles, where the average is like $4.50. I expect pretty soon $6 wouldn't be unreasonable (within the 7 years recoup). That can change the equation a bit.

[ZC1]

Just say NO! to a Ford Fucus. (fugly cheap car wannabe)

[PriusSport]

The car manufacturers have been caught with their pants down, so they have to make some arguments to sell their cars. The problem with conventional small cars is they get inadequate city mileage vs a hybrid. That's because electric power makes much more sense in low speed/short trip driving. The ICE is very inefficient until heated up.
But the dealers are stuck with these cars, so they have to sell them. Plus all those dinosaur gas guzzlers. In the Sunday paper today, there was not even a hint of a hybrid in the car dealer ads.

Having said that, you do have to look at price and how many miles you drive. You can buy a new Nissan Sentra for $14K and a new Honda Civic LX for $16K right now. That's 10 grand or more less than a Prius. At $4 a gallon, you have to drive a lot to justify the Prius based on gas alone. That, of course, would change at $8 a gallon. I think it's more likely gas will come down in price--near term.

[Stev0]

Ford's main job nowadays is to make GM look good by comparison.

[Bob Wible]

CNN did a little comparison of the top fuel effecient cars (link below). I doudt you will see this in any Ford Commercials.


Fuel-Sipper-Smackdown: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

[MikeSF]

So ford makes an ultra compact car similar to the civic hatchback, and it STILL can't get the mileage of a Prius? Way to go Ford.

[clintd555]

This is like comparing apples to oranges. I test drove the new Focus and let me tell you...it's total crap. The build quality is several steps below any Toyota including the Echo.