The Canadian Ford website has just included some interesting info on the
2005 model. Significant changes, including a restyle and new engine. There's nothing on this in the Ford U.S. website, nor on Edmunds, so U.S. readers might be interested as well since I'm sure they'll be getting many of these same changes.i want one!!!
The look reminds me of the European Mondeo for some odd reason.
Mojo
I was talking to my Ford salesman today. He mentioned that the 2005 Focus will be an early release in 2004 perhaps as early as April. Unlike the US Foci, the 2004 Focus does not get/have the 2.3 l engine but it is in the 2005 Foci. As well Ford will be using a new naming scheme, keeping the ZX3 and ZX5, adding the ZX4, ZXW, ST4 and the S, SE, and SES versions.
From other reports I've seen on the Focus is that it is a brand new platform, currently available in Europe with even better handling than it currently has. The C/D is supposed to be lower than the .32 of the current design resulting in better highway mileage and less road noise. It will also be a shared platform with new Volvo and Mazda vehicles.
Yeah, isn't it the new Mazda 3 and Volvo S40 that share the platforms?
Mojo
Yes, that is referenced in the below article.
To share the platform may mean many different things. The "platform" seems to refer mostly to the "layout" wherein anything may be changed between two cars sharing it. Even the floor steel plate may differ in gauge and quality. And any part mounted on it can be different. /per
skrev i meddelandet news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...
The car that is being launched as the "new 2005 focus" in the US uses the existing C170 (I think) platform. Another "new focus" is being launched in Europe next year, using a new C1 platform that is shared with the baby Volvo and the Mazda3, and the new Focus C-MAX. The "new" US car is just a styling and minor engineering update of the existing one.
This is really a result of the different markets the car is sold in in the different terretories. In the US it's seen as a budget compact car, with a fit and finish to suit. In Europe it's sold as a high-quality mid-sized family car, with a price to match. The extra cost allows Ford to introduce this new, more expensive platform in Europe first. also, the car was launched in the US in 2000, over a year after it was launched in Europe, so Ford haven't sold it in the US long enough to warrant an all-new model.
Gary
They (and the Volvo V50) share the platform with the 2005 Focus in Europe. The North American 2005 Focus remains on the old platform, with some changes.
So, in the years to come, when Europeans and North Americans converse about their Foci, they'll be talking about two completely different vehicles?
Rob
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"Timothy J. Lee" wrote ...
Curiously, the Mazda3 will be sold in the US soon. I saw one at a car show, and the floor rep said it would be available in a few months. So if you're desperate to get that new platform ...
I went to look at the new Focus C-Max, but could not get a test drive, because they had no wheel rims available in Sweden for this car to fit the winter tires that are mandantory right now. The Focus or Mondeo II rims do not fit. This is the sort of things you'll find within the new platform, not a specific type of handling etc, as this may differ vastly between the makes using it. The Volvo has a more laid back handling e.g. Motor journalists say they can not recognise any handling resemblance between the Mazda3 and the new V40. /per
"Benjam>
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