Wondering between ford focus and Toyota Prius

Yes, but I said the question to the OP was how much do you want a Hybrid?...NOT.. How Much Do You Want to Be "Green"?

The truth is The Prius is not just a car...it IS a Hybrid. What "being" a hybrid means to the individual as far as value and perceived personal image, is all up to the individual owning them. And will be as diverse as all the individuals owning them.

Because even within your own admitted scenario, The Prius wouldn't of been "Highest MPG vehicle available at the time" if it hadn't been a hybrid. It's the Hybrid technology that allows it to BE the highest MPG mass produced vehicle.

VOLT and LEAF owners stand down...I know the playing field has expanded.

So I would say...you define Hybrid personally...and that's fine. But ultimately even you bought your Prius, because it was a Hybrid...and offered Hybrid advantages.

Maybe you're divorcing yourself from any further personal identification with what a Hybrid represents to "some" people. And I think that is perfectly fine. Infact you should notice, that outside of mentioning emissions....I DO NOT..mention any other aspect of being "green". I'm asking the OP "How Much Do You Want A Hybrid?" not "How Much Do You Want (Whatever Image You Attach To Owning A Hybrid)?

If I'm going to make a generalization I would say it is still key. Most people do not buy a Prius, Prius c, or a Prius V...because they feel they are the best Mid-Size Hatchback, Subcompact, or Family Stationwagon they can buy....outside of the HUGE advantage of being a Hybrid....whatever that represents. Even if the Hybrid allure starts and stops with MPG.

You can say for you it was first and foremeost MPG...fine. But you cannot deny that that MPG is possible BECAUSE of the fact that the vehicle is a Hybrid.

I'm clearly not saying you must buy a Prius...and also embrace numerous often invalid stereotypes concerning what owning a "Prius" means....

 

I'm with you TEM ! Agreed that the MPG's are possible only BECAUSE it's a hybrid, but the fact that it was a hybrid was of no consequence to me ... other than for MPG's. I know about and respect all the 'concepts' and abilities of hybrids ... trust me. I'm a techie at heart. I just don't really WANT two Prius LB's in the stable, and have found that after owning it for 30K miles ... I yearn for a little more fun behind the wheel, and a little more quality feel and tactile niceness in the interior.

I don't understand the whole idea of having to make the interior feel like a cheap plastic milk carton for the car to have the image of being environmentally friendly. Pure silliness if you ask me. For $25K I want/expect some nice/decent soft-touch materials in a car ... at the very least the dashboard and the door panels. As much as I love my Prius ... the interior quality is sadly lacking for a $25K car.

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Great deal if all of the discounts count. But in the end all the discounts count in the years For those of us that want a long term vehicle....

 

Not sure what you mean by that ... the discounts are factory standard discounts for my area. No tricks there.

You can see what discounts apply for your area at ford.com. I'm even thinking of joining the American Quarterhorse association for $35 to get another $500 discount. LOL. You gotta be a member for 60 days though before you're eligible, and I don;t know if I can wait that long. That would get the price down almost to $17K even.

The above are easy numbers to get ... you will probably have to special order the car equipped as I've done though ... which is fine with me.

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Others have already gone over numbers, and these are objective. Subjectively, I have not driven a Focus, but I've driven many cars, and the Prius is surely one of the least enjoyable to drive from any kind of a performance perspective. Of course, a baseline econobox like a Focus, Corolla, etc. none are performance machines and none are "fun" to drive, so I don't personally put much stock in that as a variable when deciding new cars in this price range.

I'd certainly take the prius if it's only $4k or so more than the Focus, depending on which options you're looking at. If the variance was more like $6500+, the Focus makes a lot of sense. In between, depends what day of the week it is

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Don't forget to include depreciation in any case, it's something people skip too often when considering the break-even point of a hybrid vs not.

 

In the end all the discounts on American name plates affect resell value.... In the end your specs does not meet up to the Prius in some ways... It lacks the A/T, and I would put your Focus over my Prisu for four adults and luggage any day.... Never mind that I would be able to do it in half the gas that you could.... But you already know that... You want to live the inner child to think that you have all that power and handling... While I would rather take that power and enjoy longer trips....

 

First ... You're FORGETTING that I ALREADY HAVE a Prius ... I'm not missing ANYTHING.

Second ... 38 MPG compared to 48 MPG is not 'half' as you mention ... not even close to half.

Third ... Inner child ???? What the hell is that ?

I doubt very much if you've ever even stood next to a 2012 Focus Hatchback ... let alone driven one ... and yet you KNOW that the Prius is better. I've lived with and driven a Prius for 30,000 miles and test driven 4 different Foci of all different persuasions. I've rented one for the weekend ... I know what I'm talking about.

All you guys who are comparing the current Prius to the old versions of the Focus are not comparing the correct cars. The 2012 is the new Ford World platform, which is vastly superior to ANY older Focus. Read some reviews and drive one ... you'll be surprised.

I really don't care what car anyone drives ... drive what you want ... we're just discussing cars here ... no reason to chug the Prius kool-aid and have totally closed minds to any other vehicle ... is there ? Especially when you've never even seen, touched, or driven the other car.

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I saw that you had a Prius already...

38mpg? Does it get that all the time with the Focus? Nope.... Not over all as you already know...

No need to be defensive.... I was trying to support your need to have something that dove different.

The inner child is what drives all other car manufacturers to provide something different from the Prius - everything from the Focus that you love now, to the fastest sports car that we dream of.

The kool-aid you speak of is one of the need to feel sporty and hug the every curve, race light to light, to have the biggest car on the road. I would rather think of the future generations, and relax in looking to glide to the next stop light.

Very happy that we both have choices....

 

I wold have to believe that an automatic transmission
on a Ford Focus is not going to get 38 mpg average
overall. I would think that 30 mpg is a more realistic
figure.

 

Here is what I did in the past 2 months, bought a fully loaded titanium focus HB (MSRP $28.5k and negotiated down to $23k), drove it for a month or so, didn't like it, traded in for a 2012 prius III with solar sun roof. What I liked about the focus is its firm suspension (I got the handling package with 18" wheel), planted handling, and most importantly, bang for the buck. With $23k, I pretty much got everything an entry leve luxury car has (or even more, like auto parking), the list is so long I won't detail it here.

However, there are a few things I really hated (or at least disliked). The steering of the focus had so-called "steering wandering" problem. From time to time, it randomly pulled left or right at freeway speed, which was no fun at all. The DCT transmission never seemed to be able to find the right gear. And the mpg was no where close to the EPA rating. I actually got higher mpg with my 5 year old passat wagon.

Due to the heavy discount I got on the focus, I managed not losing too much on the trade-in. The prius has less content, doesn't have much steering feedback. But at least it drives normally and doesn't pull left or right on its own. On top of that, I got 49mpg without even trying. It doesn't corner as flat as the focus. Hopefully I'll fix some of that with lowering springs and RSB. Overally I'm much happier with the prius than with the focus.

 

BTW, the focus HB is MUCH smaller than the prius. The rear seats in the focus is pretty much useless compared to the prius.

 

Hey RB !! That's why you DO NOT get the auto in the Focus. Most of my driving is either 45-55 MPH rural roads and highways. The trip I make most often is about 20 miles and there's one stop, so mid to slightly high 30's is do-able for me. As you can see in my posts ... I've averaged 48.1 MPG with the Prius due to my driving habits and environment for the first 30K miles. I have no doubt that I can consistently get 35 and change with a 2012 Focus. I've never heard of any 'wandering' problems with the Focus and I've been reading the focus forum for several months now. I'm guessing it was either and alignment or balancing problem that could have been easily corrected.

Either way ... good luck with your new Prius. I love mine.

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Like they always say....YMMV.

Aaaaaand...like the man says...it depends on how much you want to own a hybrid. Hey....I live in hurricane country! There are aspects of the G3 that would work phenomenally well as a back-up power source for after-storm blackouts.
I considered that as a huge advantage that a G3 would have over an X-brand. Portable generators are groovy, but you have to feed them. I have one, and have never used it as a back-up for storm related outages. When I was looking to own a G3 instead of just driving one every day, they could be had for $19,999.99 +TTL.
I came close.
I think that the various Priuses would probably fit something like 75-percent of the average drivers out there as a really good car to own at a decent-to-best TCO.
Probably more of those seventy-five percent might consider Prius ownership if they ever drove one for a weekend, as I have invited more than one perspective car owner to do.
There can be no doubt that it's a little cleaner than other eco-boxes, and it's roomier than some too....which is a rather silly consideration for most Americans who tend to eschew car-pooling.

There's a lot of FUD outside this forum about hybrids.
Me?
I've never been one to fight FUD with FUD.

Yes Virginia, there really is a hybrid premium, and some people out there would rather sit in a gynecologist's waiting room wearing a Rush Limbaugh T-shirt than take a long trip in a Prius when a sportier car is available for that task.
Beating people over the head isn't going to bring a fresh new wave of Prius purchasers into the showrooms. Neither is Toyota's current MSRP ++ pricing.
I suspect that there are folks in the bigs right now who are toiling away trying to stretch 35+ MPG into 40, while retaining some of the "fun to drive" factor.
We'll see.

For right now.....drive them all. Compare your expectations with the cars' capabilities.

If it doesn't come up Prius, I won't bash you.
My last new car wasn't a Prius either.

 

I know 2 people that have already purchased a 2012 Focus & got rid of them within a short period of time as both were huge pieces of crap. For me the front grill is almost as bad looking as the Mazdaspeed3. What is with so many huge, horrible looking grills on newer cars?

 

I wonder if the OP still cares or if he "tossed some grenades". Per PriusChat Forums - View Profile: Minkowsky "Last Activity: 04-28-2012 12:05 PM" (Pacific time).

The OP never answered my question at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...en-ford-focus-toyota-prius-2.html#post1541819.

 

ChipL...perhaps you may get 38 mpg out of a Focus, but that's not realistic if you live in a city or a suburb. I doubt anybody gets 38...unless they never stop at a light.

 

Uh huh .... that's why every automobile and consumer mag rates them top of the bunch, and they sold almost 30,000 last month (28,562). Everybody hates them and gets rid of them within a short period of time ....


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Well, if he had auto-park, he had the Titanium trim level, and you can't get a manual transmission above the SE level. Ford promised to change that for the 2013 models after consumer grumbling, though!

 

Looking to get a used prius, roughly 2005-2007, with 60-90k miles myself. They're much cheaper than buying new, and still have half or more of their useable life left. Of course I want to drive in one to see if I'll like it, but as long as it does 75mph quietly, I can't see not liking it.

 

Why compare the Prius to the Focus? Isn't the Focus more directly comparable to a Civic, Corolla, or Cruz? By the way, the new Corolla that's coming out looks very nice. The dismal reliability of the Focus is a nonstarter for me.