Houston Cars

When Ford redesigned the Focus in 2008, it was a welcome change.  Far from perfect, though.  Those hideous glued-on air vents on the fenders were quite the eyesore, after all.

Well, for the 2009 Focus, say goodbye to the faux vents.  The air intake gets lowered and grows by a couple sizes - though not overly so.  You won’t confuse the new Focus with a big-mouth bass Audi, anyway.

Base price on the 2009 Focus Coupe will be a cool $16,615 - including destination.  That’s not terrible, but it is a little higher than some of the competition.  The model you see in these pictures is the SES, which starts at $18035.  What do you get for the extra cash?  Some slick looking 17″ alloys for starters.  You also get a rear spoiler, and a baby bump in horsepower.  SYNC is standard as well - one of the cooler techno features around right now.

Overall, the new Focus is styled reasonably well ( better than 08 anyway ), gets great fuel economy, and is reasonably priced.  That’s a formula for success.  Maybe GM will take note and do something worthwhile in this segment some day.