I approached the machine with extreme caution, the same way I would an unfamiliar pit bull. Not that I was afraid or anything, but with these things you just never know. I had never driven its kind before and this is how I was reacting. It was just, I don't know, weird or something. We're not talking about a high-powered drag car or even a new project car. What had me on edge was the new Ford Focus SVT. Like a lot of you, I don't know quite what to make of it. It has SVT badges, but it doesn't have a V8. Or even a V6. Or a supercharger or turbo. Holy Henry Ford, it doesn't even have a driveshaft.
Sure, the SVT Contour didn't have a driveshaft either. It sent its power to the front wheels, as does the Focus, but the Contour had its cylinder banks in a V-shape and the Euro-styled Contour was a lot more traditional looking than the Focus. The first time I saw a Focus ZX-3, I thought it was an old Honda Civic with a birth defect. With time, however, it's started to grow on me, same as the 2001 Lightning's crystal taillamps. But here I was in the Motor City, about to sample the SVT Focus for the first time from behind the driver's seat.
Hmm, this seat's pretty damn good. It fits my body perfectly. And, hold the phone, I think I'm hallucinating--a production Ford Motor Company product that has a rotating knob for a seat recliner. You can actually adjust the seat back precisely where you want it, not where the old-fashioned ratcheting ones from the Mustang make you want it. So far, so good.
I twist the key and the teeny weenie 2-liter four fires up. Interesting sound, not tinny like a lot of imports, but not a V8 burble either. Whoa, look at the redline on the tach. It's way on the far side on seven grand. I put the 6-speed into gear (you read that correctly, a non-Cobra R Ford with more than five forward gears). This might be fun after all. As long as I'm giving out praise, a little goes to the interior folks. Everything seems exactly where it should be, though it takes me entirely too long to figure out that the rear wiper is activated by pushing the wiper stalk forward. The steering wheel, shifter, pedals, radio controls (there's even a redundant control stalk to the left behind the steering wheel), are all on the money. They also feel a lot better than they have a right to given the SVT Focus's sub $18,000 price tag. They wouldn't feel out of place in a car that costs $10,000 more.
Of course, it's still a front-drive naturally aspirated 4-banger, right? I puff out my chest and try to act more manly. Grrr. Where's my V8? Where's my driveshaft? Then we're off to the races. Wow, this thing's got more power than I thought. Even though it's raining, I find a road to exercise it a bit. I was slightly wrong. The SVT Focus has a lot more power than I thought. The engine screams right up to redline, and like the Contour and a '96-98 Cobra, you can feel when the secondary butterflies on the dual-runner intake open up. I'm shocked at how torquey it is, but it never seems to run out of breath, either.
No doubt, the 2-liter modified Zetec engine feels a lot torquier than it actually is because of the 4.44:1 first gear in the 6-speed. In fact, this tranny does not have an overdrive gear. Fifth is 1.33:1 and Sixth is 1.08:1. The final drive ratio is 2.88:1, which computes to 3.1:1 in sixth.
Another big reason for the car's peppiness is its high-tech exhaust system. It employs a new type of catalytic converter that heats up so quickly it eliminates the need for a light-off converter. This in itself frees up horsepower, but it also allowed the Special Vehicle Team Engineering staff (formerly known as SVE) to design an equal-length 4-into-2-into-1 tuned header for the car. (I had to catch myself there. I almost called it a pair of headers.). There's also more compression, a unique aluminum head with enlarged intakesports and bigger intake valves, plus variable cam timing and a host of other goodies dreamed up by SVT-E and Cosworth Technology. Overall, it makes 40 more horsepower than the standard 2.0 Zetec, for a total of 170.
OK, so the engine's sweet and the gearbox is fine too, although it has one of the most vague shifters we've ever experienced. What about the handling? That's pretty slick, too. Even though torque steer is ever present, everything else impressed us. The steering is beautifully weighted and accurate. I've been driving Fox and Fox-4 Mustangs so long I almost forgot how dreadful their steering is. The steering in the SVT Focus was like a bucket of cold water over the head. Even in the rain, the car's limits were high.
Ford SVT is aiming this Focus square at the heart of the import tuner crowd, smack dab in the middle of the hot hatch market. Base price is just $17,995 and there are only three options: winter Package, which included heated seats, for $395; Audiophile stereo system for $675; and power sunroof for $595. Add them up and you're still under 20 grand--$19,660 to be precise.
Naturally we're disappointed that there's no turbocharger under the hood, but that would have priced the car over $21,000 base and that's not where SVT wants this car to be. They want young people to be able to afford it, those same young people who swoon over Hondas, Acuras, Toyotas and the like. I think it'll run a mid- to high-14 in the quarter in as- delivered trim, making it quicker than the SVT Contour, but still about one-half second slower than a 5-speed Mustang GT. That makes it one very fast Ford.
Of course, Ford is promoting the heck out of the entire Focus line. It's backing the Fun Ford Weekend Focus Frenzy class with major league money and it's even copying the MM&FF True Street format to add some pizzazz to it. Which leads us to ponder this: What place does the Focus--SVT or otherwise--have in MM&FF? We're run a handful of stories in the past and so far no one has threatened to cancel their subscription. Is one story every month or every other month too much? Not enough? As they say on that old NFL commercial: "You make the call."
What are your feelings on the Focus? After all, you are the readers. It's your magazine. Should we ignore the Focus entirely? Play it up more? Less?
Frankly, the SVT Focus is an astounding machine with a bunch of high-tech goodies at a reasonable price. We like it, but what do we know? You can buy an awful lot of used muscle Mustang for $17,995. And that lack of a driveshaft really bothers us. One thing's for certain. We'll bring you a complete road test as soon as we have one to put through a full battery of tests. Like we said, "You make the call."