OldZephyr

The 2009 Focus had ratings of Good in the Front and Rear crash tests done by the IIHS, and ESC is available. If the IIHS had found that the Focus was Good in the Side Impact test, Focus would have been another Top Safety Pick for Ford, which would have been a nice feather in Ford's cap. Today the results of the IIHS side impact test came in, and unfortunately the Focus was rated Acceptable (2nd best rating): http://www.iihs.org/ratings/ratingsbyseries.aspx?id=328 Looking at the results, if IIHS had judged the safety cage to be at least Acceptable (rather than marginal), then the Focus would have been rated Good in Side Impact test. Still, comparing the results to the 2007 Focus, it's obvious that there's been a huge improvement in safety, and the current model provides far more protection to occupants than the last generation of the Focus. The complete press release is here: http://www.iihs.org/news/2008/iihs_news_121708.pdf Honda likes to tout its committment to safety, however, one thing worth mentioning is that the Honda Civic, which is a Top Safety Pick (because of its "Good" ratings in side, front and rear, and availability of ESC), does not offer ESC except in the very top trim line, the EX-L, which lists for over $21,500 if you include delivery. The lower and midlevel trims don't offer ESC. In contrast, you can get even a stripped Focus S with ESC, and that will run just over $15K under the current employee pricing promotion (and with rebates it will be around $13,500). Ford is to be applauded for offering ESC in almost all of its vehicles, regardless of the trim level. My brother bought a Focus SE with ESC recently and he's very happy with it. Originally he was interested in a Civic, but when he found out that only the loaded Civics had ESC, he decided against even looking at a Civic; the $6000 price differential wasn't even close to worth it to him.

IIHS says that Focus is "Good" for rear crash test and "Good" for front crash test. If IIHS decides that Focus is "Good" in the side crash test (those test results have not been posted yet), then the 2009 Focus will be a Top Safety Pick because ESC is available. Does anyone know when or if IIHS will post those results? The reason Explorer and F-150 aren't Top Safety Picks is that they don't have a rear crash test rating as "Good".

You can finally do the build on a 2009. Took quite a while!

Well put!

I just don't get Armada Master's point. Look, it's pretty well acknowledged that the IIHS side test is more rigorous than the NHTSA side test. A high score on the IIHS side test for the D3 vehicles doesn't mean that there is some evil conspiracy against the Panthers. Maybe the Panthers do better than the D3s on rear crash tests. If so, great. But on the tests referenced by IIHS (and which is what we are talking about here -- IIHS "top safety picks"), the D3s do better than the Panthers. What's so hard about that? If I recall, most fatalities are from side and front end collisions, so that's probably why the IIHS focuses on those. Maybe rear crash safety is more important to the police market.

There must have been a change to the head restraints to the 2009 Milan/Fusion/MKZ, because the 2008 models were only rated marginal for rear crash protection. Congratulations to the engineers who designed the vehicles to excel at the IIHS test. I will be interested to see if the 2009 Focus (which now has ESC available) will do well in the IIHS side crash test. If it gets a "good" rating in the side crash test, it too will be a top safety pick for this IIHS (this is because the rear and front test results are "good" and ESC is available).

I've owned: 1978 VW Rabbit (Diesel) 1986 Ford Taurus L (3.0 Vulcan) 1992 Mercury Sable 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan 2005 Mazda MPV 2008 Ford Taurus SEL Least favorite: the Rabbit was economical (60+ MPG on the road) and fun to drive, but the seats were so uncomfortable, the car was hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and the diesel was a pain in the a** in the winter. I liked all the other cars (though I didn't like the failed transmission in the Grand Caravan at 72000 miles). Probably a tie between the MPV and the '08 Taurus for the favorite.

I agree. Some of the generalizations I read on this board are so off the mark . . . . it's just amazing what folks will say with the cover of the internet.

Congratulations to the engineers and others who redesigned the Escap/Mariner/Tribute so that it passed these tests with flying colors. Well done!

Thanks for posting the excellent photos -- they're well composed and well exposed. And the car looks great!

Amtrakking, thanks for posting this. I've noticed also that many "comparison" reviews don't compare apples to apples. Some cars are stripped while others have a higher level of equipment, and the price range is extremely wide. Is that the case here as well? On an unrelated topic, I agree with your tag line and am glad to see your support of Amtrak (I also ride whenever I can . . . 25+ years ago I was a coach and sleeping car porter and I still like traveling by train). I think it's becoming painfully obvious why there needs to be a decent level of funding for Amtrak.

Hi, we have a FWD '08 Taurus SEL with the optional electronic stability control (ESC will be standard on every '09 Taurus). We live in northern Minnesota where there can be a lot of snow and it can get pretty cold. We bought it in January and it is an excellent winter car. The handling is good in the snow, the traction is excellent (probably the best of any car we've had), the heater is powerful, and we've had no problems with the car starting or running in -20 degree (F) weather. I agree 100% with bbf2350 who posted above. We simply have no regrets getting the FWD instead of the AWD. The gas savings are significant (we get over 30 MPG on the road with a light foot) and I don't need to be driving in really bad weather for my job or otherwise. I figure that if the weather is so bad to require AWD in order to just get moving, I shouldn't be driving. We have had zero problems and we have around 11,000 miles on it already. It fits all drivers in our family (from 5'1" to 5'11") and is comfortable and roomy. And while we certainly did not get it for its looks, to my amazement a number of different people have commented to us out of the blue about how sporty and attractive the car is. At first I thought they were pulling my leg, but it has happened enough that I think the people were serious.

I agree. We've had 2 minivans. One was a '97 Grand Caravan with the 3.8L V6. We got around 16-17 in our hilly city, at best 23-24 on the road (and I am not a heavy footed driver). Our '05 Mazda MPV with the 3L V6 only improved on that by 1-2 MPG, if that 17-19 in town, 23-25 on the road. Our '08 Taurus much gets better mileage than the vans, especially on the road. We liked both vans a lot (although the tranny problem on the Chrysler at 75K wasn't too welcome). But I don't see how anyone can get 26.5 mpg in mixed driving with a minivan.

Good point. How in the world does the fact that the CV performed admirably here prove that a 500/Montego/Taurus/Sable would have done worse? This isn't a zero-sum game! Both have a sturdy chassis. Back to the topic, does anyone think that the intercession of politicians like Sen. Klobuchar or Sen. Coleman make any difference? I'd guess that if there isn't any money involved, it means very little.

It looks to me as if the '09 SE is the same as the base '08 SEL, but with the addition of ESC, and with only limited options available. The '09 SEL is equipped like an '08 SEL, but with the addition of Sirius and the Interior Convenience Package. We bought an '08 SEL with ESC (and nothing else). It wasn't easy to find one equipped with ESC, so I am glad it is standard on the '09. This is a positive development. When will we learn pricing on the '09s?

All sorts of articles mentioned the 500 improvements to the '08 Taurus. Was that list the figment of an adwriter's imagination, or does it actually exist? Aaron

Thanks for the tip. Here is the link to USA Today article you were referring to: http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/review...-26-focus_N.htm It says: "Ford notes that rear head restraints and stability control will be standard on the 2009 Focus." I have no idea if this is correct or not. Any insiders know about this?

Has anyone heard if ESC will be available on the '09 Focus? Thanks, Aaron

The order guide indicates that the 2009 I-4 comes with a 5 speed, while one news source says that the "2009" I-4 will come with a 6 speed. I assume the news source really means that the "2010" model being introduced late in '08 will have the changes. http://jalopnik.com/5006451/2009-ford-fusi...-boost-in-power Aaron

I was skeptical too about ESC. But people that I respect have told me that ESC really is a significant advance in safety, almost as important as safety belts. A car without ESC might not be "unsafe", whatever that might mean to different people, but it seems clear that a car with ESC is more safe, and significantly so. Here are some links: http://www.iihs.org/sr/pdfs/sr4105.pdf and http://www.iihs.org/research/topics/esc.html I think I understand what you're saying (I was annoyed with the Five Hundred lost its IIHS ranking for one year due to no ESC), but "moving the bar" also could be seen as what's necessary to make real improvements in quality. Bottom line for us is that we bought a 2008 Taurus precisely because it has ESC along with other good safety features (and lots of room too). I thought the ESC was reasonably priced (part of a $695 package), and some GM cars offer it for a pretty modest extra amount, I think under $300. So that tells me that you can "reasonably make" a safer car with ESC.