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Cheap Plastic Elantra wins Car of Year


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Maybe I'm too much into Ford, but seriously, how did these so-called 50 Journalists come to deciding the Korean Hyundai Elantra is the best car over the Focus. Do they road test the vehicles for performance, handling and braking? Or was it based on the bad press Focus got for the transmission reflashing? The Elantra is so plastic inside...cheaper materials. Wait...I think I have a possible reason...keyword "Cheap". The Elantra is cheaper than the Focus. Is that it? They never mentioned in today"s paper how they arrived at the winner? I'm perplexed.

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I've test driven both the Elantra and Focus within a day of each other. I couldn't fault anyone who bought an Elantra or Focus. They are both excellent products. While the Focus is a higher-tech car that handles better...the Elantra is a better people mover with a more comfortable interior...at least in my opinion. I think the judges did a good job. All three finalists deserved the award.

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I think people get bent out of shape when awards, etc simply things using words like CAR or TRUCK. In today's world "Car" means any sedan, coupe, hatchback, wagon, or convertible...and sometimes Minivans. "Truck" means Pickup Truck, Van, SUV, CUV, and sometimes Minivan. It is pretty simple.

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Maybe I'm too much into Ford, but seriously, how did these so-called 50 Journalists come to deciding the Korean Hyundai Elantra is the best car over the Focus. Do they road test the vehicles for performance, handling and braking? Or was it based on the bad press Focus got for the transmission reflashing? The Elantra is so plastic inside...cheaper materials. Wait...I think I have a possible reason...keyword "Cheap". The Elantra is cheaper than the Focus. Is that it? They never mentioned in today"s paper how they arrived at the winner? I'm perplexed.

 

 

Many of the 50 are from the Detroit area and work at the newspapers, automobile magazines and automobile TV shows.

 

AutoLine Daily had 4 of the judges on this week... and they thought it would be the VW. But they all agreed that the Focus transmission was an issue.

 

Additionally, they where all very impressed with the Hyundai...

 

http://www.autoline.tv/show/1601

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The Focus had a buggy launch, countless reviews were not uniformly praise-worthy of the Focus and for good reason. I'm not surprised at all and predicted this outcome. Ford screwed up and they have some damage control to do and hopefully they'll get it right when it's time to put the Fusion on the pedestal.

Edited by BORG
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The Focus had a buggy launch, countless reviews were not uniformly praise-worthy of the Focus and for good reason. I'm not surprised at all and predicted this outcome. Ford screwed up and they have some damage control to do and hopefully they'll get it right when it's time to put the Fusion on the pedestal.

 

 

"COTY" awards are forgotten in days. And 'buggy' is not true. No new Focuses have left people stranded. Too many MFT users expecting to learn to use it in 5 minutes, without reading manual, so they say it's "junk". Honda Civic has had a worse launch of its new compact. Gas rpices went down, and suddenly "Oh lets get an SUV, now" happens. And, since Focus is not being dumped into fleets, the sales #'s are more realistic. Let Hyundai, Toyota and Kia dump into fleets and have low resale value.

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Too many MFT users expecting to learn to use it in 5 minutes, without reading manual, so they say it's "junk". Honda Civic has had a worse launch of its new compact. Gas rpices went down, and suddenly "Oh lets get an SUV, now" happens. And, since Focus is not being dumped into fleets, the sales #'s are more realistic. Let Hyundai, Toyota and Kia dump into fleets and have low resale value.

MFT isn't "junk" because of the user manual or to whatever extent customers read it or don't read it. It's "junk" - the initial release anyway- due to the cluttered UI, languid control response, and poor error handling among other deficiencies.

 

Also, the Elantra has a higher predicted residual value (per ALG) than the Focus.

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The Elantra appears nice but the proof is after the miles begin to pile up. BTW, the latest on my sonata is a check engine light, a continued buggy tire pressure warning system and front end noise. The base warranty has now expired (64K) and I just can't wait to see how my friendly neighborhood hyundai dealer is gonna stick it to me for out of warranty repairs. :gang:

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Wow...great responses from everyone. Lets hope the new Fusion doesn't have any issues...! I think it looks great...but so does the Focus. Lets hope people get over the transmission issue. They need to NOT raise the price at all, since these competitors are selling more for less. Go Ford!

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"COTY" awards are forgotten in days. And 'buggy' is not true. No new Focuses have left people stranded. Too many MFT users expecting to learn to use it in 5 minutes, without reading manual, so they say it's "junk". Honda Civic has had a worse launch of its new compact. Gas rpices went down, and suddenly "Oh lets get an SUV, now" happens. And, since Focus is not being dumped into fleets, the sales #'s are more realistic. Let Hyundai, Toyota and Kia dump into fleets and have low resale value.

 

 

Not ture at all. I've personally read accounts on another forum of people with a brand new Focus that came out to their car and it wouldn't start. It's not a great many by any means, but it's not zero either as you just ascerted. As for your contention on the MFT that it's just stupid users I suggest you check these out.

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/mercmilan06#p/u/10/NNhXCgfp-BY

 

And he had the Titanium. Makes me glad I only had the SE with no MFT.

Edited by BlackHorse
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Can this dude have a more annoying voice?

 

It doesn't matter what his voice sounds like. The video clearly demonstrates that the problems with MFT are not just a bunch of "stupid customers who don't understand it and won't read their owners manual" as has been suggested around here plenty of times. This man obviously knew what the system was supposed to be doing and it wasn't working properly.

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