We lived in the UK for three years (2000-2003) and bought a new Focus for my wife. It was a great little car, with the sport package, 1.8 litre, etc. I liked the handling of it. Although Ford had set out to build a 'world car' yet again with the Focus, the NA engineers later got their hands on it and recalibrated the suspension for sale in NA. They also changed several small things for no good reason. There were multiple recalls in the US/Canada on those small items, and the handling of the NA version was nothing like the Euro version.

The SVT and others later models bolstered the performance of the NA versions, but it was sad that they couldn't just leave well enough alone in the first place.

I'm with MD, I like small cars that handle well. I would consider a 1 series in the family, although probably not for me (that old problem with headroom).

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2007 X3 3.0si, 6 MT, Premium, White

Retired:
2008 535i, 6 MT, M Sport, Premium, Space Grey
2003 X5 3.0 Steptronic, Premium, Titanium Silver
2002 325xi 5 MT, Steel Grey
2004 Z4 3.0 Premium, Sport, SMG, Maldives Blue