Looking for a new daily driver. I drive about 50 miles a day freeway and city with some traffic. The ST seems to meet most of my requirements: affordable, fun to drive, 4 doors, hatch/wagon preferred, manual, minimum 20 mpg combined, reasonably quick. My last two daily drivers have been a Subaru WRX and an Audi A4 B7 ultrasport wagon, both all wheel drive and manual. Not sure I'll like the front wheel drive. I'm going to drive the Focus and see how it feels, but for the money it seems like a solid choice. Nice little hatch with 250 hp. It will be smaller than my Audi but I'll get a hitch for my bike rack. Reliability appears to be good if you leave the drivetrain stock. Parts and service should be reasonable and there are several dealers in my area. On paper I like the ST2 trim with the cloth Recaros. Need to sit in it though, seems like the Recaros are a love/hate thing with the journalists.
Other cars in a similar class are:
VW GTI - looks nice, nicer interior, slower and heavier, concerns about long term reliability and repair cost
Subaru WRX - no hatchback or wagon available, more $, reliability concerns and poor local parts and service network, kinda big and ugly, but faster and AWD
Honda Civic Si - seems kinda boring, slower, probably doesn't handle as good, should be reliable though and I have a good friend who is and expert and works for Honda corporate
Unfortunately the Focus RS, Golf R, and Civic Type R are off the table, mostly due to cost and my intended use.
Anybody got one? Thoughts?
