Fuel Economy

The Detroit News reports: Rabbit chews up the competition. We admit, we were surprised. That the Rabbit is well-built and fun to drive? No, we figured that. No, in the chart you'll see the not-as-well-built and sorta fun to drive Focus gets 27 city/37 highway. That's over 20% better than the more expensive Rabbit. 20% Go Ford. Now stop building the Focus so crappily.

Comments

[K]

Joel: Your belief is probably correct. It seems like the sort of thing Ford does now.

It certainly makes sense; keep offering an inferior model that won't sell instead of a much better version that might not sell.

[Jay]

While I appreciate that VW has finally brought a car to the US that competes on price with the rest of its competition, the fuel economy is abysmal and makes it hard to justify it. If it were only a little bit below the average for the class, that'd be one thing, but it's as fuel efficient as a typical mid-size V-6 family sedan. Seems all wrong for a Rabbit, which used to putter along America's highways and byways getting 40+ MPG in the bad old 80s. I mean, yeah for $15,000 it's pretty dang sporty, but the GTI is much better at being an athletic sport compact (and actually BETTER on fuel, as Edmunds reports it gets 25/31), and once you start putting a few options on the Rabbit, you're only a few exits away from GTI Price Ville...er...wait, that's...you know what I'm saying.

[ian h]

I hear over and over the cost of repairing german cars can be a nightmare. Maybe VW should make an effort to change that

[Joel A]

I have a belief that Ford's keeping the Focus the way it is because there is no demand for the Euro version. Yeah, enthusiasts may want it but the vast majority of Americans? Uh, the Camry, Civic, and Accord are the top selling vehicles in the country at the moment. That tells you something.