Kwiksilver

"advantages" and "ford" are two words that just don't belong in the same sentence. just like "reliability" and "ford" don't either. if you go with a scion, the most important advantage is that your car won't start falling apart the day after you buy it like a ford will.

yokillr

the focus is made in AMERICA.....
the tC is made in JAPAN....
do the math...

GammaTNT

iTrader: (8)

Agree.
I will never understand how Focus made it to Consumer Report best small car of 2004.
I never trust CR anymore.

killerxromances

I know two people that have owned Focus's...
2000 Focus sedan
2004 Focus SVT

Both had problems and as you may have guessed, both guys sold them for a better car. The svt guy went with a matrix Xr, and the sedan guy went with a rsx non-s. So, other than that the Tc is a great car, with a well proven motor under its hood. Plus, in the short time Scion in general has been around, aftermarket has grown to such great heights and i don't see it stopping anytime soon!!

surfcity40

did you mean this for the xA forum? they are more closely comparable. kidding aside, imo, if you compare fit, finish, standard equipment, etc., there really is no comparison. (i like the xA 2.0, kind of an odd duck but underpowered).

808tC

no offense, but ford focus sucks......there are some that are fast (SVT), but yea i went with the tC because it was reliable and cheap....its enough power for me and i can always add turbo if i wanted more

fivepointnine

I traded an 02 ZX3 on my TC...the focus was a POS, my tranny went out at 1000 miles on the ZX3 and was getting ready to go again at 12000 miles when I traded that POS in, plus the seats in ZX3's are just plain unsupportive! I will give the handling to the ford though....unti I added my s-techs to the TC that is

pio

to all the people who have trash the focus...
the 2000 focus have a bad recall history...true...
BUT thats was 5 years ago...

now the focus is as reliable as any scion...+ the scion have been out only for a year or so...how do you know it will not have as many recall as the focus...

the car have been in the CD top 10 for 5 years...
is the scion there this year?
NO....

it is just stupid to say the scion is a better car than the focus just because it is an american brand car...
just do a little search and look wich is one of the best selling car in europe...
you will not find a scion there...

the focus is as good as any scion + is made here in the usa...

i get sick with all the patriotism bull____ of some people, but the times comes to show it...what they do...they buy an import....just becouse it is an imports and imports are "cool"...

if you like japan so much....well...
move to japan...

the scion tc is a great car...(the other two are just ugly)...but i would not get one over a focus or a mazda 3....

yokillr

good luck w/ your focus... let me know when it breaks down...

better get the 3.

Black_RSX

The Ford Focus really has become a decent car.

Next years model (Already released in Europe) is pretty nice inside and out.

Sedan


Hatch

fiskadoro

I traded in a 2001 ZX3 (hatch) for my 2005 Scion tC. In the 3 1/2 years i owned the Focus i had maybe ONE tiny recall for a battery cable. The recalls more often affected the sedans, and especially the 2000 models. The only time my car needed to be towed was when my fuel pump died. Needless to say, it wasn't such a POS as many people think. However, the tC is built so much more solidly, has a better fit and finish to it, and feels like a more expensive car. The Focus was a blast to drive, but it did feel like an econobox. I'm glad I traded up, but I was happy with my ZX3, especially once i had modified it a little!

UnFocused

When I say that the ford focus is COMPLEATE CRAP (along with any other american car), I have a right to say so! my findings are not from "propaganda", But from a broke college kid (me) that had a focus that was in the shop twice a month!

pio

well...
i have had my focus for over 2 years...
and the only problems have been becouase the mods i have put on...
from the hundreds of focus owned i know....only a handfull have had problems...
no car is perfect...
the focus is an econobox...but thats doesnt make it a bad or inreliable car...
the scion is a great car for the value...
but it's still an econobox...just as the focus...

rentedshoes

A TC is not a FORD. That is reason enuf!

jmiller20874

Because the engine has been out longer than a year in the Camry, the best selling car in America.
Funny, I don't see the Focus there either. You say that the 2000 Focus had tons of recalls but yet it was on the Top 10 of that year. Just shows how credible that list is.
You're right you won't find one Scion in Europe......because they're not sold there, DUH! Plus the European Focus is a much different car than it's American cousin.
I doubt that, resale value will be the judge of that. Most Toyota's are built in America unlike most Ford's that are built in Canada/Mexico.
Yes I think the tC is "cool" but not because of the reason you list. It's "cool" because it's cheap, reliable, stylish and full of value unlike most Domestic cars that are just full of poopie.


With all that said I love my country, hell I work for our Government, but to say that I should move to Japan just because I support a Japanese car is just plain retarded. If anything GM and Ford should listen to their country and provide a car that doesn't catch on fire or doesn't have their brakes fail or whatever. They have a civic duty to provide their country will a reliable vehicle that holds its value instead of this disposable crap that they've been craming down our throats for the last 30 years.

And in closing God Bless America!

fausty

SVT4ME

Hello, yet another Focus owner here. I just wanted to clarify a few things. First, it seems people have lost track of what the original point of the thread was - he wanted to know what was good about the Scion tC, not what people thought sucked about the car he already owns. You don't like the Focus? Fine, but sheesh keep it to yourself. Tell him what you like about the car you've got, that's what he wanted to know.

Second, you can't guarantee the Scion tC will be dead-nuts reliable. Yeah the engine is from the Camry, but last time I checked there were a few thousand other parts beside the engine that helped to make a car. There's certainly the possibility that one or two of those few thousand parts might be poorly-designed or built and go bad. I used to own a Mk. I MR2 and I've had plenty of experience in parts that people thought seemed great when the car was new, but showed their poor design after the cars had started to accumulate some years on them. The brakes were undersized and prone to lots of problems due to overheating because of the small size, the starter motor was weak and needed frequent replacement, the alternators failed prematurely due to high heat in the engine compartment, etc, etc. My point is you can't just say "it's a Toyota" and think that because that is the case that it will be the ultimate reliable car. Yes, Toyota has a history of building fairly reliable and well-assembled cars but that's never a guarantee that every single product they produce will be that way. There's plenty of people out there with 1997 to 2002 Toyota and Lexus cars with 3-liter V6 and 2.2-liter 4-cylinder engines who got an unpleasant surprise when their engine turned out to be slowly self-destructing.

Third, the current European Focus is indeed different from the current North American Focus, but up until recently, they were essentially the same car. It was only with the introduction of the Mk. II Focus in Europe that they became very different cars. Previously they were the same car equipped at different trim levels, because in Europe the Focus is marketed a little "up the food chain" from the very bottom. So, the Focus that was a best-seller in Europe was essentially the same Focus that we see in North America. I don't really know for how many years the Focus has been a "best buy" or whatever in Consumer Reports, I don't really care. I don't put a whole lot of value in what they have to say. Pio may have been inaccurate with the details on that, but it doesn't take away from the underlying idea, which is that contrary to what people here seem to think, the Focus is not a piece of crap.

Fourth, for every person who claims they had a Focus and it was in fact a piece of crap, there are many more who have a Focus and have found that it is NOT a piece of crap. The people here who've said parts were failing at low mileage, or that the seats were unsupportive, well... may I suggest you either got a lemon or you mistreated the car? ALL brands have lemons, it's not fair to crucify the entire brand because of an experience you had with one car. From reading what other Focus owners have to say on various forums, I think it's not uncommon to discover that the car is only a "piece of crap" because they beat the ____ out of it and expected the car to take it. The seats are unsupportive? Well so what? It's not a race car, it was designed as a commute car. Put in different seats if it bugs you that much. You guys are acting like only the Scion can be modified, and the Focus must be driven in it's stock form.

And finally, keep in mind that you are comparing the Focus to cars designed and built several years after the Focus. The Focus was designed in the late '90s and was first available for sale in Europe in either late 1998 or 1999. The Scion tC just came out! Even a few years can make a difference in production techniques, design ideas, build quality.

pio

warren....
i dindt mention Consumer reports...
i said CAR AND DRIVERS....
and the focus was named top 10 from the introduction on late 99 (as a 2k model) till 04 model...not the top 10 doesnt have a compact cat....

SVT4ME

My bad. I know there's a few people who love to throw around the Consumer Reports data about the Focus (both good and bad), I guess I read your post a little too quick. In fact it was Car and Driver's report that they found the Focus a fun to drive car way back when it came here in 2000 that attracted me to the car in the first place.

SCI_TC_GUY

well then....I just stumbled on this thread and I'm gonna give my 2 cents and get out.....

Scion tC....
All glass roof!!!
Power windows, locks, brakes, auto up/down windows w/pinch protection, ac/heat, sexy 17" rims, memory seats, "fold down bed", reclining rear seatbacks, 6 speaker Pioneer CD/MP3 player, adjustable driver headrest, fold down stereo cover, etc. etc.......all STANDARD equipment....

add an automatic transmission and you have $17,265

Fill out another car with this equipment and tell me what the price is.....