Top Gear LR Focus Competitors - How they compare to the LR Focus

[Timmeh]

On the back of the Top Gear review of the LS Focus I posted, hosted by www.eurofordclub.com, the crew at Eurofordclub present another Top Gear video:

Top Gear review all the new competitors to hit the market, comparing them to the LR Focus. This was completed a few months before the LS Focus was released, but includes the current offerings from the competitors, including:

VW Golf
Vauxhall Astra
Mazda 3

A good watch if you're considering a car in the hatch market... I was sort of suprised at some of the comments, but at the same time, not suprised by others.

Right click and choose Save As or Save Target As to download to your desktop:

Top Gear Review LR Focus Competitors (9.35MB, 6 mins 47 secs playing time)

Brought to you by eurofordclub.com! I uploaded it on dialup and I assure you it's worth the download.

I'll reserve my personal opinions this time, more interested to see what other people think - happy discussion.

Timmeh

[zetec]

I'm speechless. I'm smiling. And the Astra, Mazda 3 and Golf just got :

Excellent work Tim, just love those videos.

I could go on for hours and hours and weeks about how friggin insanely fun my LR Focus is, how Ford is the new Peugeot and how Europeans have BY FAR the best taste in cars in the world. Europeans push the design boundaries, Europeans integrate the safety features, Europeans spend the money designing the best cars in the world time and time again. Europeans don't buy Corollas in their thousands because if they needed to chill their sauerkraut, bratwurst, camambert, tapas or pizza from the supermarket they'd buy a Westinghouse and put it in their kitchen and not one with a Toyota badge... They have the highest safety standards, they have the best fuel economy standards, they rule the world in motoring and there is barely anything anyone can do to remove that. No matter how hard Toyota tries, it will never understand the psyche of the European car buyer well enough (probably inverse to the Australian market where they seem to have a darn good idea unfortunately) and as long as I have a pulse, I will NEVER EVER be associated with anything that is pumped out of the oven by those boring boring people. Sure they can design the odd supercharged Camry. Any idiot with 50 bucks can make a matchbox car go faster... as a famous personality once said on channel 10 "I'm the whole package". It's about the entire package, not the reliability AND the speed as 2 strengths.

Volkswagen is guilty of building brilliant cars, that are dynamically sad but still highly safe, competent and hewn from rock. Vauxhall are just asleep most of the time, but kudos to them for trying anyway, they make a half decent attempt. I support a nationwide advertising push to show those short videos on TV a few times a week just to shake the status quo, throw the Toyota heads off their high-chairs and spill the baby-food on the floors. Renault are trying, Peugeot have lost it, everyone goes through phases, Ford is having a blinder at the moment in Europe in my opinion and Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo are all brilliant comapred to the competition. That a 6 year old car can crap all over multi-hundred million dollar new cars and still cop recommendations, and then that Ford can even gamble and STILL improve it whilst the others are still not up with the older model is testament to the engineering brilliance of these Ford cars!! The old Focus is not perfect and there are many features of the new models of the competition that totally shame the old Focus, I'll admit it to anyone. But that the old model received such a glowing review after the three major big models is nothing short of fantastic. Then watching the new review, the New Focus gets raved about as even better.

All I can say is at the end of the day I fully respect anyone's right to buy what they choose, I won't publicly disgrace anyone, but I won't ever understand how I could ever buy anything other than the best for my money as a driver's car. I love my Focus, I'm so far obsessed with my Focus it isn't funny, but it's such a fun, stylish, solid, beefy little car that I just can't help myself. I'm addicted. I'm a Focus enthusiast and videos like that make me want to open my balcony door, walk out, scream to Australia how good it is and then go to sleep counting Foci dodging witches hats. Long live the LR Focus and best of luck to the new model, especially in Australia!

The King is Dead. Long Live the King.

[whippet_zetec]

the Mazda 3 copped it big time, interesting comment about the Mazda 3 being the new MK2 "so get down to your Ford dealer now to get a Focus before Ford ruin it"....rofl...

[losfp]

I can't believe the caning the Mazda3 copped! That was actually my very close 2nd choice behind the LS Focus when I was test driving. Didn't think there was much between them. Maybe they're aiming for different audiences over there, as the 3 is very popular here.

[Timmeh]

Ok, time to add my thoughts if alot of people won't!

I wasn't suprised with the Astra's review, the Mazda 3, well, I always shared alot of the sentiments they did. Such as liking the big engine, but not liking the quality of the interior.

I was most suprised with what they did to the Golf! Taking it on a golf course and having people drive golf balls into it, it's one tough skinned car!

It's interesting that no car has come close to topping the Focus for the way it drives on the road though, as they admit. The design is 6 years old now, been on sale in Australia since 2002, and earlier in the UK. Yet other car manufacturers are still trying to catch up in the handling and on road performance department, that says alot.

Anyways, I thought it was an interesting review... hope everyone that downloaded it enjoyed it, I thought it was an excellent video.

Tim

I can't believe those golf balls never even smashed the glass on the VW! Was that for real? Maybe they were plastic golf balls, or perhaps it was a fully armoured VW with bullet proof glass? :gren: lol

I agree with the comments on the Mazda 3, it does feel cheap inside and I hate the sound the electric steering makes, it ruins the whole car! I wonder if they get the 2.3 litre motor in the 3 over there in the UK?

And that Astra, : ! The guy said it only had a 1.6 litre motor and already motoring mags here in oz are saying it's too slow with the 1.8! It's weird how they have to pay big money for the engines we take for granted, yet they always get the option of even bigger engines that would suit Australia even better ie. new Fiesta and Focus ST/RS.

Thanks for the upload Timmeh, makes me want cable :

[FOCUSonTHIS]

2 thoughts i would like to share with you all. 1. I love my focus and recommend it to anyone. 2. I would love to take shots of any small car (other than a focus) at a golf driving range.

[lincoln]

Pretty typical of a British review though, they very rarely like anything that isn't European. Especially Top Gear! They're pretty biased. Entertaining though!