After giving up on Jetta Wagon as the most unreliable car in North America I cross shopped Honda Fit with Ford Focus.


Fit they had only in automatic and in Sport trim and it was what I've expected it to be - quite loud with an automatic and not that fast or particular exciting on acceleration. Gear shifter on the steering wheel confused me again and I found center panel to be geared for teenagers, so overall Fit is a Honda. I was positively surprised by suspension and how small the engine was, on a negative side I realised that bare-bone model didn't have cruise control, keyless entry and had steel wheels (alarm, spoiler and better stereo I don't care much for) and also I would have thought that by now they should have more then one car in stock and no waiting lists.


Overall Sport with manual is the Fit for me, i.e. $15,219-$15,765 (price with destination) + $475 (dealer fee) * 1.07 taxes. Since they still do MSRP and there is 12 weeks wait time (unless you are lucky) it is more like $17,377 MSRP car then $16793 invoice after tax, but I guess we could meet in the middle at $17,000 for everything but tag and title.


Then I went to Ford dealer to talk about Focus ZXW (W for Wagon). Indeed Ohio plant stopped making any ZX4 and ZXW and is retooling for 2008 sedan/coupe only model, while Mexican plant is still cranking ZX3 and ZX5 with 2007 models still coming in the future. (Wikipedia state that starting 2006 all Focuses were Michigan built - makes me wonder what plant are they retooling then and how come ZX5 still could be ordered from the factory while other cars are not). 2008 model should be on sale in August and ZX3 and ZX5 would still be manufactured for a while as 2007 model year. Thus overall, no new ZXW would be made and within 100 miles there are none with manual tranny or leather - auto only with cloth interior - same as one ZXW they had on the lot.


We found some ZX5 with manual and leather within 100 miles - all in SES trim or $765 extra for tilt wheel with cruise control and 16' alloys, all with Street Apearance Package ($1295 worth of exterior crap) and $370 worth of upgraded stereo that pushed MSRP on almost fully loaded ZX5 with leather, heated seats and moon roof to $20,560 with destination. Without the crap fully loaded ZX5 (i.e. SES with 50S Safety Package, 13B Power Moonroof, Y Leather Seats, 66W Weather Package, 553 Traction control) should go for $17597 Invoice, $18960 MSRP and $18,219 fair price - all with $595 destination. With $3000 "cash on the hood" Ford gives to take delievery it would make the car cost $15,219 (the same as Fit's invoice) and around $16,800 for everything but tag and title, thus the same $16,800 could buy either one. Focus would come with leather, moonroof, traction control, heated seats and mirrors assembled in Mexico and getting sub 30 mpg and Japan assembled Fit would get over 30 mpg.


On pricing Ford could do better and I should still wait till 2008 model comes to showrooms and Ford would not only put $3000 on the hood, but also offer 0% financing for 60 months saving me extra $4000 over 5 years. Without that Fit is better buy despite the leather and other extras because in 5 years the car would be worth $8,000 at best and loose $5,000 in value ($1000/year) even with creative financing and cash on the hood.


This brings us to that the best Wagon is 2003+ Focus for up to $8K with less then 50,000 miles or so. Why? It wouldn't depreciate bellow $5K in the next 3-5 years (depreciating about $500/year vs. $1000/year) while it still shouldn't break down much. $8K that would be saved by buying used would make about $2K in the 5 year, not beating the depreciation, but coming close and overall it would be the same car.


Not truly the same car - they did mid-life redesign in 2005 and despite making the car look a bit better (I like new center console more) the plastic and overall feel become cheaper, but since Lili likes old console better, I don't really care. What I care for is leather, ABS, alloy wheels and cruise control (later available on higher trims only). BTW, extended 5 yr/100K warranty offered since June 2006 is drive train only and thus is not that of a big deal.


Anyhow, test driving manual ZX3 I was amazed - unlike Escape that I had difficulty using the clutch which was too sensitive, ZX3 manual is fun to shift gears in. It felt quieter then Fit and overall quite nice despite awkward arm-rest blocking parking break. Suspension was as good as on Fit, and sitting position was quite high and had more of SUV sitting feel then of a car. Leather was OK, plastic did look very cheap and overall I liked it way better then either Mazda Tribute or old Ford Escape if one could compare Focus with Escape.


ZX5 should pretty much do it for what I need the car for, but I should try ZXW too since it has more cargo space. The dealer only had both with automatic, so next time I should drive all 3 again - ZXW and ZX5 with auto and ZX3 with manual.


Looking at autotrader.com all ZXW are cloth and automatic - most likely Ford didn't do manual Wagons at all positioning them as soccer-mom car. ZX5 I found some with manual but all in cloth, thus SVT ZX5 is the bomb - not only because it is an SVT, but because it is an SVT it is loaded to the tilt and has disk breaks on all four not to mention 6 speed Getrag found on Mini Couper S (both are not available on regular ZX5).


Oh yes, the SVT - performance wise the car should be outstanding. They smoke Porches in their SVT Focuses that I could believe because base Focus drives well and SVT did a great job. SVT Focus is the cheapest way to drive 6-speed manual. It burns premium only gas and owner report bellow 20 mpg in the city, but others report 30+ mpg on the highway. In ZX5 body it might be even a practical family car, alas having a bit less cargo space then either a Fit or a wagon but with folding seats it might have enough space. SVT comes with everything including wheel mounted audio controls and power heated mirrors, but no trip computer? (Cruise etc are standars and sun roof is normally included option). Unlike other Focuses it has 4 wheel disk ABS.


Surprisingly enough 2003 ZX5 SVT is worth the same as 2000 BMW 323 iT ($8921/$10233/$11346 vs. $9556/$10884/$12283) and has more options standard (no roof rack however). Being 3 years younger it should have about half the mileage. Being a Ford it would not outlast BMW, but with 40K miles it still has 60K-100K to go.


At $8699 2003 ZX5 SVT with 41K miles is $500 bellow  Trade-In  value if it is mechanically sound, or $300 bellow  Private Party  if it has some mechanical problems worth $1700 - definitely worth looking at, at least as a temporarily car for the next couple years until 325 iT comes in price bellow $10K.