Review: 2006 Ford Focus ZX4 SE

I recently purchased a 2006 Ford Focus ZX4 SE. Now, I don't know about motors and such. I'm going to go with practical use items. You might want to go see Edmunds.com for the technical specifications.

This vehicle is a four door sedan. One side of the back seat will flip down for access to the trunk space. It comes with a factory CD player, one auxiliary port, two cup holders up front, the back of the console drops down to reveal one more cup holder. It has a very small center console that will hold your sunglasses and maybe something else. There is a CD holder compartment on the driver side left. It has the extra child seat strap holder for added safety.

The vehicle itself drives ok. It's quiet and can get going on the highway eventually. It doesn't have a lot of get up and go when trying to merge onto a highway.

I bought the vehicle not necessarily because I liked it but because I thought in this day of gas prices that it was the sensible "mom" thing to do. Here is a list of the pros and cons of this vehicle.

Pros

-Gas Mileage. I can get at least 30 MPG highway.

-Cosmetic. I like the new style grill they put on this model.

Cons

-Small. This vehicle is not a family vehicle. While it does have four doors, fitting one child seat in the back seat wipes out the whole seat. There is no more room for extra people to sit back there including other children.

-Auto Lamps. This may seem really minor but it can be very obnoxious. There is no way to turn off the auto running lights. They are always on. So if you are taking your child to drive through and see the Christmas lights you can't turn your lights off as a courtesy to the person in front of you.

-Trunk Lock. I had this vehicle for three months when the trunk lock started making this loud sputtering noise when you pushed the button.

-Inside trunk lock placement. This is more of a safety issue than anything else. Ford placed the inside trunk release right next to the steering wheel in plain view. I'm sure they did this for the convenience of the driver not realizing it was also a convenience to anyone breaking in. Break the window, push the button and they're done and moving on to the next vehicle.

If you are looking for a small vehicle that gets good gas mileage with very basic extras, the 2006 Ford Focus is not a bad pick. If you have a family, go with something else.