haha I know I have read that you read MT but I do too

It is a small poll but I believe the Focus has turned a corner with design improvement and def quality. I had a good friend with an 02 Focus and I wont even get into it lol.

The VWs here are nice. I have never driven a TD engine.

 

They're quite nice. High torque at low RPMs kinda makes you forget the fact how little horsepower they make. My Volkswagen Golf 1.9 TDI is rated at 100 hp & 180 lb ft torque and it's very similar to drive as my Mustang 3.8 (which is rated at 190 hp & 220 lb ft torque).
The only difference is that I'm averaging ~45 mpgs city with a Golf.
Which is pretty nice considering the fact that Serbia is one of the most expensive countries in Europe when it comes to gas prices (currently diesel is at ~$7.50/gallon).

Volkswagen's diesels are pretty good here in Europe, I had some bad luck with mine, but the damage is not as bad as I originally thought.
They have a long history building small diesels ... in fact, this year they're celebrating 35 years since the first Golf diesel came out. 1.5L 50 hp, it actually took 19 seconds for this car to reach 60 mph ... but it was averaging 36 mpg ... not bad for 1976.

 

I had a diesel -- no turbo -- Rabbit wayyyyy back in the day when they had about 12 hp or so. A car that greatly rewarded patience though ironically, I got more tickets in that car than any other I've had, for reasons I have yet to fathom (it was refrigerator white, accelerated with the seasons and had a top end of about 72mph assuming a good tail wind and long road.) It did average in the high 30mpg range and could dig deep into the high 40mpg range while on the highway.

I've driven some modern turbo diesels since and they have far more grunt with nearly impressive mileage (in much heavier vehicles). I think I'd much prefer a good turbo diesel over a complex hybrid any day of the week.

 

I would actually prefer a hybrid over diesel. Compared to Jetta or Golf TDI diesel, Prius, for an example, has more power, better fuel economy, runs on cheaper fuel, it's a lot more quiet and I trust Toyota's reliability much more than Volkswagen's.
The only minus is diesel's high torque at low RPMs ...

I'm thinking my next car might be a Honda CR-Z ...

 

 

I said "might" ...

Unless Ford builds me a hybrid Fiesta ...

 

I don't think Fiesta, but the rumors of Capri coming back are picking up again. PHEV Capri?

 

I've been reading Capri rumors since ... 2004 I believe.
Even if it does come back, it's nothing more than Focus Coupe anyways.

 

i believe both the cruze and the elantra were out on the market well before the new focus. With that being said, I think it's more impressive with how relatively "new" the focus is on the market and the sales# is closing in on both of the other two.

 

IMO, Cruze also looks much better than Focus.
There are so many of them here in Serbia. Base price is just 13,000 euros for the base 1.6L model (111 hp), compared to the base Volkswagen Golf (1.4L 79 hp) and Ford Focus (1.6L 104 hp) which start at 15,000 euros.