Focus is Car and Driver's 10 Best – Again!

The 2004 Ford Focus has been named to Car and Driver magazine's "10 Best Cars" lineup.

DEARBORN, Mich. – Ford Focus again has been named to Car and Driver magazine's annual "10 Best Cars" lineup. That's five years in a row.

"We're seeing the highest level of competition ever in the automotive industry," said Car and Driver Editor in Chief Csaba Csere at a recent event to mark the recognition. "Yet in this incredible market, the Focus has managed to make it back for the fifth year straight. It's terrific."

A panel of 13 journalists with 292 years of combined automotive editorial experience spent a week evaluating vehicles on squirrelly two-lane back roads, major freeways and in small-town congestion. Of 57 nominees, half the cars in this year's competition were new to the market. All had a base price below $69,000, and all were scored on a scale of 1 to 100.

Only 10 made the list.

"[Focus] demonstrates that you can achieve product excellence without having to spend a fortune on it," said Csere. "When you deliver all of this content and refinement and product excellence at the low prices that are demanded for an entry-level car in America, you end up with an outstanding piece of machinery in this market that far outclasses the entry-level competitors."

Mazda's all-new RX-8 also was recognized in the magazine's "cream of the crop" lineup, alongside the Acura TSX, Audi S4 Quattro, Chevrolet Corvette, Honda S2000, Honda Accord, Infiniti G35 and Toyota Prius.

"The latest RX has another ace up its sleeve: a roomy back seat that adults can enter gracefully through a pair of rear-hinged half-doors," the magazine editors note in their review. "Is it any wonder we've declared this 'the best RX ever'?"

Ford Focus will receive major design and engineering improvements for the 2005 model year. Set to go on sale in the spring of 2004, the 2005 Focus will be the first of six new or redesigned Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles to launch in 2004 – Ford Motor Company's "Year of the Car."