Trading the 2SS for a Focus?

[CamaroFred]

There are plenty of choices between the best and the worst fuel mileage vehicles. You went one way already and are regretting it. Don't go the other way and regret it. What good is going to the beach without a beach chair? Even if you spend $20 for the fuel it is still half of what it costs you in the Camaro.

[IMadeYouReadThis]

Perhaps you should test drive the turbo 4 6th gen Camaro that's some cheap fun for you right there that's pretty fuel-efficient as well I would imagine

[NC_SS]

Not going to do the whole chevy v ford thing here but auto trans focus's really are garbage

Chinese made engines and transmissions that need rebuilds every 30K

[splashlog48]

Go for it-- Youll regret it if you don't !!!!

[Gunmetal Speedster]

Smiles per gallon > miles per gallon

[drew peacock]

yep my daily driver is a hyundai i30 diesel..as cheap as taking the bus..better mpg than my honda bike in fact..
u should really own both if u have a v8 imho...the cheapest car to run is how i do it..55mpg does it for me.
keep ya camaro and buy another car...i would never ever buy a ford though lol..hate them..get yaself a hyundai or kia diesel..no cambelt either with these diesel motors..my work mates hyundai went 250 000 miles before anything went wrong with it...dpf packed up

he srapped it and bought another one

[PJMZL1]

What is more fun to drive. Thats the answer.

[14Black1LESS]

Do what you want to do but I didn't buy my SS to save money on gas. If I was going to do that I would not have bought it in the first place.

[ron123]

Originally Posted by Emig5m

... I have a two hour daily commute (round trip) ... Can someone talk some cent$ into me ...

Sure:
You spend 10 hours a week driving back and forth to work in NJ?
I'd be more concerned with the wasted 10 hours then spending money on gas; if having to drive that much to get to work, especially in heavy traffic, I'd move or find another job. lol
Was born in NY and left that area ... once in a while when visiting relatives in that congested NE corridor region, I always do the driving there and back in the middle of the night when roads are fairly clear.
Have you thought about relocating and/or finding another job?

[ZED SLED]

Did you just wake up from a long winter nap and think it's April 1st?

[Scottiemac]

I don't know how comfortable a focus is but I rented a fusion to drive to Florida instead of my suburban. It killed my back and ruined my vacation. Got great gas mileage compared to the truck but never again. My '16 impala does better on gas and is comfortable for long drives. I bought it after the fact. A reliable beater works. Keep the Camaro.

[Scottiemac]

Ha ha I knew you were from the tri state area too. We also say "the shore" most other places I've been to say "the beach". Turn from the dark side, chevy has cars that get good m.p.g.

[pyroguy]

I'll try to be as objective as I can be in my response, but I am still a little bias as I drove the first year of Focus in driver's ed and it was completely lame.

1) You said you have a 2 hour daily commute and the Camaro is much more comfortable for you. If you work 50 weeks a year (assuming 2 weeks of vacation), 5 days a week that's 500 hours a year or 20.833333 days of driving every year. Do you want to spend almost 21 days a year in a vehicle that you "lose a lot of comfort" in?
2) You lose trunk space that otherwise worked with the Camaro. Do you use this trunk space often? If so how often? Would throwing the stuff that you used to put in the trunk of the Camaro be bad off in the backseat of the Focus?
3) Driveability. The Camaro is a SS, unless you're going with a RS or a ST the Focus will be a HUGE step down in power. Additionally, if you go with either the RS or ST they are turbo cars. I drive a F-150 with the "eco"boost engine for work and put somewhere around 40k a year on it. The thing is not very eco friendly in NJ traffic when the turbos are constantly spooled up. You may actually end up going down in mileage depending on what type of commute you run everyday.
4) Driveability (continued). If you go with a Focus that is not the RS or ST you will likely pick up gas mileage. However, having driven all over most of NJ myself, the traffic at any given place is not ever really great. I assume with a 2 hour commute that you will be doing a fair amount of highway driving, probably somewhere near the city. Having that extra power of the Camaro allows you to maneuver in ways that a plain Focus would not be able to achieve because of the on demand power. Also, if you did get a RS or ST Focus, you would have to be conscientious of turbo lag. Having never driven either of those, but basing my knowledge off of my F-150, the turbo lag is a nightmare. I am regularly finding myself in manual mode in heavy traffic to ensure that I am not cut off because I left a gap between me and the car in front of me just so I can keep the turbos spooled to have the on demand power. Also, if you don't keep the rpms up by the time the turbos kick in the guy in front of you is hitting the brakes and you're lunging at a car that is stopped.
5) Added up front cost. Is there an extra cost getting a Focus that may take time to recover the cost of gas mileage? What I mean with this is, will your monthly payment go up, or will you have to shell out extra pocket money to get this car into your garage? You have to take into account how long the added gas savings will take to balance the equation, otherwise why not drive, and enjoy, the Camaro even though mile to mile it costs more but year over year it may be cheaper. A great example of this was when gas prices went to $4.00/gallon at the end of the Bush years when Prius' were all the rave. Extreme 4x4 on Spike did a comparison of a mid 90's 7.3L Ford diesel pickup getting 8 mpg to a brand new Prius getting 35-40 mpg. Their result ended up coming up with it taking over 7 years for the two costs to balance out and the Prius to start being cheaper.

OP, weigh the options and see what you think. I hope these thoughts have helped in your decision.

[dfurgeson]

Don't do it! I went through the same thing a few years back. At that time I was driving Mustangs and have always enjoyed the ability to tinker, mod and basically just play with my cars not to mention the way it felt driving them after cleaning. I saw the dollar signs when the gas prices rose and with a long commute everyday I decided to trade my car in for an economy car. I bought something I thought looked a little sporty but was basically nothing more than an economy car with a disguise. At first I was happy at the gas station, but it didn't take long to realize I was ONLY happy at the gas station, when prior to this change I was happy everywhere EXCEPT the gas station. I guess it depends on where you want to be happy. I developed a huge case of buyers remorse until I went back to the cars I love. I hope sharing my experience helps.