Our Focus's all-black interior comes off looking a bit dour, but deleting the $695 leather and suede seats buys two-tone black/red cloth that would brighten things considerably. The tall-sitting seats are comfortable and offer strong lateral support in front, but the rear compartment is strictly coach-class--no headrests, useless door armrests, and just one cupholder. The tautly suspended chassis doesn't filter out much road noise or impact harshness, making this the least comfy workaday ride.
Toyota does a better job of isolating bumps while controlling body motions and telegraphing road feel to the driver. Its seats also were deemed best in the bunch, front and rear, although it's the only car with cloth on the back of the front seats--something to consider for those carrying dirty-footed, spill-prone kids. Taller drivers also complained that the steering wheel was too far away (only the Ford and Mazda offer reach adjustment). Trunk space ranks near the top of the class, but gooseneck hinges swing into the useable space (as on the Kia), and the Toyota's rear seatback doesn't fold down, which hampers utility.
Kia and Mazda offer the richest, most appealing interior designs. Both use high-grade materials like soft-touch plastic and stylish fabric seat inserts--blue flecks on the Mazda3 and a Virgil Exner-esque retro tone-on-tone pattern on the Spectra. Kia won unanimous acclaim for its supple ride quality, while the 3 comes off as the most poised and stable tool for freeway running. The ritzy Mazda interior can be equipped with navigation for another $2940 (including a 17-inch-wheel upgrade and Xenon lights). On the downside, these two have the smallest trunks, and the Mazda's sexy coupelike rear window leaves room only for a mail-slot like opening to access its 11.4-cubic-foot trunk.
Surface-street commuters faced with a series of stoplight grands prix each morning will appreciate the big-block torque of the Focus, which scored the best 0-to-30-mph time and ran neck-and-neck to 50 mph with the much more powerful and shorter-geared Corolla (and did so without requiring an aggressive 4000-rpm clutch-drop, as on the XRS). Revving the Toyota to 8200 rpm puts the two-three upshift at 62 mph, while the Ford's balky shifter must be cajoled into third at 57 mph, which explains the 0.6-second difference to 60 mph. Urban drivers will never sense that difference and will probably find the Ford (or a Mazda five-speed) to feel quicker. At the Toyota's 4400-rpm torque peak, which is about as high as a polite commuter revs in public, the engine makes just 106 horses--almost 20 less than the Ford generates at 4250 rpm. So in real life the XRS's power is largely inaccessible.
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