August 19, 2026

Ford Focus, 2013–2026

A brief recollection of my first new car.

Silver car parked on street, very close to cars in front and behind. — I don't have a lot of photos of the Focus, but here is the apex of my parallel parking abilities.

The Focus was my first new-from-the-dealer vehicle¹. I spent months deciding what I was looking for in a new car and where I could get it. I used Zipcar to try out different makes and models in my target size and price range.

I tried renting from a traditional rental service for a road trip, once, but they couldn’t guarantee a specific make and model; I drove round-trip from Atlanta to New York in a “compact” Dodge Charger—a car that was decidedly not on my short list.

I decided on the 2013 Ford Focus. I don’t remember exactly why that model year, specifically. Probably because it was later in the year and the 2014 models were coming, so it was less expensive. There were definitely fewer of them on dealership lots, but I found one in the area.

I remember I spent more time at the dealership than I expected. The car was at another lot, so we had to drive over and get it, and it must have been a busy day because there was a lot of waiting for the trade-in estimate and finance folks².

After about 5 hours, I drove home in my first new car and the frustration of waiting quickly faded.

I used Road Trip to log almost every time I filled it up with gas. There are maybe a couple of dozen I missed during 13 years of ownership.

The Focus was driven about 12,000 miles per year for the first six years, and about 3,500 miles annually after that.

More than half of the fuel costs occurred within the first two years of ownership.

While owning the Focus, the price of regular gasoline (87 octane) ranged from $1.50 to $4.50 per gallon.

I regularly drove the Focus on long-distance trips in the earlier years of ownership. After moving back to Atlanta in early 2022, the Focus was limited to relatively short, in-town trips.

The first vehicle titled in my name was a Saturn SL2. It was about 10 years old when my parents handed it down to me and I drove it for another six or so. The second vehicle in my name was a Suzuki Savage LS650 I bought from a private seller. ↩
I got 72-month loan at 0% interest. Those were the days. ↩