2007 Ford Focus Overview Change Vehicle

This 2007 Ford Focus review explains changes for the model year, provides a summary of the 2007 Focus, and includes Ford Focus safety, reliability, and fuel economy information.

Ford isn’t shifting Focus when it comes to the 2007 iteration of its compact car. But we think it needs to. Or at least it needs to put someone with class in charge of product development. Seriously. Kiwi Green and Aqua Blue are the new colors? And the already laughable Street Appearance Package gains a caricature of a Mitsubishi Evolution rear wing spoiler? Ludicrous. Fortunately, most 2007 Ford Foci are not painted in these colors or equipped with this spoiler, which means most of them are actually pretty good little cars. And for 2007, they can be equipped with a new Interior Upgrade Package equipped with leather sport seats that have color-contrast inserts and more upscale interior trim.

The 2007 Ford Focus lineup is a bit confusing, but it definitely offers variety. You can get a hatchback with three or five doors (ZX3 and ZX5, respectively), a sedan (ZX4) or a station wagon that offers an impressive 35.6 cubic-feet of cargo space behind the rear seat and 73.7 cu-ft with the rear seat folded (ZXW). Four different trim levels are also available: S, SE, SES, and ST. The sporty ST trim is only offered on the Focus ZX4 Sedan.

Bare-bones best describes the Focus S. This car doesn’t even have air conditioning, let alone any power accessories. The only items of note are front floor mats, a rear defogger, a height-adjustable driver’s seat, and a CD/MP3 player. A rear wiper/washer system is standard on the hatchbacks and wagons.

That makes the Focus SE model the most popular trim level, because it includes air conditioning, power door locks with remote keyless entry, power mirrors, power windows, a front center armrest, map lights, an overhead console, and rear floor mats. A rear suspension stabilizer bar is added for the Focus ZXW.

The Focus SES adds cruise control, a CD changer, a tachometer, and a tilt/telescopic leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio and cruise controls. The SES is also more stylish, featuring 16-inch alloy wheels, fog lights, and body color trim. It also handles a little better, thanks to a standard rear suspension stabilizer bar.

Enthusiast drivers will want to examine the Focus ST, which gets a more powerful engine, machined-finish 16-inch alloy wheels, a performance suspension, four-wheel-disc antilock brakes, and traction control. The ST model has special exterior and interior trim, and includes sport bolstered seats as well as power heated side mirrors.

A variety of option packages are available on the various Focus models, upgrading the S with elements of the SE trim level, and giving SE models some of the features that come standard on the SES. Key additional-cost items include an automatic transmission, traction control, front-seat side-impact airbags, antilock brakes, a power sunroof, leather upholstery, heated front seats and side mirrors, ambient cabin lighting, and a Sony premium sound system.

A 136-horsepower, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine making 133 pound-feet of torque is standard on the Focus, paired with a five-speed manual gearbox delivering power to the front wheels. A four-speed automatic transmission is optional. Notably, this powertrain meets Partial Zero Emission Vehicle (PZEV) standards in California and New England states.

The performance-oriented ZX4 ST gets a 151-horsepower, 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine. A five-speed manual gearbox is the standard, and only, transmission choice. Every Focus ZX4 ST is equipped with a suspension tuned by Ford’s Special Vehicle Team (SVT).

Fuel economy ratings have been improving each year, and the 2007 Focus is now rated to get 27 mpg in the city and 37 mpg on the highway with the manual transmission. If you don’t want to shift your own gears, the automatic is almost as efficient, returning 27-mpg city/34-mpg highway. The more powerful ZX4 ST is less economical, especially around town. It gets 22 mpg in the city and 32 mpg on the highway.

Want a bunch of safety features on your 2007 Focus? Pay up, sucker. Ford installs dual front airbags as standard equipment, and that’s it. Everything else costs extra – ABS, traction control, and critically important front-seat side-impact airbags.

The reason you need those optional side airbags is because without them, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found during crash tests that side-impact protection is Poor. The IIHS rated offset frontal impact crashworthiness as Good, and rear-crash injury protection as Acceptable.

Results from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash tests are more favorable. After smashing the ZX3 hatchback and the ZX4 sedan, neither equipped with the optional front-seat side-impact airbags, the cars achieved 4-Star crashworthiness ratings in all assessments, except two. The ZX3 Hatchback got a 3-Star rating for driver protection in a side impact crash, while driver protection in a frontal impact collision rates 5 Stars in the ZX4 Sedan.

Oddly, reliability ratings for the 2007 Focus drop a little from last year. Consumer Reports says the ZX3 and ZX5 provide better than average reliability, while the ZX4 Sedan and ZXW Wagon are average. J.D. Power and Associates finds that dependability is slightly better than average for all models.

Seven years is a long time to go between redesigns, and the 2007 Ford Focus is definitely feeling its age. Nevertheless, this Europe-bred compact is nimble and fun to drive, reasonably comfortable, and provides decent dependability. Plus, the lineup provides one of the only small station wagons left on the market. If Ford would just add side-impact airbags and improve crash protection, we could recommend it.

By Christian Wardlaw