The saloon looks bit like a uglyfied jetta tdi cup car.....

Much more style than the last Focus, which was designed in Ford's Mk3 Mondeo/Mk6 Fiesta bland period. Don't like that stupid SUV style rear end though.

Quote from Chrisuu01 :

The saloon looks bit like a uglyfied jetta tdi cup car.....

Quote from Jordan2007 :

Just reminds me Seat Leon Hatchback.....

Quote from gezmoor :

However, methinks it will take at least a second if not third look to distinguish the new Focus from the new Astra...

Quote from spankmeyer :

...Looks like a mix of old 206, Saab and Kia.

Quote from danthebangerboy :

Is it just me or does the side view look a little bit scirocco-ish?

Sometimes I wonder why teachers want me to think so much about design and to do a lot of research if at the end of the day customers (you) don't understand anything and end up with comments like these :zombie:

I predict this car will be found on road, dead.

About that interior... The shapes and design look great, but thats a LOT of electronic stuff in there. What happened to big, simple knobs and switches? I know this car is an American model for people who spend more time watching the TV on the dash than looking at the road, but it looks stupidly complicated and distracting.

And that massive front intake? It can't need THAT much cooling, surely.

Hmm... prefer MK2 after facelifting. The interior on the other hand is quiet nice . I hope it will drive as good or even better than the previous model.

Quote from JO53PHS :

Saloon versions of a Hatchback are ALWAYS ugly. Always.

Funny, I've always much preferred the look of the saloon Focus to the hatch. Hate the MPV look read end.

I'm also disliking the lack of angle between the bonnet and the windscreen but I do appreciate that it's more aerodynamic this way.

I'm not sold on it. I think the hatch is better looking than the 2nd-gen version, but the back looks unnecessarily high up. There's a lot of door between the ground and the window and that makes it look like an SUV at the rear end.
I always hated the mk1 saloon and this version is much nicer. But I don't think it's as nicely shaped as the mk4 Mondeo.

Quote from NitroNitrous :

Sometimes I wonder why teachers want me to think so much about design and to do a lot of research if at the end of the day customers (you) don't understand anything and end up with comments like these :zombie:

No, horrible design just has many names.

Quote from NitroNitrous :

Sometimes I wonder why teachers want me to think so much about design and to do a lot of research if at the end of the day customers (you) don't understand anything and end up with comments like these :zombie:

Just remember that until you have the minimum required specifications (and in car terms this means shedloads of safety equipment and a minimum ride height) designing any vehicle is a waste of time.
You could come up with the most beautiful car ever created but when the engineers come back and say "the front needs to be higher for SUV impact zones, the sides need reinforced to withstand more force, the rear needs raised to meet NCAP standards" and the brief says "the boot needs to be bigger, it needs more headroom, those lights aren't big enough" your idea goes to hell

Damn safety standards. This is what I liked about cars from the classic era, driving around in thin tin cans that looked good and were nice and light, ready to collapse like a bag of tin foil at the slightest collision (or in the case of a Lada, simply without warning).

I actually quite like it. Not completely sold on the rear (of any of the versions), but overall a nice looking car for what it is. I'm just glad us North Americans finally get the euro version and not the shite North American versions we've gotten through all the generations.

Quote from Bob Smith :

Funny, I've always much preferred the look of the saloon Focus to the hatch. Hate the MPV look read end.

Maybe Focus saloons are starting to grow on me. When I first saw an MK1 Focus saloon I thought it was the ugliest car ever made. I was never particularly keen on the hatchback either, but since we've owned one for about a year now, you sorta get used to it

Quote from Crashgate3 :

I hate hate HATE the 'trout mouth' that seems to be irresistable to car designers at the moment. They look replusive.

They are all trying to copy Audi. Audi were the only one to pull off the big grille thing.

Quote from spankmeyer :

No, horrible design just has many names.

If you think it's beautiful or it's awful is your opinion and it's up to you, but when something is not similiar to something is not an opinion, it's a fact.

Quote from Dajmin :

Just remember that until you have the minimum required specifications (and in car terms this means shedloads of safety equipment and a minimum ride height) designing any vehicle is a waste of time.
You could come up with the most beautiful car ever created but when the engineers come back and say "the front needs to be higher for SUV impact zones, the sides need reinforced to withstand more force, the rear needs raised to meet NCAP standards" and the brief says "the boot needs to be bigger, it needs more headroom, those lights aren't big enough" your idea goes to hell

Yeah I'm a car designer student so I know how it works We also have to fight against ergonomist everyday

Quote from NitroNitrous :

.... but when something is not similiar to something is not an opinion, it's a fact.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1Xkn ... Ntc/s400/2007+BMW+116i+5d

http://www.chinacartimes.com/wp-content/nissan-micra.jpg

http://www.fordpic.com/Ford/2009/09/fordfocus1.jpg

http://images.forbes.com/media/2009/01/13/0113cars_02.jpg

http://www.easycarblog.com/wp- ... tra/2010-opel-astra-1.jpg


hmmm.. not similar at all

Of course they're not identical. Of course they have significant design detail differences. But you can't deny the overall profile/shape is more similar than not.

To be honest the only similar thing I see is that all of them are cars Usually people only see and understand the basic shape of a car and some graphics, but for me there is much more than that, proportions is the key of any design and not everybody understand it. And that's why I was wondering that, because is pointless to waste time doing something that the average customer will never understand

Yeah, you spend years designing a car, and probably the only comment you will receive from the 17yr old who eventually buy it will be "the headlights looks like a deadfrog."

But car designers get paid a lot, so stick with it!!

Quote from gezmoor :

hmmm.. not similar at all

Of course they're not identical. Of course they have significant design detail differences. But you can't deny the overall profile/shape is more similar than not.

guess what, it's all boxes on four circles!

They does not look similiar at all, even in overall profile, the proportion etc. I can tell the difference even if you just show me the roof lines, or the shape of the windows in a cutout.

Not everyone is sensitive to forms, but those examples are really vastly different from each other.

Dunno what you guys are complaning aboot, personally I love it. Finally a focus that doesn't look weak and boring. The rear of the current one is so retarded...

And so what if it looks like a Fiesta? It's not as if they'd copied an ugly car to begin with. Besides, whole makes have been copy/pasting their whole lines for years, and nobody complained.

http://tinyurl.com/y9tdhwy

/facepalm

Quote from JJ72 :

But car designers get paid a lot, so stick with it!!

I agree with the other part but this is sadly wrong Car designers are idiots, because they could earn much more designing yatchs, furnitures, condoms or bikes. And is much easier to get a job in those areas as well. So, why cars then? Just because for us doing what we love is more important than money

Quote from JJ72 :

...Not everyone is sensitive to forms, but those examples are really vastly different from each other.

Exactly, and that's why for example the game here in the forum "Guess the car" is a piece of cake for me while for some guys is really hard.

I think you're designer right? That's why you understand my point

front looks like a kia pro_ceed

Quote from BlueFlame :

They are all trying to copy Audi. Audi were the only one to pull off the big grille thing.

Audi's doesn't make the car look like a fish (in fact I don't think it looks like any kind of mouth at all). Audi's looks good.

To be honest - I think the new design is :vomit: and boring at most.

...it actually looks outdated allready...