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This is one of the reviews I've been dying to read. All that's left is car and driver's review 
Ford Focus ST: The Jalopnik Review
Ford Focus ST: The Jalopnik Review
Jalopnik ST review
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Their scoring system is still weird for me. Plus they did their math wrong...should be a 70.
If you ignore the numbers, the content says good car:
"it's just a really good car. And certainly way better than I expected from a four-door, front-wheel drive hatch"
"you get a pretty amazing car for $25k"
Actually this is how reviews SHOULD be written. Honest. Well written. Direct. He doesn't sugar coat everything and wax on with pathetic metaphors. He just says what he thinks of the different aspects of the car and rates accordingly. Overall, it was actually quite a glowing review. You can't get much better than "This is the only front wheel drive car I would purchase today" and "the only thing better than this and more practical than a RWD sports coupe is much more expensive luxury cars". You honestly can't get much better than that.
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Yeah I guess I didn't read into it too much... I'm still getting used to their new system. Apparently it's compared with every car on the market, not just in its class. So, in the respect it did pretty well... However, it was only 5 points ahead of the Veloster Turbo...
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Jalopnik is one of the reviews I've been waiting for. They. Do. Not. Like. FWD. At. All.
Read their reviews and the run up to the release of the BRZ/FRS. So for one of their regular writers to say this:
They give the car almost the same rating as the BRZ, which is almost impossible to believe given Jalopnik's prejudices against FWD.
I notice Jalopnik took the audio ranking down from 7 to 6, rather than fix their math and give it the 70/100 it would have originally had if they had done their math right.
Read their reviews and the run up to the release of the BRZ/FRS. So for one of their regular writers to say this:
...is an endorsement of the highest level they can give a FWD car.
They give the car almost the same rating as the BRZ, which is almost impossible to believe given Jalopnik's prejudices against FWD.
I notice Jalopnik took the audio ranking down from 7 to 6, rather than fix their math and give it the 70/100 it would have originally had if they had done their math right.
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908 Posts
Well:
The new Layout is one of the worst layouts I have ever seen (and a car website without any galleries, and only small photos, really?)
The don't really like any of their writers for any of the blogs that I have read (low quality)
The ads are incredibly annoying
Their handling of the iPhone story was absolutely terrible
and some other random personal reason.
But lets not get into that
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1,902 Posts
That has to be the most ... low key review yet of the focus that I have seen....and the guy still liked it very much!
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549 Posts
I don't see a problem with the review, lots of positives. I like where he says "...The only thing you need to know here is the ST has the best car seats I've ever sat in..."
Now that sounds pretty impressive, I put on a lot of miles and that is good to hear. I'm sure that guy has sat in a lot more car seats than I ever have.
Now that sounds pretty impressive, I put on a lot of miles and that is good to hear. I'm sure that guy has sat in a lot more car seats than I ever have.
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132 Posts
It seemed to me that they wanted to rank it higher but didn't want to risk appearing too enthusiastic. Nearly every category has glowing descriptions that aren't really reflected as such in the numerical rankings.
A couple of things of note on this review:
1. I found it to be *extremely* positive. The score is relative to other cars that would vomit out the ST and flush it without thinking about it (the MP4-12C has already been reviewed as a case in point).
2. Bill Caswell sucks at writing. But he knows what he's talking about.
3. Google Bill Caswell. If you re-read the review after reading about him, I suspect it'll be epiphinous given the extent of time he's spent behind the wheel of racecars, even if not the "fancy" type. A 9/10 on handling is HIGH praise, and honestly, why I chose the ST over two other vehicles.
1. I found it to be *extremely* positive. The score is relative to other cars that would vomit out the ST and flush it without thinking about it (the MP4-12C has already been reviewed as a case in point).
2. Bill Caswell sucks at writing. But he knows what he's talking about.
3. Google Bill Caswell. If you re-read the review after reading about him, I suspect it'll be epiphinous given the extent of time he's spent behind the wheel of racecars, even if not the "fancy" type. A 9/10 on handling is HIGH praise, and honestly, why I chose the ST over two other vehicles.
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685 Posts
He only gave it 8/10 on handling. Which is still pretty good as you'd expect it would take a supercar to get 10/10. Or a Lotus. Probably loses a point for not really being able to do a proper rear wheel drift over the BRZ.
Kind of dumb that Jalopnik ranks audio and toys equal to power, handling and braking.
It is a good review in that it lets you pick the stuff that's important to you (but no ranking on "practical").
Oh, and the Jalopnik peeps say the system is biased at 5/10, meaning that 5 is average, 6 above average. An average car would get 50/100.
The numbering system isn't like grades. 50 is average, 69 is actually very good.
Yes, 69 is very good
But anyway, the system IS flawed. After all, they don't take usability into account. Cargo space. It's what allows the BRZ to get a higher score, despite the fact that it's really only good to use for two people.
They also had someone review it who doesn't like hot hatches all that much.
Still, it was a good review, and it does seem to be quite positive.
Yes, 69 is very good
But anyway, the system IS flawed. After all, they don't take usability into account. Cargo space. It's what allows the BRZ to get a higher score, despite the fact that it's really only good to use for two people.
They also had someone review it who doesn't like hot hatches all that much.
Still, it was a good review, and it does seem to be quite positive.
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