2017 Ford Focus Hatch Loses a Pedal

It disappeared in the night. There was no fanfare. No protest. No grand announcement. Barely anyone even noticed. They all just kept buying amorphous transportation blobs with available all-wheel drive. No one took the time to look at the options list on the compact car bolted to the dealership floor.

That’s right. In the United States of America, the 2017 Ford Focus hatchback is no longer available with a manual transmission outside of the ST and RS.

The Focus hatchback returned to our purple mountains majesty and amber waves of grain for the 2012 model year. Since its return, the body style has been available with a direct-injected 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and five-speed manual transmission. Both engine and transmission can trace their roots back to the time when Ford and Mazda were Best Friends Forever.

This combination of engine and transmission paired with the well-balanced Focus chassis made a compelling entry-level enthusiast vehicle. While the regular Focus lacks the power of the GTI or Focus ST, it’s at its best when the 2.0-liter Duratec is paired with Mazda’s venerable three-pedal cog swapper. Manual Focus owners also avoided the woes of the dual-clutch transmissions. Jack Baruth even gave the Focus SE hatchback praise on these pages. His opinion echoed mine and many others:

Truth be told, the Focus SE only makes sense if you send this sedan back to the dealership and build the Focus the way it was meant to be built: as a hatchback, with the upscale SE trim package, the winter package, and the navigation. When you do that, you have a fully equipped five-speed, 2-liter hatch with everything from dual-zone climate control to reverse-parking sensors, for a post-incentives $22,275. This is enough car for almost anyone, offering all-weather capability, plenty of room, and the aforementioned vintage-Benz sense of freeway solidity. That is a great car.

Until the current model year, Ford offered a Sport Package for the regular 2.0-liter, five-speed hatchback. This $1,100 package added 17-inch wheels, a body kit, fog lamps, leather-wrapped steering wheel, disc brakes at all four corners, and a rear spoiler. For under $20,000, someone could purchase a well-equipped Focus that was fun to drive. There was also a package between the SE Sport and the more upscale equipment that Jack described.

This Focus was a budget driver’s car. But unfortunately, it no longer exists. It was a victim of low gas prices, shrinking small car profits, and America’s insatiable lust for the CUV. When the current generation started rolling off the Michigan Assembly plant line in 2011, there were over 200,000 different build combinations. For the 2017 model, there are only 300. Compact buyers are losing choices, and the manual transmission one of them. For the next-generation Focus, America will only receive 30 build combinations.

Now the Focus does have manual transmission options outside of the ST and RS. However, both are on the sedan. The 2.0-liter, five-speed combo is sole offered on the visually offensive Focus S sedan. The suitcase sized 1.0T three-cylinder is paired with a six-speed transmission on the Focus SE sedan. Neither of these are replacements for the hatchback.

Ford has discovered America wants hatchbacks, but mostly performance hatchbacks. While Fiesta and Focus sales were down in 2016, Fiesta ST and Focus ST sales were up. Ford’s addition of the Focus RS also added a decent number of performance hatchback sales to Ford’s U.S. sales numbers.

In reality, there isn’t that much room for a mild hatch in the time of the CUV and — especially one wearing a Blue Oval. The Fiesta ST is around the same price as the now dead Focus SE Sport while the Focus ST is just a few thousand more. Both of those vehicles are more fun to drive. Both also offer visual and engine upgrades over their mainstream siblings.

I don’t expect anyone to shed a tear today. Volkswagen still makes the Golf with the 1.8T and a five-speed manual. Chevy will sell you a Cruze hatch with a manual transmission. Our managing editor even enjoyed driving the Cruze. The Mazda 3 has two different engines paired to six-speeds, and others occupy that space, too. However, few compact hatchbacks provide a fun to drive package with a manual transmission at the price point of the outgoing Focus SE hatchback.

I’ll mourn the loss of a fun to drive, value-priced vehicle with a naturally aspirated engine and standard transmission. Hopefully you will too.