[FreeManWhoCan]

My German colleague who just came from Germany a few months ago went and bought a brand new Ford Focus. He keeps asking me why the parts in the interior of the car are so 'loose" and shabbily built? When I asked him to pop the hood to take a look at his new car's engine, it got stuck and he had to fiddle with it to open it. This was the second day he bought it.

[-YYZ-]

He bought a Ford Focus. What the heck did he expect? I dunno, maybe Ford Europe vehicles are built to a better standard, but here the Focus is nothing but a loss-leader that helps lower CAFE ratings, and as such Ford builds them as cheaply as humanly possible. Same for most other small cars sold by the Big 3.