2012 Focus has slightly less interior room than the 2011 Focus

[tjl]

When comparing:

2011 Ford Focus Sedan | View All Ford Focus Sedan Specifications | Ford.com

and

2012 Ford Focus | View All Ford Focus Specifications | Ford.com

It looks like the 2012 Focus is slightly smaller inside than the 2011 Focus.

* Slightly less head room.
* 2-3 inches more width (shoulder and hip room).
* About 3 inches less rear leg room (for comparison, about 2 inches more than the Fiesta).
* 90.7 instead of 93.4 ft^3 interior room (sedan).
* 13.2 instead of 13.8 ft^3 trunk room (sedan). 2012 hatchback has 23.8 ft^3 behind the rear seat, 44.8 ft^3 with the rear seat down -- larger than the old ZX3 and ZX5, but smaller than the old wagon.

Unlike the Cruze and Elantra, which nose into the EPA midsize class, the Focus will remain in the EPA compact class.

[FiestaFan]

Yeah, I'm starting to wonder if Ford Europe's suddenly forgotten the benefits of interior packaging. The original Focus, for example, was quite roomy for its class.

On the other hand, the new Focus has about the same amount of rear-seat legroom as the new Elantra and Subaru Impreza, neither of which are particularly cramped. Additionally, I've found that supposedly roomy cars like the Mazda3, which I own and which is rated at something like 36 inches for rear seat room, feels much more cramped than the Honda Civic, which has 34.5 inches of rear legroom. Basically, YMMV.

[tallguy2.3]

Hmm this is interesting to me. I hope the 2012 ST has seats that are either height adjustable or are mounted nice and low...or both so that this 6'5" guy can fit in it.

You mentioned that this Focus still fits in the subcompact class...what implications does that have as far as tax, insurance, and registration goes? I.E. what effect does the "class" a car is in really have?

I just have no idea, so I'm askin'.