It's the end of an era, I finally decided to pull the trigger and get rid of the Focus. Over 100k miles, out of the extended transmission warranty and I don't want to have to deal with the clutch pack replacement again out of my own pocket, and it's never going be worth as much as it is now. Did a lot of research, was originally considering a new Civic hatch. I test drove one and while it was nice, decided that I didn't care for the CVT, even if it's good for a CVT, it's still a CVT. Ford was out, after the Focus I'm kind of burn out on Ford, the Cruze is expensive and you can't turn off the auto stop, and it's just meh in my book. Originally VW wasn't on my radar at all, but I saw the new 2019 Jetta and decided to take a look. It has all of the things I want, apple carplay which will soon work with google maps, so no more needing to stick a plastic mount on the dash, has a nice 8 speed automatic and torquey 1.4T. Big backseat is nice for going on roadtrips with friends, comfortable and quiet.
I got what I wanted on my trade and then some, got a nice incentive as I went on the last day of the quarter and they were desperate to sell me a car. I also convinced them to transfer the (nearly brand new) Pirelli P7s from my Focus for free. They are 215/55/16 and the stock Jetta tires are 205/60/16, close enough for government work anyway, the speedometer will only be about 1mph hour off at 60, well within acceptable limits for me.
I've been doing some reading about VW maintenance, and the schedule is definitely a bit more aggressive, (spark plugs every 40k for example vs 100k) the oil changes every 10k will likely be with the VW dealer supplies Castrol Professional 0W-20 which meets the new VW 508, and is available for around $9.50/qt which is pretty decent. I was iffy about buying a VW but the car comes with VWs new 6y/72k bumper to bumper warranty, trying to win back trust.
I'll post more impressions after I've gotten more than a few miles on it.
PS: With the temperature this weekend outside hitting almost 100 the A/C certainly works well.
