2012 vs 2013 vs 2014 - model year changes

What has changed from one model year to the next? We have the option to look at a lease takeover or leasing a new 2013/2014 Focus Electric from another state. I'm curious to know what the differences are and if you think that any one particular year was better or worse than the others.

Thanks!

Not a whole lot, even the 2015 is the same (well it changes some sheetmetal and you can get it in red).

I believe the earlier ones (2012) have the Homelink visor..that's about it.

jmueller065 said:

Not a whole lot, even the 2015 is the same (well it changes some sheetmetal and you can get it in red).

I believe the earlier ones (2012) have the Homelink visor..that's about it.

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Ok thanks. Do any have rain sensing wipers? I thought I remembered reading a car review that mentioned them but don't find them as a feature on the new ones.

I don't know if the 2012's had that: My 2013 doesn't and the newer ones don't either (we had the rain sensing wipers in our 2011 Edge--not sure I would want them from that timeframe: They would sense more than rain and wipe for no reason. We just turned the feature off).

jmueller065 said:

I don't know if the 2012's had that: My 2013 doesn't and the newer ones don't either (we had the rain sensing wipers in our 2011 Edge--not sure I would want them from that timeframe: They would sense more than rain and wipe for no reason. We just turned the feature off).

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Ok thanks. I will try to find the reference I saw to them to research it more. We love that feature in our Fusion Hybrid. They work perfectly for us. It's so nice to not have to worry about wiper speed when driving in rain & traffic. It makes it easier to focus on driving.

No rain sensing on my 2014... When I bought my FFE I thought they were there because I had read "automatic windshield wipers" which I assume is code for MPH-dependent wiper speed only.

I had a 2012 ICE Focus, and I preferred the design of the leather seats to my 2013 FFE that has the fancy perforations. Don't know whether the older FFE had the older, IMO nicer design.

To me biggest issue is loss of Homelink Visor in 2013, but this can be retrofit for about $100

Our FFE was made in 5/2012 (according to big window sticker), and has auto-dimming mirror (a function I would be happy to do by hand), rain-sensing wipers, and 3 buttons on visor of which 1 runs our garage door opener (why 3?) [Does that = "Homelink"?]
That visor device is nice, and useful. I did read it can be added for about 100$.
The other features are minor, for me.

The major changes were the trips to dealership to take care of recalls
especially the "Safety Recall Notice 13S09 / NHTSA Recall 13V523".
(There have been other, probably less important, recalls.)
You should ask for assurance that such have been incorporated in whatever car you are looking at.

JTCalif said:

Our FFE ... has ... 3 buttons on visor of which 1 runs our garage door opener (why 3?) [Does that = "Homelink"?]

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Yes, that's the visor with the built-in HomeLink remote. The HomeLink remote "learns" RF signals (like, from a garage door opener) and can repeat them.

WRT the three buttons: You can program each button on the HomeLink remote to operate a different garage (or other RF device). Maybe a garage at home, a gate at work, and another garage somewhere.

JTCalif said:

Our FFE was made in 5/2012 (according to big window sticker), and has auto-dimming mirror (a function I would be happy to do by hand), rain-sensing wipers, and 3 buttons on visor of which 1 runs our garage door opener (why 3?) [Does that = "Homelink"?]
That visor device is nice, and useful. I did read it can be added for about 100$.
The other features are minor, for me.

The major changes were the trips to dealership to take care of recalls
especially the "Safety Recall Notice 13S09 / NHTSA Recall 13V523".
(There have been other, probably less important, recalls.)
You should ask for assurance that such have been incorporated in whatever car you are looking at.

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Your Focus is a 2012 model? Or an early 2013?

An FFE manufactured in 5/2012 would most likely be a 2012 model. Ford doesn't typically sell the next model year vehicles until about September or so (at least that is about when they start showing up, if its manufactured after the two week July shutdown then its the next years model).

To triple check, I looked at Ford site http://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenance/vin-decoder/
where I saw that the "C" in position 10 (model year) does mean 2012.
I do not know the letters for other years.

When you look at the Leaf changelog over the years, it's pretty impressive how much Nissan has improved the vehicle. There are hundreds of mechanical and electrical upgrades since it's 2011 model. The 2015 FFE on the other hand will basically be the same as the 2012.

kmaluo said:

When you look at the Leaf changelog over the years, it's pretty impressive how much Nissan has improved the vehicle.

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Yeah, except in all the excitement, they forgot to build some of the cars properly:

Check out this insideevs.com article:
2014 Nissan LEAF Recall – Missing Spot Welds? Entire Vehicle Will Be Replaced Free Of Charge

Though, even when properly assembled, the LEAF only gets a 4-star crash rating. The FFE gets a 5-star.

Sure there's going to be mistakes along the way. Ford could have killed somebody with the amount of time it took to rectify the SSN issue. My point being, Nissan is actively trying to improve their product. Ford is not.

kmaluo said:

Sure there's going to be mistakes along the way. Ford could have killed somebody with the amount of time it took to rectify the SSN issue. My point being, Nissan is actively trying to improve their product. Ford is not.

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I agree. It is disappointing to see how little has changed over the years. I imagine that Ford is watching Leaf sales and has determined that the Leaf isn't yet selling in high enough volumes to convince Ford to invest a lot of time/money in building a better Focus Electric.

I don't know - I'm not sure a long list of changes is a good thing necessarily. If there were problems, Nissan had to fix them. If they didn't get the design quite exactly right, make changes.

On the other hand - the FFE - it is based on the Focus. How much has the Focus changed in three years? Not much really. It is being refreshed in 2015. So why would you expect the FFE to have changes? There was exactly one major problem with the FFE - the SSN problem. Ford addressed it, and as far as I can see, they fixed the problem. Some people might think it wasn't fast enough - on the other hand - would you prefer a ton of tries at fixing it that didn't really fix the problem? My personal experience, Ford and my dealer have done everything in the world to fix things quickly and right. I'm totally sold.

The Leaf is a different beast than the FFE. The Leaf is vaguely based on the Versa, but not really. It was a completely brand new car when Nissan released it. So they did fixes along the way. Ford started with a good solid car as a base, the Focus. They modified it to use an electric motor. There are a lot fewer fixes to do on a mature well built car.

Honestly, I think Ford did a great job on this car. I love driving it. It makes me smile every time I see it or drive it. There's no need to churn the enhancements just because. And there's a Tesla sitting right next to the FFE in my garage. I love both cars for very different reasons.

No need to blame Ford.

EVA said:

Honestly, I think Ford did a great job on this car. I love driving it. It makes me smile every time I see it or drive it. There's no need to churn the enhancements just because.

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I feel the same way. I think the Focus is a very good car... and an electric Focus is a great car. The somewhat-drawn-out SSN issue was a little nerve-wracking (though I never experienced it), but I'm confident that it has been fixed.

EVA said:

I don't know - I'm not sure a long list of changes is a good thing necessarily. If there were problems, Nissan had to fix them. If they didn't get the design quite exactly right, make changes.

On the other hand - the FFE - it is based on the Focus. How much has the Focus changed in three years? Not much really. It is being refreshed in 2015. So why would you expect the FFE to have changes? There was exactly one major problem with the FFE - the SSN problem. Ford addressed it, and as far as I can see, they fixed the problem. Some people might think it wasn't fast enough - on the other hand - would you prefer a ton of tries at fixing it that didn't really fix the problem? My personal experience, Ford and my dealer have done everything in the world to fix things quickly and right. I'm totally sold.

The Leaf is a different beast than the FFE. The Leaf is vaguely based on the Versa, but not really. It was a completely brand new car when Nissan released it. So they did fixes along the way. Ford started with a good solid car as a base, the Focus. They modified it to use an electric motor. There are a lot fewer fixes to do on a mature well built car.

Honestly, I think Ford did a great job on this car. I love driving it. It makes me smile every time I see it or drive it. There's no need to churn the enhancements just because. And there's a Tesla sitting right next to the FFE in my garage. I love both cars for very different reasons.

No need to blame Ford.

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This is where I think you're missing the point entirely. What you say is true for the ICE Focus, but for the Electric, not at all. It's like saying "hey i'm fine with this Blackberry phone from 2004, so why change it" all the while everybody else now has IPhones or Androids and BB is pretty much bankrupt. Tesla has changed the electric market and they are more a Tech company than a car company. It's all about what's next. The big battery factory, the next models, the cheaper models, the bigger models, etc. Other manufacturers are moving to smaller batteries or research, Toyota wants to push their Hydrogen Fuel Cell cars and so on.

If Ford sits on the FFE and does nothing, it's pretty much a bankrupt car like the blackberry phones. And being they've sold a whopping 3000 of them kind of tells you nobody is buying them. Call it marketing, lack of press, Ford's lack of interest, etc, but a car i could get for $25K after credits and rebates should sell a lot more than 3000 cars over 3 years. Otherwise, it's a dying car that nobody will remember.

So yeah, when it comes to the ICE Focus, nobody really expects 1000 new features every year. But when it comes to Electric cars, there should be some improvement, changes, fixes, etc. Me getting 65 miles of range normally kind of means they should find ways to increase this or improve that. Only being able to fit a tiny stroller and a couple of grocery bags in the trunk should be improved. Or after my lease is up, I'll just go buy another car. And the way these other companies seem to have a real interest in alternative fuel cars, it probably won't be a ford. Ford really doesn't seem to care at all about the FFE. Because it's not about staying the same, it's about actually making a better Electric car.

This is why Tesla seems to get all the hype, the Leaf gets a lot of the sales, and everybody else seems like they are just thinking of it as a Fad. Ford seems to act like the Electric car will just disappear. Or they think it's going to be a hybrid kind of world, and these totally Electric's will go away. I've seen companies act like this in the past and it sure seems this is their agenda.

Back the my original point. If Ford just looks at the FFE as a Focus but with no gas engine while everybody else is looking at the Electric car as an entirely different concept, and most others seem to have plans on improving the Electric cars or even Fuel Cell cars, the FFE is pretty much like a blackberry phone. Except the Blackberry was actually popular.

WattsUp said:

EVA said:

Honestly, I think Ford did a great job on this car. I love driving it. It makes me smile every time I see it or drive it. There's no need to churn the enhancements just because.

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I feel the same way. I think the Focus is a very good car... and an electric Focus is a great car. The somewhat-drawn-out SSN issue was a little nerve-wracking (though I never experienced it), but I'm confident that it has been fixed.

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You know thank you WattsUp - yeah, the FFE is a great car.