JAMES LIPMAN

INGO BARENSCHEE

It was during his hair-earmuff period, circa 1980, that soft-rock belter Neil Diamond, in his paean to immigration, America, growled:

Freedom’s light burning warm!

Oh, actually forget that. That’s just our favorite part but not, strictly speaking, pertinent in any way to the 2013 Dodge Dart and 2012 Ford Focus. (A ’13 Focus was unavailable.) It was more that whole—

They’re coming to America

Today!

That’s the part where ol’ spangled-shirt Diamond has something meaningful to say about the state of the compact-sedan market in the United States. Each such entrant from what we now call the Domestic Three (Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors) has its roots elsewhere in the world. GM’s entrant in the class, the Chevrolet Cruze, has already made it big in America. Sadly, though, it also lost to the Focus in an earlier comparison test, so it was not invited back for this round.

Bottom left: the center stack button array once turned into a talking robot head. Sadly, it didn't know how to operate the sync system, either. Bottom right: the Dodge's shift knob is uncommonly large. JAMES LIPMAN

The impetus for this head-to-head matchup is instead the introduction of the Dodge Dart, the progeny of an arranged Italian-American marriage. Somewhat of a replacement for the regrettable Caliber, the curvy, sedan-only Dart rides on a lengthened and widened version of the Alfa Romeo platform that underpins the Giulietta in Europe. Assembled in Belvidere, Illinois, and powered here by a rorty little 1.4-liter turbo four bolted together in Dundee, Michigan, it’s perhaps best to think of the Dart as meat and potatoes, with a dash of oregano.

KERIAN

The Focus has similarly complicated lineage. The first Focus, an edgy Euro cousin, arrived on our shores near the end of the American Century and promptly assimilated, becoming less compelling as the years passed. It took a reintroduction of European bloodlines to pique our interest again. And this new Focus has collected a 10Best trophy and two comparison-test wins (against a raft of new C-segment competitors). We again chose a sedan Focus for its newest challenge, a notchback being the only Dart body style offered. We’re pleased to say we finally get to put a Focus with a manual transmission into a comparo, as our chosen Dart, a Rallye model with the turbo four, was available only with a six-speed manual at the time of the test (a dual-clutch automatic comes later).

JAMES LIPMAN

Both the Dart Rallye and the Focus SE start below $20,000, and our examples pushed into the low 20s. Each pumps out 160 peak horsepower, carries 13 cubic feet of cargo, circles the skidpad at 0.86 g, and negotiates our slalom at 42.2 mph. Generally speaking, these two are a perfect match.

With our imported British photographer in tow, we headed to Ohio, where this slight young man was continually shocked at the size of the American human and the propensity of the males of the species to wear unkempt beards. We didn’t choose Ohio for its interminable, flat expressways, although we made ample use of those. Instead, we headed for our own little “Hockingheim ring” of snaky public roads in the southern Ohio Hocking Hills. A stretch, you say? Yeah, well would you believe that the real Hockenheim ring hosts an annual NitrOlympX event with Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars wearing pink ’59 Cadillac–style bodies running the quarter-mile? It’s true. We’re talking some heavy cross-cultural stuff here. Let us begin.

The Dodge Dart has to be the least likely good-handling car on the American ­market. Maybe it is the Dodge’s overly voluptuous, Barney-the-dinosaur hips or maybe it is just the damage done to Dodge’s reputation by the Caliber, but we didn’t expect the Dart to keep up with the Focus on our route through the dales. But there it was poking its crosshair schnoz into the Focus’s rear bumper. We were not prepared for the fluid way in which this sedan moves; the way it gently loads up its outside tires; the way it effortlessly slices a corner like a boning knife through tuna. Well, it’s pretty sharp, anyway.

That the Dart accomplishes this while returning a more comfortable ride than the Focus indicates that Dodge’s suspension-tuning kung fu is strong, indeed. Its only real dynamic fault is its relatively lackluster turn-in. This, and a general feeling of bigness serve to mask the Dart’s handling precision. We’ve come to expect dynamic competence in this segment, along with decent passenger accommodations, high-tech features, decent fuel efficiency, and an overall lack of cheapness.

On this last point, the Dart suffers. In our earlier exposures to the car, Dodge made sure to deliver Limited versions with upgraded interiors in black, which tends to hide some cost cutting. Our mid-level Rallye test car for this go-round was filled with dull gray fittings that Dodge calls “diesel gray.” We’re not sure what the company is aiming for with that name. Does it carry the beguiling scent of Eau de Flying J Truck Stop? No, but it does feel cheap. A ragged line between matte and gloss portions of the instrument panel will look familiar to house painters too lazy to properly apply masking tape.

JAMES LIPMAN

The front seats are lumpy and soft. And despite a longer wheelbase and a larger interior volume than the Focus’s, the rear quarters of the Dart were deemed less comfortable because of low, unsupportive seat bottoms.

And while the Dart’s optional turbocharged 1.4-liter four (a $1300 option) matches the output of the Focus’s naturally aspirated 2.0-liter four, the two have vastly different deliveries. The Dart’s engine is an on/off power switch. This is not a powertrain that allows its operator to be lazy. Around town, you will catch this little mill snoozing, and it takes forever to rouse it. Its painfully slow 30-to-50-mph top-gear acceleration tells the tale. At 30.1 seconds, the Dart requires more than double the time it takes the Focus to complete the same feat. Get used to downshifting the ropey shifter. When all 184 pound-feet of torque are working, you can forget that the Dart carries an additional 301 pounds of mass compared with the Focus. But there’s no hiding the additional weight at the test track, where the Dart trailed the Focus by a half-second to 60 mph.

JAMES LIPMAN

This story would have been more interesting to write had the Focus not won again. But it did. And kudos to it. It has now bested every significant entry in its class.

The Focus is not without its faults. For example, our own Mike Austin had to finish the assembly of our test car by clipping the rear interior door panels into place. The body-panel gaps around the decklid make us sad. And that the inner trunklid has no padding rings an unfortunate note of cheapness every time you open the trunk. Instead of a nice, mouse-fur pad, owners get to look at a varicose vein of dangling taillight wiring.

Also, if you anticipate trying to control some of the entertainment functions in the car through the Sync system while maintaining your sanity, you’re going to have to learn to use voice commands. The spray of buttons that are intended to control it only serve to highlight the demented logic of the system’s programming.

Beyond these concerns, the Focus is as lovable as ever. It matches the Dart’s handling measures on the track and improves on them in terms of feel on the road. The Focus’s chassis is a rare combination of suppleness and precision. Its turn-in is prompt and sure. Its tail tucks in obediently through turns. And its steering system has a more connected feel and better on-center sensitivity than the Dart’s. And while it controls only five gears to the Dodge’s six, the Focus’s shifter is sports-sedan precise. The Ford’s major controls feel like a matched set.

JAMES LIPMAN

Despite its occasional failings in fit, the interior materials of the Focus are of a higher quality than those of the Dodge. The Focus has a relatively tight cockpit instead of the wide-open space of the Dart, but we find the more close-coupled cabin and especially the firm, supportive seats a perfect match to the Ford’s sporty demeanor.

We appreciate the 2.0-liter engine’s linear power delivery, even if it lacks the punch of the Dart’s boosted mill. And despite its lower EPA ratings, the Focus delivered 29 mpg in mixed driving compared with the Dodge’s 28 mpg.

The Focus’s mix of performance, precision, practicality, price sensitivity, and possibly several other words that begin with “p” carries the day yet again.

And so, Focus:

Of thee we sing

(Today)

Of thee we sing

(Today)

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