I just took delivery of a new 2012 Gen 9 Sport last week and I find it very quiet, can't comment if it's any quieter than the Gen 8 Sport as Iv'e never even been in a Gen 8 ... personally I do find the suspension a bit on the soft side and it is a bit "jittery" on the road .. but of course I am coming from an XR4 with modified suspension so pretty much any car is going to feel soft in the suspension to me until I got used to it.
I also looked at the new Focus Titanium before settling on the Honda ... the Focus is a nice car but two things put me off buying one .... firstly, being a Euro Ford the air-con is rubbish! .. Iv'e owned my XR4 which also comes from Germany (like the Focus) for over 4 years and the biggest let down of the whole car was the sub-standard air con performance, it's simply not up to our climate over here, fine for Euro conditions where 25C is considered a heatwave! .. but here in Oz ... it's next to useless! .. I spent a lot of money on my XR4 to get the air-con fixed up so it was at least bearable .. in stock form it's hopeless.
Secondly, it's a Ford ... nice enough cars ... BUT ... if anything goes wrong under warranty .. be prepared for a big fight to get anything fixed! .... personally I would have many sleepless nights just worrying about that nice 6 Speed DSG Powershift gearbox playing up! ... good luck to anyone getting that fixed under warranty!
Hopefully Honda have a little more foresight in regards to looking after their customers should warranty concerns arise .. time will tell (fingers crossed) ... this is my first ever Honda so I can only hope the reliability is as good as they say.
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