Will a manual transmission work for you? Then the Focus should be more versatile and more fun to drive. But the automated dual clutch transmission has had serious reliability issues, so I'd only buy one with a manual transmission. Same with the Fiesta, which hasn't been as reliable as the Focus.
A Fusion won't be as fun to drive, but could be more comfortable on long highway drives.
Another car I've noticed tends to be relatively inexpensive while still being reasonably reliable (especially with a manual transmission) is the Kia Soul. The second-generation, introduced as a 2014 model, drives much better than the original.
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