Focusing on techno-savvy Ford
CLEVER: THIS IS A CAR THAT DOES A LOT OF YOUR THINKING FOR YOU WITH ALL ITS INNOVATIONS
Forgot to switch on your lights? Never mind, the car will.
Driving the new Ford Focus certainly changed mornings of yelling for the kids to get in the car in time for school, to the kids yelling for me to hurry for the morning drive.
The voice control sound system was one of the highlights during these morning drives, and while each one of my two daughters could take turns to prompt their song to play, it soon meant driving the long route to school to fit in an extra round of tunes.
My status in the car pool lane at school changed to admiration from the dads while soliciting snide remarks from the moms. As the race red Ford Focus pulled up to the drop-off area, the kids would promptly unbuckle their safety belts and pop their heads through the open sunroof, screaming like they were attending a parade during spring break. This little ritual attracted much more attention than the usual school drop-offs.
The spacious interior made for a comfortable ride, mainly because chairs could be spaced far apart, a helpful feature to keep rivalling siblings at a safe distance. And talking about safety, knowing the Ford Focus has front and curtain airbags, boosted my sense of safety while driving my children around.
The car boasts a range of sophisticated technologies, and although I never got to use most of it, the features I was able to use were great. The Active City Stop makes the car break automatically if you don't hit the brakes at less than 30km/h. Although this feature sounded impressive, I realised it will only come in handy in parking lots or bumper-to-bumper traffic and is not so much a safety feature at normal driving speeds. But the back camera for reversing is excellent, as well as the sensors warning when you are too close to objects on all sides of the vehicle, making it perfect for drivers like myself who are prone to driving into gates, walls and shopping trolleys.
For the budget-conscious, the Ford Focus also has a techno-savvy feature that switches the car off automatically while stopping at red traffic lights or in bumper-to-bumper traffic. It’s an au- tomatic car and all of these features make for a smooth and quiet driving experience on busy roads around the city.
The smaller features that may not make a standard review are also worth highlighting for city slickers on the go: the adjustable cup holders are perfect for when you’ve ordered a grande coffee. The cup holders for passengers are conveniently situated at the back sides of the seat, easier for the kids to reach their juices and cause less distraction yelling out to the driver to help.
Having the lights go on automatically meant I never drove out of parking areas at night forgetting to put the lights on until halfway home. The car also has a similar automated window wiper system in place, a handy feature for driving around in Highveld thunderstorms.
The Ford Focus can self-park. Well, assisted park. And while this seemed to be the most impressive feature when any car buff asked about the vehicle, it was a bit too intimidating for a techno-phobe like me to try out. For a busy working mom on the go, who has to transport kids in-between a demanding working schedule, forget the self-park and add a self-vacuum.