Adjusting the Focus makes it sharper

CROSSOVERS and SUVS might be all the rage, but don’t think that the good old hatchback is dead yet.

Of the top 10 best-selling cars in the UK, the Nissan Qashqai is the only one that’s a crossover. So a brand new Ford Focus is a big deal – and only Ford’s own Fiesta and the VW Golf outsell it here.

And this five-door Focus really is new with a completely revised bodyshell that adds almost 50mm to the wheelbase giving rear passengers more legroom.

There’s an estate version but no three-door model, although there’s plenty of choice in other areas. A baffling amount, in fact.

Engines range from a selection of three-cylinder petrol engines of 1.0 and 1.5-litre, and diesels of 1.5-litre (all new) and 2.0-litre with varying power outputs. Gearboxes are either six-speed manual or a new eight-speed automatic.

We drove several different versions of the Focus on the car’s launch but we’ll concentrate on the 1.0-litre, 124bhp petrol-engined hatchback with the manual gearbox.

Our test car is in Titanium trim Ford Focus 1.0 Titanium five-door hatchback

Price: £21,550

Engine: 1.0-litre threecylinder, 124bhp

0-62mph: 10sec

Fuel consumption: 58.9mpg

which will set you back £21,550 at full price. Then there’s that vast array of optional extras, including adaptive LED headlamps, for example, which automatically adjust when a car is coming the other way and also use a camera to anticipate a corner, pointing the lamps in that direction.

Lane assist is standard on all

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