Ford adds flair to its Focus
FORD’S new Focus family hatchback could easily be overlooked. But the new five-seater is a car in which you really can have a ball. When you climb inside and drive it — as I did this week — you’ll quickly realise what a cracking family motor this is. I’ve been in sports cars that are less engaging and exciting to drive.
If you stuck on an Audi badge, people would rave about it. But because it carries the familiar blue oval, the care and engineering attention to detail does not get the credit it deserves.
Yet the Focus is punching hard in a tough fight against rivals such as the VW Golf and Kia Ceed. So it’s keenly and aggressively priced, with some canny packages for families on a tight budget.
The entry-level Style trim level starts from £17,930 on the road, £2,300 less than the outgoing model.
The Zetec trim, accounting for around a quarter of sales at £19,300, is £850 less (or £1,000 less with likefor-like equipment levels), while the ST-Line (from £21,570) and Titanium (£21,550) trim levels drop by £250. For the bulk of my time, I was behind the chunky steering wheel of the sporty ST-Line variant, powered by a lean three-cylinder 1.5-litre EcoBoost petrol engine which develops a meaty 182 horse power linked to a slick sixspeed manual gearbox.
It’s perfect for the school run, a shopping trip, family holiday or driving for fun. There is plenty of boot space and the seats were comfortable and supportive. There’s more leg, knee and shoulder-room thanks to efficient use of space.
Popping it into sport mode, I took my Focus for a real test around some fantastically winding mountain roads in the South of France near Nice and it performed beyond my expectations. There was an almost rally-car feel to the handling and clever twist to the lean, mean three-cylinder engine, too. When you’re driving hard, all three cylinders are in play.
But when simply tootling along and using only around a third of the available power, it will shut down the middle cylinder to use less fuel and push out fewer emissions. It could save you up to 10 per cent of your fuel consumption depending on how you drive it.