New Ford Focus is on right track to be another huge hit.. just watch out for the men in Lycra

rugged Active. There will also be a hybrid version some time next year. I was driving the 1.5-litre petrol ST- Line, which is lower to the ground than the regular Focus for a more sporty feel and comes with sports suspension. It has a black honeycomb grille, a big rear spoiler, 18in alloys and, inside, red stitching, a sports gear sstick, a f lat- bottomed steering steeri wheel, al loy pedals and STST-Line logos on the sills. It lolooked fabulous in desert island blue. Ins Inside, the Focus has lost 50 pper cent of the dials and switchesswit of the previous version and the automatic even comes with a rotary dial instead of a gear gea stick. What W it could have done with, wit given its heritage, is a good o l d - fa sh ioned handbrake instead of the electric one, which is excel lent but not nearly as much fun.

Ford are offering this latest version of their timeless classic with what they call Co-Pilot360, a second-level autonomy feature that brings adaptive cruise control with stop and go to the new Focus, with lane centering, speed sign recognition, Active Park Assist and a head-up display.

Added to that are new protection technologies such as cross traffic alert with active braking, evasive speed assist and post-collision braking that make a formidable line-up when you consider the safety and assistance features already in a Focus.

Designers have taken the car’s name and spelt it out in bold letters across the rear – another development – but it kind of sums up the spirit of this car and its fantastic character.