Focus group
Ford and Kia's contenders are ready... time to find Britain's best hatchback
See what we did there? Ford’s family hatch has serious competition in the shape of the Golf, Ceed and Astra
Bet you Ford’s engineers are jaded at seeing these cars together. Not so much the new Focus MkIV against the latest Kia Ceed, but surely the VW Golf MkVII and the Vauxhall Astra. Behind the scenes, how much benchmarking do you suppose has gone on between them? Measurements, test drives, tear-downs… they know each other inside out.
The newly apostrophe-free Ceed is no token sub. Since the first Focus nuked the hatchback formbook back in 1998, Korea’s rise from sub-Lada punchline to credible carmaking contenders has been one of the motoring headlines. Ol’ reliable, stern German semi-premium opposition returns in the form of the VW Golf. An SE Nav, since you ask. And last, and likely least, Vauxhall. By no means TG’s favourite hatch, but Brits insistently buy them in their tens of thousands annually. It’s automotive beans on toast. These are the crucial head-to-heads: the cars the Focus will have been benchmarked to beat, and will spend the next seven years duelling in the showroom arena of finance deals and free floormats.
If you’re after value, surely the Kia’s the bargain-in-waiting? Not so fast. This new Ceed is so confident, it doesn’t simply lean on a seven-year warranty for support. Here we have a designerlabel ‘First Edition’ complete with the most powerful engine, a preposterous heap of equipment and a near-£26k price tag. Punchy. But once the First Editions sell out, you’ll be able to get something similar for about £22–£23k, which is where all four are priced.
This kitted-out early bird is only supplied with Kia’s 1.4-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine. So, it’s the only car here to sport an even count of cylinders – the others are all low-CO 999cc 3cyl efforts. Less expensive new Ceeds will get Kia’s own downsized triple-cylinder, which is a good ’un.
Three-cylinder turbo engines used to be a novelty in ‘big’ cars. Not anymore. In fact, the Focus depends on them. The quicker ones riff off the new Fiesta ST’s superb 1.5-litre EcoBoost triple, but the workaday models make do with a 1.0-litre version, represented here in its most powerful 123bhp form. It’s towing along the poshest trim line possible, if you ignore the Liberace’d Vignale version. Which we shall, happily.
So, we’ve got a Focus Titanium X, complete with needly 17in rims, chromed mug, tinted glass, a power-adjustable driver’s seat, the eight-inch digi-radio touchscreen, many driver assists, auto lights and wipers… don’t expect button blanks inside.
Not many buttons at all, in reality. Thanks to that erect screen and myriad functions contained in its fast-reacting depths, this is a far less fiddly place to be than the ugly old Focus. It’s not much plusher, though. The steering wheel is wrapped in waxy hide and the seat is supremely comfy, but yet again Ford has scrimped on trim details. Some of the finishes inside are downright grim. On a par with the Kia and Vauxhall, but not good enough when you’re up against a (five-year-old) Volkswagen…
Loaded with kit and a few passengers, the Focus’s 147lb ft (on temporary overboost) isn’t enough. Just as well it’s got the slickest shift here – if only the gearing were shorter. A torquier 1.5-litre engine for us, please.
The Astra suffers with poor drivability too. Power arrives in a rollercoaster of dips and peaks, despite a torque curve supposedly flatter than its cabin ambience. A typically clunky gearshift accessed via a typically uncomfortable lever doesn’t help matters.
Predictably, the Kia’s extra cylinder affords it a less pleasant soundtrack, and a power advantage over the others. But it’s the
Golf that makes the smoothest progress, its Polo and Up-shared 1.0-litre turbo unit thrumming merrily but transmitting fewer vibrations through the bulkhead than the other triples. In a car people dismiss as staid, nuggets of character are gold dust.
The Golf gets a kicking for ‘being boring’ because it’s just so damn versatile. The smartest materials. The best built. Boxiest, so it’s spacious – particularly in rear headroom compared with the Astra – and the glassiest, for maximum light into the cabin. Take note, lumpy-looking Focus. The MkVII is in its twilight, yet still an ergonomically peerless, quiet, comfortable-riding device. OK, it’s not an across-the-board winner – the freakishly refined Focus now beats the Golf for idling silence and on-themotorway wind and tyre noise. It’s also miles more playful,
“The Golf gets a kicking for ‘being boring’ because it’s just so versatile”
resting on a chassis that wants to indulge the driver’s teenage kicks, rather than lobbing a damp tea towel over any attempt to enjoy a roundabout.
Cripes, we’ve forgotten the Kia, and you know what’s coming next. The Ceed could’ve been the dark horse, promising a sharper drive and mature cabin wrapped up in the most handsome bodywork. Problem is, it never quite gels as a package. The ride is oddly tinny and too firm, and the handling is merely competent. Tip it into a bend keenly once, discover it copes rather than engages, and forget all about Kia’s claims of a driver-pleasing chassis. Then you’re left to ponder the dated dashboard, featuring fussy clusters of switchgear that riff on a stacked Eighties hi-fi. The touchscreen is clever enough to knock Vauxhall’s rubbish interface into a bin from ten paces, but the VW and Ford exhibit sharper graphics.
The Ceed will be a painless object to own, no doubt, with a warranty that’ll last longer than most UK prime ministers and stunning equipment levels (heated rear seats in a Kia – the world has gone crackers.) It beats the Vauxhall on account of its more tractable engine, superior infotainment and its slightly cheaper leasing options, according to TG’s third-party finance calculator.
Incredibly, it’s the VW that works out cheapest per month, thanks to its bulletproof residuals, with the Astra working out priciest. Pre-discounts, you understand. In isolation, you drive the Astra and think, “This is alright, actually.” But it wilts against competition with more thoughtful control weights, peppier
powertrains and clearer interfaces. It’s the best Astra so far: sharp-looking, inoffensive and well-equipped. Yet it still pongs of mediocrity. How its new Peugeot-Citroen foster parents reinvent it – given the latest French hatch crop is so avant-garde – will be fascinating. Or it won’t. And we’ll all buy Focuses.
The irony is that our winner requires a similar lack of imagination. This Golf doesn’t succeed because of its badge, or because it’s the prettiest, or because it’s been loaded up with lots of options that cheat the base price out of existence. It’s simply the most complete all-rounder here, and potentially the cheapest.
Oh, it’s a closer-run thing than VW would like. All will seat four in comfort and five at a pinch, and all did 45mpg+ on test. All would manage more than 380 miles on a tank. Only the
Kia is over £200 to tax, and, with a 1.0-litre engine, it’d be less. There’s no denying Ford has taken a giant leap in rolling manners and tech, and stretched its lead over the VW in handling – it’s truly got the German on toast as a machine to enjoy hustling.
On points, then, the Focus could sneak the win. Perhaps in sportier ST-line trim, for folks who want the most chuckable car in the class, it will. But there’s no escaping that the VW’s quality runs deeper, against much newer machinery. On the photoshoot, TG’s huddled masses agreed it was the product we found most compelling for most occasions, not to mention less offensivelooking than the guppy Ford. Even as the chasing pack score their own minor victories, this VW is still – just – the most complete product. The consistent all-rounder. The evergreen benchmark.