FOCUS ON FORM
The latest offering from Ford is a thoroughly satisfactory drive
The latest Ford Focus is put through its paces in the hills of the Serra de Montserrat near Barcelona
Rain was flooding across the roads and sluicing down the hills of the Serra de Montserrat near Barcelona at the recent launch of the new Ford Focus ST. The peaks of the mighty mountains in this stunning national park were shrouded in mist and rain clouds filled the valleys below.
Ford apologised for the lack of sunshine, but, in fact, these challenging conditions were ideal for sampling the advanced engineering and the supernal driving dynamics of this higher-performance small family hatchback and estate car. At high speeds, the vertiginous descents into flooded hairpins demanded full use of all the electronic driving aids packed into this car by Ford’s racing division – the enhanced transitional stability control and torque vectoring systems and the sophisticated rally-style suspension set-up.
Alas, one of the journalists on the press launch decided to show off his masculinity and his Steve McQueen-like driving prowess by switching off those dynamic stability controls. Result? Head-on smash into a wall of rock on one of those hairpins.
Many enthusiastic drivers might imagine they’d be too good for the Focus ST with its humble oval blue badge. As the crumpled wreck on the hairpin mutely bore witness, they would be mistaken. Some cars with snootier badges and flashier aspirations that cost twice as much as the £22,195–£25,995 price range for this Focus can’t match the sharpness of its handling, the exquisiteness of its balance and the satisfactions of its performance.
In standard form, the latest Focus – the world’s best-selling car – offers deep pleasures to any driver who enjoys pushing on a bit when the conditions allow. Its driving dynamics even put the latest VW Golf fractionally in the shade. In the Focus ST, however, the satisfactions on offer are so rich that a keen driver might choose the longer way home just to enjoy them to the full. This is a car that genuinely rivals VW’s more expensive GTI.
Two engine versions were on offer at the press launch: a 250 PS 2.0-litre EcoBoost which can accelerate from 0 to 62mph in 6.5 seconds; and a 185 PS 2.0-litre TDCI diesel with 0 to 62mph in 8.1 seconds. Both versions offer Auto-Stop-Start which helps reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. The petrol version’s average fuel consumption is claimed to 41.5mpg, and the diesel’s is 67.3mpg, but no driver who took advantage of the performance capabilities of the new Focus ST would be likely to achieve fuel consumption at more than 70% of those figures. My average in the diesel was 38mpg – probably a reflection of the extent to which I was testing the limits of the driver aids.
The diesel lacks the instantaneous punch of the petrol engine so you need to judge and time overtakes more cautiously but it is, unexpectedly, the more enjoyable car to drive. The note from its central exhaust tail pipes is less raucous and the extra weight of the engine seems to settle the suspension set-up while making the nose even more accurate to point.
The people at Ford expect that most customers for this car will be men in their late thirties, either unmarried or in a relationship without children. The new ST is, therefore, fitted out with all the knick-knacks this demographic is likely to fancy. Along with the centre exhaust comes a rear spoiler, rear diffusers, deep bumpers, side skirts and low-profile 19-inch wheels with red brake callipers. Inside, you get the standard boy-racer kit of flat-bottomed, leather-clad steering wheel, chrome on all surfaces, rally-style pedals and Recaro seats.
A little bracket of analogue gauges on the instrument binnacle is supposed to give information on turbocharger boost, oil pressure and oil temperature, but these were so tiny I couldn’t read them without putting on my glasses.
Perhaps that’s Ford’s way of saying: ‘This car is not for you, pal.’
‘A keen driver might choose the longer way home just to enjoy this car to the full’