Renewed Focus
Celebrate Ford fave’s facelift
We’re living in a world of SUVS, coupe SUVS, crossovers, coupe crossovers and compact crossovers. So it’s easy to forget there are still good old hatchbacks out there made by huge companies that used to depend on them for a chunk of their earnings. Like Ford.
Hard to believe it’s almost 25 years since the Focus was launched and took over from the Escort.
A great car it was and is: it marked a turning point for Ford, when it realised it had to make cars good to drive (the last Escort certainly wasn’t). One year short of its silver jubilee, Ford has decided to facelift and update the Focus.
You’ll need sharp eyes to spot the external changes as they’re limited to a repositioned Ford badge at the front and headlamp units that are slimmer and contain the foglights.
Changes at the back are even more subtle, with refreshed tail lamps. There are new wheel designs too. Inside, there’s more to talk about. But first, a word about the line up. Ford has simplified the selection of trim levels and now there are only entry-level Trend, Titanium, ST Line and the faux off-road Active. Vignale used to be a separate level but it’s now tacked on to those levels to indicate extra poshness.
Our test car is rather an eccentric specification. It’s an estate in Active trim with Vignale added on. The engine is a 155PS 1.0-litre three-cylinder and it drives through a sevenspeed automatic gearbox. Oh, and there’s a mild hybrid system.
For a Focus that doesn’t have twin exhausts and an ST badge on its tail it’s rather expensive at £30,965. No doubt there are good PCP deals.
Our car has a few options too, most of them useful. Bit odd to have to pay for a family pack that features split rear seats with a ski hatch and, on the estate, a handsfree tailgate.
Now to the inside. The headline change is a new infotainment screen which at 13.2in Ford claims is the largest in its class.
More important than size is function and this screen with its Sync4 software is easy to use with clear graphics. Apple Carplay and Android Auto are included and my neolithic era iphone synced without trouble.
Needless to say that on a facelift nothing changes to a vehicle’s dimensions (maybe an extra few millimetres to length if a new bumper is fitted) and the Focus remains a practical family if not as capacious as a Skoda Octavia and a few other
rivals. What also remains is the Focus is great to drive. Plenty of companies make small three-cylinder turbo charged engine but none makes one that has as much character as Ford’s Ecoboost motor. It sounds great and has plenty of power.
Our test car is the Rolls-royce of Focuses but the more affordable ones are just as good, whatever the specification and kit count.