From The Sunday Times
December 2, 2007
The best just got better
2008 Ford Focus
I
Andrew Frankel
Unlike in its native America, where the Ford Motor Company is in desperate straits, Ford’s European business is oozing such confidence that it’s in real danger of looking cool.
Granted, its US parent is desperately flogging off the family silver (Aston Martin has gone, and it hopes Land Rover and Jaguar will soon follow) to raise much needed cash, but sales of Ford cars in Europe are buoyant, and nowhere more so than in Britain, where it’s even turning away business. This year Ford has elected not to pump 15,000 Mondeos into UK car rental fleets because of the harm this does to the long-term residual values of cars people buy with their own money.
The Focus is the staple that has kept Ford the firm favourite among British car buyers. One in 20 new cars sold in the UK is a Focus, and for every full year it has been on sale since its 1998 launch it has been the land’s bestselling car.
In the days before the Focus and Mondeo, most Fords were rubbish and people bought them because there was a dealer at the end of their street, not because they thought the Escort and Sierra were any good, which they weren’t. They were cheap to buy and run, didn’t break down too often, and that was good enough.
But these days excellence is expected, and with this, the third generation of Focus, excellence is precisely what Ford has delivered.
All car makers know the strengths and weaknesses of their products, but come renewal time, many choose to meddle with already perfectly good areas of design, just because they can. And their “improvements” sometimes involve worsening things – witness the new Chrysler Grand Voyager I wrote about last week, which looks older than the model it replaces.
So I’m glad to relate that the Focus chassis, a class leader since day one, has been left entirely alone. The Focus still handles with a fluency unmatched by any similar car, rides superbly and offers a degree of driver interaction that many sports cars costing twice as much can’t even provide. And as the engines are state of the art, apart from some tinkering to reduce emissions, they’ve been left alone too.
What did need addressing was the Focus’s boring appearance, which is why generation three looks like an entirely new car. Ford knew the outgoing Focus looked dowdy next to younger, funkier rivals such as the Honda Civic, so it has changed every exterior panel bar the roof. The result is visually purposeful, distinctive and attractive.
Inside, Ford rightly identified that quality was becoming an issue in an era of increasing customer expectation, so smart new instruments, dashboard materials, seats and upholstery have been fitted, raising the perceived quality to a level rivalling Peugeot and Renault, and shaded only by the classy VW Golf. Greater attention has also been paid to keeping noise levels down.
The result is a car that’s very hard to criticise. You might take issue with some of the carried-over interior fittings, you might find the clutch action too sharp, and I didn’t much care for the style of the alloy wheels of the 2 litre diesel I tested. But, as you can probably tell, I’m struggling to be negative.
Not once in a long afternoon spent with the car did it annoy me, and that is a rare achievement for any car, at any price. I drove it through towns, along motorways, up and down a mountain pass, and it felt at home in each of these environments.
Despite strengthened class competition of late, the greatest appeal of the Focus – the fact that it’s a driver’s car – still keeps it well distanced from its rivals. Yet, for all its abilities, many will still choose a Golf, not just for the slower depreciation, but because it’s a Volkswagen and not a Ford. To many people, these things count.
Personally I don’t care what a car says about me; I just care for the car. And that is why I have no doubt that the Focus is still what it has been for so long – the best small family car you can buy.
Vital statistics
Model Ford Focus 2.0 TDCi Titanium
Engine type 1997cc, four cylinders, turbodiesel
Power/Torque 136bhp @ 4000rpm / 235 lb ft @ 2000rpm
Transmission Six-speed manual
Fuel/CO2 51.3mpg (combined cycle) / 144g/km
Performance 0-62mph: 9.3sec (estimated) / Top speed: 126mph
Price £18,295
Verdict The very best car in the family hatchback business
Rating
Date of release January 2008
The opposition
Model Hyundai i30 2.0 CRDi Premium £16,595 For Exceptional value, good to drive, great warranty Against Rather dull exterior, unattractive cabin
Model VW Golf GT Sport 2.0 TDI 5dr £18,887 For Good image, quality, comfort and residual values Against The Focus both drives and looks better
Ford elected not to bring the "third generation" Focus over in 2005, so we had the same stale car with only minor "refreshes" which included a less sporty suspension. The US WILL get the fourth gen. in about 2010 along with Europe though..
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