The Ford Focus came to fame early in its life thanks to the World Rally Championship and a Scottish driver by the name of Colin McRae. There have been a few homologation specials, named RS’s, through various generations of the small family car, but the run-of-the-mill models have always been popular on our roads.
Pitched against the likes of Volkswagen’s hugely familiar Golf, it’s cousin, the SEAT Leon, and the Vauxhall Astra, the Focus has a lot of competition. Korean rivals such at the Hyundai i30 and Kia Ceed also throw their keys onto the table in the race for family friendly motoring.
Starting from £28,500 the Ford Focus retains the fun handling it brought to this segment when launched over two decades ago. Although rivals have caught up with the Ford in the chassis department, the Ford looks fantastic thanks to a facelift and is spacious for both front and rear passengers.
Going off-sale next year, Ford will not be replacing this model in its model line-up, so if you fancy ticking Focus ownership off a to-do list, the time might be right to get it done sooner, than later.
The Focus is available in seven trim levels, starting with a ‘Titanium’ which features 16-inch alloy wheels, 13.2-inch touchscreen with SYNC4 which features wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, FordPass connect and connected navigation, keyless entry & start, fixed LED headlamps, LED daytime running lights and LED rear lights, a quickclear heated windscreen, and driver assistance technologies including front and rear parking sensors, and cruise control.
The ’ST-Line’ start from £29,330 and features 17-inch alloy wheels in Rock metallic, along with ST-Line body styling with large rear spoiler, and sports tuned suspension. The ‘Titanium X’ is priced from £30,700 and features 17-inch Pearl Grey with machine finished alloy wheels, B&O premium audio and wireless charging, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, premium Sensico interior with metal grey stitching, 4way power driver seat with lumbar adjustment, and heated front seats and steering wheel.
An ’Active X’ is priced from £31,530 and features all of the aforementioned but with a rugged styling pack and black arch trims. An ‘ST-Line X’ is also priced from £31,500 and features 18-inch alloy wheels in Pearl Grey with machine finish, red brake callipers, and all other comfort and convenience of the Active X.
An ST starts from £37,705 and features full ST body styling with ST suspension and limited slip differential, Ford Performance seats with front 6-way power adjustment and red stitching, dynamic metrics LED headlamps with glare free technology, B&O audio, and rear view camera.
The pinnacle of the Ford Focus range is the ‘ST Edition’ which is priced from £42,905 and features a track pack which includes 19-inch Flow Form alloy wheels in high gloss black, KW adjustable coilover suspension, 363 millimetre Brembo brakes, exclusive ‘Azura Blue’ paintwork with high gloss black accents, unique ‘Motion Blue’ interior trim stitching, and a driver assistance pack including adaptive cruise control and traffic sign recognition.
The model tested and pictured, an ST-Line X features the one litre EcoBoost, mHEV engine and 6-speed manual ‘box. Providing 125PS and 170Nm of torque, sees it from 0-62mph in 10.2 seconds with a claimed combined return of 52.3 mpg. In the real world, over a week spent with mixed driving, I didn’t achieve over 42 mpg.
Cabin space is more than adequate, materials around the dash and cockpit perhaps a little flimsy and lacking some quality compared to rivals. One let down for the Ford Focus in recent years has been it’s smaller than rivals boot capacity. Infotainment and connectivity is as good as you could expect, the B&O premium audio system sounds superb.
Ford offer a three-year or 60,000 mile warranty for new vehicles.
