Driving the Focus was a pleasure; Ford has
always been a master at chassis tuning and the same care has been applied to
its family hatch. The ride is a trifle firm at town speeds, but we'll blame the
option pack's lower-profile tyres for that; otherwise, it steers fluently,
resists body roll admirably and remains refined.
A 2.0-litre direct-injection petrol engine
offers 125 kW and 202 Nm of torque, and emits 154g/km of C02. Always smooth,
the engine does labour when the vehicle is fully loaded. Thankfully, the
five-speed manual is a pleasure to use, so hooking a lower gear to overtake is
no chore.
The
front end is almost completely sealed to improve aerodynamics
The hill-launch assist came in handy when
doing the school run, where parking is inevitably always an issue. Besides the
daily commute, the Focus headed along the Garden Route a number of times before
embarking on an epic 3,000 km trip to meet up with the sports cars burbling
along the N3 down to the KwaZulu-Natal coast and ultimately Port Shepstone.
Photographer Kian Eriksen was the pilot for the length of the trip and
commented on how admirably the Focus took a variety of surfaces in its stride,
including pothole-infested roads.
The Focus achieved its best consumption in
this trip, registering an average of 7.4 litres/100 km even though it was fully
loaded and Kian often had to put foot to keep up with the sportier metal.
The
rear lights get an ‘edge’ on them to quickly break the air flowing past them
from the body
But it wasn't all plain sailing. Early in
its tenure, journalist Juliet McGuire picked up a puncture while running an
errand. The slim shard of wood went through the tread area, leading us to
assume it would be a quick fix. However, it soon turned into a farce. The
inside of the tyre had started marbling, necessitating the fitment of a new
tyre. Which we could never find... We phoned across the Western Cape to source
a replacement but to no avail. A call to OE supplier Michelin confirmed that it
did not import that tyre (it is fitted to European-spec Focuses), but a
different one in the same size. We had no choice but to allow Ford to remove a
similar tyre from another Focus and put in on our long termer (or face
replacing two tyres with the different-pattern Michelins), denting the
ownership experience we create with long termers somewhat (our cars are run in
the same manner in which consumers use their vehicles; we have them serviced to
our account and any non-warranty items are paid for).
This
spoiler is standard, reducing drag around the rear and improving stability
Just before it was returned to Ford, the
Focus underwent its first service, at 20,000 km. The procedure, from booking to
collection, was flawless, and the car given a clean bill of health. All costs
were covered by the standard service plan.
Test Summary
The Focus is an impressive vehicle that
should sell better locally. It's a pleasure to drive and finds an engaging
balance between dynamism and refinement. The Sync system is superb and
something I'll miss, while the equipment levels are high, especially with the
Trend pack fitted.
Boot
space is decent; capacity extends to 1,148 litres with rear seats folded
In fact, beside the tyre issues, heavy
bootlid and occasionally asthmatic engine, I could not find much to criticise.
It's a great all-rounder, and I'm not surprised Ford can't keep up with demand
overseas.
