FORD FOCUS REVIEW

List price from£13,995 Lease price from£198 The verdict7

The best-selling car of its size, the Focus is affordably priced and great to drive

If someone asked you to think of a typical, average, family-sized hatchback, we’ll wager the car that’d most likely spring to mind would be this – the Ford Focus.

Not only is it fun to drive and pleasant to look at, but it also offers buyers an enormous wealth of choice – from frugal-yet-fun turbocharged petrol engines to big, brawny diesels; from no-frills models as basic as they come to those with all the mod cons you can think of – and then some. And, of course, everything else in-between – including the exhilarating ST hot hatch versions, and even an electric model.

No wonder, then, that it’s the best-selling family car in Britain at the moment. But with strong competition in the form of the Volkswagen Golf, Seat Leon and Peugeot 308, as well as a host of others all vying for your cash, the Focus will have to stay sharp if it’s to keep its nose in front.

Space

Roomy for passengers; boot is small

There’s lots of head- and legroom in the front of the Focus, while the back has room for a couple of adults or three children.

Isofix child seat mounting points (on the outer rear seats) add to the practicality.

Sadly, the boot is pretty small when you compare it with the boots in rivals such as the Vauxhall Astra and VW Golf, let alone the Skoda Octavia. There’s also a fairly large drop down from the edge of the boot to the boot floor, which can make it awkward to load heavy items.

If you want more room for luggage and you’re not carrying anyone in the back, the rear seats can be folded completely flat to transform the boot into a very useful space. You do have to flip the seats bases up first, though, which is a bit of a faff.

There aren’t that many storage cubbies in the front of the Focus, but the door bins are big enough to take a large bottle of water.

Comfort

Good driving position and decent ride comfort

The basic driving position is spot-on, and Zetec and Titanium cars offer good long-distance comfort because their front seats have adjustable lumbar support.

True, the Focus isn’t as good at soaking up bumps and potholes as a VW Golf, but it’s still more forgiving than a Skoda Octavia or Vauxhall Astra – as long as you avoid the Zetec S version and its sports suspension.

There’s not much wind or road noise, either, so you can easily listen to the stereo without having to turn the volume up very high.

Dashboard layout

Touchscreen system isn’t the best, and plastics feel a bit cheap

Titanium versions of the Focus feature a large, 8in touchscreen that’s easy to read, but unfortunately, not so easy to use. That’s because the software is quite slow to react to each touch, and some of the on-screen buttons are too small and fiddly.

Lesser versions stick with a smaller colour screen and an interface that’s controlled by buttons, which feels outdated and can be confusing to use.

Elsewhere, the controls for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning can be tricky to fathom at a moment's glance, as there are lots of buttons clustered into one place.

It's especially a problem on more expensive versions, which incorporate the dual-zone and heated seat controls into the same panel - it's quite easy to end up with a heated backside instead of a heated back screen.

The Focus’s interior plastics that look and feel as good as, if not slightly better than, those you’ll find in a Skoda Octavia, but they can’t quite match up to those of the class leader in this area – the VW Golf.

Easy to drive

Let down by over-the-shoulder blind spots

Forward visibility is good, but the Focus has big over-the-shoulder blind spots and its steeply angled rear window can make it tricky to judge where the back of the car ends.

You also have to choose your engine with care; the Focus is available with three 1.6-litre petrols with varying power outputs, and the cheaper two feel frustratingly weak. Instead, we’d choose one of the turbocharged 1.0-litre or 1.5-litre petrols, or one of the diesel engines, all of which offer more low-down punch.

An automatic gearbox is standard on the most powerful of the non-turbo 1.6s and an option on the most expensive diesel. Sadly, though, it isn’t available on any other version, which rather limits automatic buyers’ choices.

You can also specify a system which will warn you if there’s a car about to drive past if you’re reversing out of a parking space, as well as one which will even steer the car into a space for you, either into a parallel space or a normal end-on one, as long as you operate the accelerator and brake. However, in our experience, when we tried the latter system, we found it to be a little hit-and-miss.

Fun to drive

Better than all its rivals

Fords tend to be fun to drive, and the Focus is no exception; it feels eager to change direction and the steering is precise and well weighted.

The tail can also be provoked into a playful slide if you lift off the power sharply half-way through a corner, an attitude that’s easily caught and controlled.

You’ll also have plenty of power for overtaking if you choose the more powerful 1.0-litre petrol engine or one of the turbocharged 1.5 petrols.

However, if you’re after the fastest and most thrilling Focus available, it’s got to be the ST model.

Reliability

Plenty of cars have better records

The Focus came 55th out of 109 cars in the 2014 JD Power customer satisfaction survey – almost exactly half-way down the field.

That score suggests it’ll be less reliable than a Seat Leon, a VW Golf or a Skoda Octavia, but more so than a Vauxhall Astra or a Hyundai i30.

Like all new Fords, the Focus comes with a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty. This falls short of the five-year, 100,000-mile warranty provided by Toyota, let alone Kia’s seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty.

Fuel economy

Some rivals are more efficient

Depending on which model you choose, the Focus is about as economical as, or slightly less so than its rivals.

However, what really lets it down is the absence of a specific high-efficiency model in the range; the most economical Focus gets 74.3mpg, whereas you can now buy a VW Golf that can do 88.3mpg, or even a Peugeot 308 that can do a whopping 91.1mpg.

As with all cars, it’s worth bearing in mind that the economy you get from the Focus in the real world is very dependent on driving style.

In a mix of town and country driving, you should expect to achieve about 45mpg with the diesel engines and mid-30s with the smaller petrols.

The electric Focus has a maximum range of just 100 miles, and you can expect that to plummet in cold weather.

Affordability

Big discounts, but it doesn’t hold its value that well

Insurance, road tax and servicing costs are all competitive, and the sheer number of Ford dealers in the UK means you won’t have to travel far when it’s time to get your car serviced.

The Focus is also priced in line with rivals such as the Vauxhall Astra and VW Golf, and like the Astra it’s available with big discounts. However, it’s important to push the dealer for the maximum possible saving when buying a Focus (or an Astra) because it won’t be worth anything like as much as a Golf when you come to sell it.

Safety

Gets close to the best family hatchbacks

The most recent version of the Focus hasn’t been tested by car safety specialists Euro NCAP yet. But when they tested the previous version – which is very similar – they rated it slightly below the Vauxhall Astra and VW Golf for both adult and child protection. However, the Focus still earned the maximum five stars, so it should keep you and your passengers safe.

The fact that it comes with seven airbags, including a driver’s knee 'bag, helped it achieve this rating. And Euro NCAP found that the Focus was less likely to cause serious injury to pedestrians than the Astra or Golf.

If the car starts to slide, a standard electronic stability control system helps you regain control, while another system that automatically applies the brakes if it senses you’re about to have a collision in stop-start traffic is available as a cost option.

Standard spec

Zetec versions come with most things you’ll want

The cheapest version of the Focus is the Studio, which comes with air-conditioning, steering wheel-mounted stereo controls, and a USB socket that lets you connect your iPod to the stereo. The Style model adds an alarm, Bluetooth connectivity and better displays.

We reckon it’s worth spending a little more to get the Zetec, though, because this has all of the kit of the Style, along with a digital radio and Bluetooth hands-free phone connection.

It’s best to avoid the Zetec S; it looks sportier inside and out, but comes with sports suspension that makes the Focus less comfortable without greatly improving the handling. And while the Titanium versions get desirable extras such as satnav, cruise control and parking sensors, they push the Focus too close to more upmarket models such as the Audi A3.

It’s true that the Focus is available with lots of equipment – but it’s worth noting that, spec-for-spec, some rivals like the Peugeot 308 are better equipped. That said, there are some unusual and reasonably-priced bits of kit on the options list, such as a heated steering wheel, so you should give it a read if you do decide to plump for a Focus.