The thrill of driving is alive with the latest and last Ford Focus, writes James Stinson
Nothing is certain in life. For decades, the Ford Focus and before that, the Escort, were part of everyday life round these parts. They topped the bestselling car charts most years, socking it to German and Japanese rivals. But tastes and times have changed. The family hatchback, which was so popular and desirable up until a few years ago, has lost its crown to the everexpanding range of SUV and crossovertype vehicles.
Buyers are drawn to their high-riding, spacious, practical and sometimes chunky credentials. The top three best selling cars in the UK this year – the Ford Puma, Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai – all hail from this genre. Nearly half of all new cars sold around the world last year were SUVs. So where does that leave the humble family hatchback? Well, they’re not done yet. The VW Golf and Audi A3 are still among the top ten best sellers… However, the writing is on the wall for the once dominant Ford Focus it seems. Ford plans to stop production sometime in 2025 as it transitions its range to all electric. And there’s something a little sad about that. For while electric cars and SUVs have their merits, they just aren’t as fun to drive. And that used to be a thing.
Carmakers used to revel in making cars that people would enjoy driving. Cars were engineered that way and adverts actively promoted this. It was part of the pay-off for parting with our hard-earned cash when we bought a brand new car. We’d enjoy driving it; it would put a smile on our face… it wasn’t just a way of conveying us and our chattels from A to B. Electric cars are too heavy and SUVs are too tall to deliver a proper, fun driving experience. An electric SUV is worst of all. The Ford Focus, even if it is the last of the breed, makes the point neatly.
It feels low-slung compared to new rivals but that gives it super handling, especially on winding countryside roads where it holds on in corners. It’s also great for town driving, where it feels light and manoeuvrable. The package is complemented by a great mild hybrid 1.0 litre ecoboost petrol engine, which comes with either 125 bhp or 155bhp. Squeezing those numbers out of such a small unit shows just how much engineers are managing to get from the internal combustion engine in what will be their final few years, in new cars at least. ST-Line versions, with stiffened suspension, enhance the experience further. Go for the full hot hatch ST version and you get lots of mechanical trickery that make it as adept on the racetrack as it is on the school run.
This Focus pushed another nostalgia button, featuring a six-speed manual gearbox though the range also features a seven-speed automatic. It’s pretty comfortable too with a finely honed interior. The lower seating position is the biggest difference over SUV-type rivals but visibility is good and there’s decent head and legroom, front and back. At 391 litres, the boot is a little smaller than that found in its Puma sibling (451 litres) though still plenty big enough. Pop the rear seats down and you get 1,350 litres. The interior is sleek and high tech, coming with a sizable 13.2-inch infotainment display. It’s bang up to date though the lack of physical controls for things like the air conditioning feels like a step in the wrong direction.
It doesn’t have to be that way as Honda, Kia and others have proved. So, we like driving the focus. It’s well-built, good looking and practical. However, I’m not convinced Ford is all that fussed about it anymore. Prices start from £28,490 which is around £2,000 more than the cheapest Golf. More tellingly, the cheapest Puma, Ford’s still relatively new small crossover, is nearly £3,000 cheaper.