Ford Focus review

Ford’s C2 platform wasn’t only designed to enhance the Focus’s driving dynamics; it improves practicality too.

The Focus's wheelbase is 52mm longer than before (at 2700mm), contributing to a typical rear leg room figure of 700mm. For perspective, its predecessor made do with 660mm.

Boot space is average by the standards of the class. There are typically 375 litres of luggage capacity available in the car to the top of the load cover, but cars with optional adaptive dampers deny the possibility of a split-level boot floor. The boot itself is accessed via a usefully wide aperture that measures 950mm at its narrowest point. By way of comparison, the Volkswagen Golf has 381 litres of space and the Vauxhall Astra has a considerably larger 422 litres, while the Mazda 3 manages only 351 litres.

The car’s driving position and ergonomics are beyond serious criticism. Forward and rearward visibility isn't quite the same as in the Golf but it's better than in the Astra or Corolla; there’s enough adjustability in both the steering column and seat to ensure you don’t find yourself perched awkwardly over the pedals in order to be within reach of the wheel; and the physical ventilation controls and infotainment touchscreen are within pretty easy reach. 

There are a number of bugbears, though. The gearlever on manual cars is a little too far away for comfort; you might find it hard to hit a button on the far left of the wide, rectangular touchscreen; the front cupholders will only just fit a 330ml can; there's a large load lip in the boot; and the seat base doesn’t allow you to sit quite as low down as you might want to.

What’s more, the car’s ventilation and heating controls sit on the touchscreen, and while they're positioned on a permanent bar at the foot of it, their operation was far simpler and quicker to do previously, when they were physical controls.

To change anything related to the interior climate, you have to concentrate on holding your arm aloft while it’s jiggled over the road surface and prod it at the screen. And despite this now being the size of a laptop screen, the appropriate icons are only a few centimetres across, while the menus are fiddly. 

The touchscreen itself runs Ford's Sync4 operating system, which is visually sophisticated, with clear and slick graphics that, during our time with the car, were glitch-free.

The system receives over-the-air software updates, allowing the car to stay current long after it has left the showroom; plus cloud-connected features such as live traffic information for the sat-nav and Alexa-style voice control via natural speech.

The faux carbonfibre trim on the car’s fascia that is standard on ST-Line cars looks half-hearted, and the Focus’s general standard on perceived quality isn't quite what it ought to be, especially in the company of the Golf or Astra. It's good but not as good.