The ford focus, being the UK’s best selling car of the last few years, has given a welcome profit to many a car dealer. It is a bit of a “go to” car for the independent dealer because there are invariably so many about. They have always been good value for money and a ‘bread and butter’ selling opportunity.
The Focus has also been a very important car for Ford as it is a car that is now firmly ensconced in the nations psyche and as a result there are many thousands on sale and on the road at any given moment.
Many times when perhaps a smaller car trader has been in his local or at a party someone invariably asks him to look out for a car and has a budget of say £3k the post script, when asked what sort of car they are after, is often “something like a Focus.” This tells you everything you need to know about the car being a safe and acceptable option for the trade and retail buyer alike.
Now the Focus has entered the latest phase of its life cycle with the mk 3 “global Focus” launched in March this year. Regular readers of MTI will perhaps know that we were invited to the March press launch of this new Focus up in Scotland (or down in Scotland if you’re reading this in Iceland) and got to have an extended drive of a couple of variants along the rolling hills and countryside in the vicinity of the impressive Mar Hall just outside Glasgow.
So taken were we with the global Focus that we asked Ford if they’d mind lending us one for a while so we could really get to know it and do a weekly blog about our time with it. To cut a short story even shorter they said yes and last week our shiny Focus 1.6 Ecoboost Titanium in “candy yellow” arrived.
You will probably first notice (as did I to be fair) the colour. I am certainly going to be noticed.
Let’s take a look at what we get for the £19,745 OTR price:
Keyless start, Sony audio, cruise control, Deflation Detection System (DDS), rain sensing wipers, auto headlights, auto-dimming rear view mirror, interior ambient lighting, dual zone climate control, Hill Start Assist, Bluetooth voice control and USB connection are all standard.
Plus our model has also come with a few extras:
The aforementioned tri-coat paintjob in “Candy Yellow” (£745)
Driver Assistance pack: Active City Stop, Lane Departure Warning, Lane Keeping Aid, Driver Alert, Traffic Sign Recognition, auto high beam, Blind Spot Monitoring System (£750)
Convenience Pack: Active Park Assist and powerfold mirrors (£525)
18” Alloy Wheels (£400)
Making a grand total of £22,165.
Now that’s a whole host of toys to keep me and the family busy over the next couple of months and hopefully, given time, I’ll be brave enough to try out the Active Park Assist but perhaps not just yet
(they make it look so easy on TV).
First impressions are that it’s certainly a striking looking car and feels very well put together, as you’d expect with a Ford. My first impressions are good but they are also, it would appear, good for others.
During my first week with the new Focus I have been back and forth to my gym a couple of times (about a 30 mile round trip – yes I do live out in the countryside and yes I really should go more). Now down at my gym there is a regular who is a local landowner and a bit of a “big deal” around these parts. To be truthful he doesn’t much use the gym just the less strenuous pool, steam room, Jacuzzi etc. Anyway I‘ve been going to this gym quite a while and sometimes this guy will talk to be and other times he will completely blank me for no apparent reason, and that’s OK as we probably haven’t got much in common but I never know what it’s going to be. Sometimes I’ll raise a cheery hand and ask “how’s it going?” and receive nothing back in return. Well that’s not strictly true I do get a cold hard stare that seems to be saying “who the hell are you?” And I then saunter off (all right skulk like a salted snail) thinking “oh well, whatever”. Then another time, thinking “well I’m not going to bother saying hello after what happened last time” and he’ll be all “hello mate, how are you?” So like I say I never know what’s going to happen and as he is always there when I go it does add a certain frisson to an otherwise mundane routine.
Well not any more it would seem, not now I’m smoking around in the new Focus. It turns out he is a big fan. His wife has had a new Focus every couple of years since the very beginning and they are both looking forward to their next changeover. So now I can’t shut him up. He’s my new best friend. He’s sat in the Focus, played with the controls asked me all sorts of technical questions I don’t know the answer to and now greets me every time I see him with a cheery “how’s the Focus getting on?”
Of course I do realise that when the time comes and I turn up at the gym in my wife’s 10 year old Fiesta it will be blank stare time, but for the time being however I am enjoying my new found fame.
Week one in the new Focus:
Trips to the gym, supermnarket, school run and the beach. Miles covered 108. MPG approx 45, fun had: lots.
Fox Body to 2018 Mustang Parts