Behind the wheel of the new Ford Focus week 6

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Well we’ve been driving the new Focus now for 6 weeks and I thought I’d mention a couple of the things that I have found to be somewhat disappointing.

Now the standard list price of our 1.6 EcoBoost Titanium model is £19,745 plus we have the “Candy Yellow” tri-coat paint job at £745 the “Driver Assistance Pack” at £750, the “Convenience Pack” which includes Active Park Assist and powerfold mirrors, at £525 and 18” alloys at £400 so the total price comes to a not insubstantial £21,420.

After six weeks of sharing the car with my wife I’m starting to feel that for £21,420 I’d like to have electric seats. Is that too much to ask for a “Titanium” spec? Reaching underneath the seat to pull up the metal bar to slide the seat back feels, how can I put this? A bit last century. Of course if our model had the “Titanium X” spec it would have a “power operated driver’s seat” and would come with the “convenience pack” as standard but the “Candy Yellow” paint job, 18” alloys and the “Driver Assistance Pack” are all still extras so the equivalent car with Titanium X spec would cost £23,145. I suppose that’s my biggest problem with the new Ford Focus; that’s an awful lot of money.

So what else could I get for £23k? A VW Passat cc, A VW Golf, A VW Touran, A BMW 1 series, a BMW 3 series, a MINI Countryman, MINI Convertible, an Audi A3 (yes I know there all German). Anyway you can see where I’m going with this; the list would be a long one. I’m not saying the Ford Focus is inferior or a bad car, it isn’t, in fact it’s a very good car but when you consider what else you could get for the money it really needs to excel. When you factor in the comparatively week residuals when compared against the aforementioned alternatives that list price looks even more problematic. If you weren’t being offered the Focus as a company car is there a compelling reason to buy a new one as a private buyer?

And this brings me on to the other disappointing aspect about it and that is the fuel consumption. Now more than probably ever before the fuel consumption figures on any car is one of the most important factors to consider for most car buyers. Our particular model is the “EcoBoost” so that alone would probably lead you to believe that it a wholly frugal car that gently sips petrol. Sadly this is not true.

Now I wouldn’t say I drive the car in the most “economic” way but our average MPG stats of just under 34 are a big disappointment. The advertised combined MPG of this car is 47.1 so we are (literally) miles away from that.

So there you have it a couple of rather large negatives in an otherwise very positive experience. Well it couldn’t be all good could it?