New Ford Focus: driver focused hatchback

Ford Focus Titanium 2.0 TDCI 140PS

What is it?

THE leading family hatchback in the market, the Ford Focus has been reinvented in Mk3 guise. It’s totally new with a clear range line-up, a lower roofline for sportier styling and stuffed with technology – some of which cost extra, but at good value prices. We’ve already tested the Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI Zetec model; this is the 2.0 TDCI Focus in Titanium trim. On the road from £20,745.

What’s hot?

• The Focus has lost none of its panache for rewarding the driver…
• …you’ll be heading for wide open A roads as soon as you can
• Standard torque vectoring keeps front wheels where you point them
• Chassis is taut and remains firmly planted: glides over crests and humps
• While suspension is supple enough to stop crashing and thumping
• Helped by accurate electric power steering
• Engine delivers bundles of effortless low-down go
• And progress is amazingly quiet and refined
• Clever Driver Assistance Pack good value option at £750…
• …it’s stuffed full of useful driver safety assistance technology
• Graphics and sat-nav easy to read and use
• Titanium provides good standard of equipment
• And £400 extra for alloys on 18ins wheels gives real visual presence
• And there’s also Ford’s excellent Quickclear heated screen as standard
• CO2 emissions are 129g/km so company car tax is at 18%
• Fuel economy is 56.5mpg – we recorded 43.5mpg
• Despite low roofline, surprisingly good leg and headroom in rear

What’s not?

• Steering is accurate but slightly divorced of feel
• Boot size is on the small size for class – and there’s a high lip
• Sharp edges on some of the plastic finishings…
• Occasional cabin rattles (but interior so quiet now they are amplified)
• No fuel-saving stop-start
• Additional budget required for Driver Assistance Pack (£750)…
• …Audio Navigation System (£550) and 18ins alloys (£400)

What you need to Know?

P11D Value:	20,690
Monthly Rental*:	295 (CH)/£354 (PCH)
Tax Band when posted:	18%, 18%, 19%
Monthly BiK:	Click link for BIK
Engine:	2.0 4-cyl turbo diesel
CO2 Emissions:	129g/km
Power/torque:	140PS/320Nm
Economy:	56.5mpg

Monthly contract hire (CH) and personal contract hire (PCH) rentals generated by Concept Vehicle Leasing. Based on a 36 month lease at 10,000 miles a year, 3+35 payments.

Business Car Manager Road Test Rating

The Ford Focus is some new car: if you enjoy driving, then it will be hard not to wipe the smile from your face or drive the extra mile for the additional enjoyment (not very eco friendly admittedly). But even if the car is just a tool to get you from A to B, then the new Focus delivers as an amazingly comfortable and quiet place in which to travel in. There’s low benefit in kind company car tax liability, plus decent fuel economy, too. It has its drawbacks: that boot space looks compromised and the interior quality isn’t as premium as Ford would like you to believe. But as a real alternative to our small business favourite, the VW Golf, the Focus absolutely squares up.