Ford Focus

Yahoo

05-03-2025

Time stops for nothing, not even the Ford Focus.
It follows the Fiesta in being one of those combustion-only 'legacy' cars that stands between its maker transferring the line-up to electrified power. Ford's CEO is 'deeply convinced' the future is electric and because of this, the Focus won't see production beyond 2025 in spite of rivals persevering with combustion and scaling back their EV shift.
In contrast to the brave new world through which it is forced to soldier on, the Focus is reassuringly familiar. It's powered by frugal petrol engines, can be had with a manual or automatic gearbox and aims to provide a more compelling driving experience than any of its competitors. You can also have a Focus ST, which we've reviewed separately.
This fairly typical recipe reads alongside an equally typical list of rivals such as the Volkswagen Golf, Vauxhall Astra, Seat Leon, Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla.
A facelift saw this fourth-generation Focus updated with some new trim levels, upgraded interior technology, efficiency-focused engines and nip-and-tuck styling tweaks that, at the time, allowed it to stay competitive. What about now, though, in the late autumn of its production run?
For a car at the end of its life, the Focus' range remains comprehensive. Prices start at around £28,500 for the Titanium edition rising to just under £43,000 for the ST Edition car. All models come with a 13.2in infotainment screen, a 4.2in instrument binnacle, keyless entry, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, front and rear parking sensors and lumbar support.
Upper trims including Titanium X, ST-Line or ST-Line X get alloys up to 19in, a better speaker system, matrix LED lights, wireless charging and a significantly larger 12.3in digital instrument display. Underneath, the ST-Line gets shortened, stiffened springs and stabiliser bars and dampers as standard, the latter of which sees ride height lowered by 10mm.
Full-fat ST/ST Edition cars come with a limited slip differential, bespoke styling details and sports suspension (ST Edition gets KW adjustable coilovers and fancy seats). There's also Active X, which gets a raised ride height and bumper extensions for a crossover-type look.
The list of powertrains on offer is much simpler. There's a 1.0-litre turbocharged triple with either 123bhp and 125lb ft or 152bhp and 177lb ft. The former is available with a six-speed manual gearbox only, whereas the latter gets a seven-speed dual-clutch or nothing.
There is a veritable gulf between this generation of Focus and the last one.
It is based on the Blue Oval's C2 platform, which, according to its maker, plays a crucial role in ensuring it lives up to its 'fun to drive' USP and enables overall torsional rigidity of the fourth-generation model to be upped by 20% over its predecessor.
The rear structure, meanwhile, has been made stiffer using the same process developed for the third-generation Focus RS. A shaped foam insert is placed, wet, into a rear underbody cavity and allowed to expand during the paint-drying process, increasing local lateral rigidity by 10% with minimal weight gain. The individual suspension mounting points have also been stiffened.
On that note, the Focus's suspension configuration differs depending on trim level and body shape specified. All cars come with a MacPherson strut-type arrangement up front, with lower-grade cars featuring a classic torsion beam at the rear. However, estate models and higher-powered hatchbacks gain a multi-link layout for the rear axle.
Ford claims a kerb weight of 1330kg with the mass distributed 59:41 front to rear.
The changes to the Focus' styling over the years are minimal but enough to keep it fresh. This model has slimmer headlamps over its predecessor as well as a reshaped bonnet, but aside from that it's much the same as before: sleek and sporty without drawing too much attention to itself.
The Focus is based on Ford's C2 platform which wasn't only designed to enhance the Focus's driving dynamics: it improves practicality too. The wheelbase is 52mm longer than the previous generation (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 only manages 351 litres.
The car's driving position and ergonomics are beyond serious criticism. Forward and rearward visibility isn't quite the same as a Golf but it's better than an 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 central infotainment display 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 infotainment display, the front cupholders will only just fit a 330ml can, there's a large load lip 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 console, and while they're positioned on a permanent bar at the foot of the screen, their operation would have been far simpler and quicker to do had they been physical buttons (as they were in the previous model).
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 is not quite what it ought to be, especially in the company of the Golf or Astra; it's good, but not as good.
There are three drive modes available to you: Eco, Normal or Sport. Each one adjusts throttle response and steering weight but, crucially, none make the car feel overly uncomfortable or lacklustre.
With a 0-62mph time that doesn't get much faster than 8.5sec, the accelerative performance of the 1.0-litre powerplant isn't anything to get excited about. But its delivery and character certainly is because they make the Focus feel faster than the numbers would suggest. Peak torque of up to 177lb ft is comparable to similarly downsized engines, but it has a linearity that remains undiminished even by the point peak power arrives – 6000rpm.
Even the entry-level 123bhp unit with its seemingly pithy 125lb ft is still energetic enough. Combine that with the electrical assistance from the mild-hybrid system and you have a car that is just about as fast as it needs to be in order to exploit the capabilities of the chassis.
Furthermore, if three-cylinder engines typically go about their business with a jovial burble, this Ecoboost supplements that with a richer timbre and a genuine eagerness to get the crankshaft spinning. Along with a six-speed manual gearbox whose throw is satisfyingly precise – if a little light and synthetic – this is a driveline worth engaging with, and rarely, if ever, does it feel strained.
It's also refined. Under acceleration there is nothing more than a subtle thrum in the distance (although you do get some very welcome intake noise), and the start-stop system is undetectable in operation. It's worth noting that at a steady 70mph, the Focus's cabin was two decibels quieter than that of the Golf.
This is a companionable powertrain that touts its own distinct, refined character, as we've come to expect from Ecoboost-badged wares. But performance that's merely adequate means it isn't one that defines the driving experience. That is something left to the chassis, as we'll now discover.
The worry for Ford's rivals is that, even when equipped with the more basic torsion-beam rear axle, a strong case could still be made for the Focus being the best-handling car in its class.
The estates and more powerful hatchbacks that are fitted with a fully independent rear axle and three-mode adaptive dampers are, in dynamic terms, as sophisticated as the fourth-generation model gets - and it feels that way. But even without the additional chassis tech, this remains a thoroughly compelling car to drive.
Be aware, however, that torsion-beam-suspended cars have a fidgety urban ride, but it settles as you gain speed, and the overwhelming impression is one of composure and neutrality. Combine this with strong grip/traction levels and you have one very confidence-inspiring hatchback indeed. There's nothing strange or awkward about its cornering behaviour, and any body roll or lean goes virtually undetected.
The addition of an independent rear axle makes the ride taut but much more supple than lesser cars, and it remains superbly well controlled when asked to moderate quick-fire inputs. Meaningful traces of suspension float or any acquaintance with the bump-stops require a level of commitment at odds with the only moderately sporting brief, and until that point the vertical movements are metered out in clinical fashion. It is for these reasons that this is the chassis set-up we would choose.
Anybody coming from the more laid-back confines of a Golf might find the suspension of this sports chassis a fraction immediate on A- and B-roads, but for Autocar readers a good balance has been struck. After the relative disappointment of the previous iteration – fidget-prone suspension and abrupt damping being the guilty parties – this new Focus goes a long way to reaffirming the brilliance of the original recipe.
Such a finely tuned set-up will be lost on many owners – though nobody could fail to notice how fluid this car's motorway gait is with the dampers in their most relaxed setting – but there is genuine dynamic satisfaction in abundance for the rest of us. Even cars fitted with the standard suspension feel planted at speed, although not quite as effortless in all conditions.
When you're on a winding road, the Focus replicates the cornering stability of cars with longer wheelbases and covers ground in effortless fashion, entertaining like little else in this class. Turn in on a trailing brake and the chassis will pivot with surprising grace before any yaw is gathered up by the electrically assisted (overly so, we'd say) but quick and accurate steering.
Milder direction changes are otherwise a satisfyingly crisp affair, and the Focus is never anything less than an enjoyable steer.
Even the suite of ADAS kit such as lane-keep assist (which sadly can't be turned off), and speed limit recognition doesn't really serve to spoil its driving dynamics because the systems themselves aren't very intrusive. The lane-keep function, for example, only very gently tugs the wheel.
The Focus doesn't represent as much value for money as it once did. Starting from around £28,500, the entry-level car is about £1000 more expensive to buy than the equivalent Golf. Even less money will get you into a Mazda 3, Kia Cee'd or Citroën C4. Then again, the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic have higher entry prices still, since they're available only as full hybrids.
That being said, you do receive as extensive a list of standard equipment as those cars, along with comparable levels of performance and a much more incisive and engaging drive.
For the entry-level 1.0-litre engine and manual gearbox, Ford claims a combined fuel economy figure of 53.3mpg, which is about the same as the equivalent Golf, Astra or Mazda 3. Over 200 miles on a mixture of roads we averaged around 50mpg. Over the same distance in a Golf, we saw 45mpg.
The Focus might be at the end of its production life but that doesn't mean it's outdated or especially uncompetitive. In fact, it's still in a great position to succeed.
It's now more practical, more advanced and more attractive than it ever was, and it's better than ever at what has always been its secondary defining quality: the way it drives. Its well-resolved chassis, engine and road manners combine to make it a refined, practical family hauler when you want it to be and an energetic b-road Bahnstormer when you don't. To get the best out of it, we would recommend a higher-power model with multi-link suspension.
Of course, there are bugbears. It's not the bargain it once was, the low-speed ride on standard suspension is unsettled, its cabin wants for material and ergonomic appeal, its infotainment system could do with more physical switches and it doesn't command quite the same prestige as some of its more premium-badged rivals.
For those interested in driving, though, these are small compromises for what is still the best-handling in its class.
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