An old UK FOCUS review

[whippet_zetec]

found this while on the net. An interesting article on the MK1 Focus from the UK.

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“Focus boldly goes
where no family car
has gone before”

FORD’S REFRESHINGLY BOLD FOCUS is a mainstream family car that dares to be a sight better looking than a family car has any right to be. Its striking lines are the evolution of Ford’s trademark New Edge form, honed and polished on the Puma, Ka, and Cougar.

Since its November ’98 debut the Focus has not only firmly established itself as the UK’s best-selling mid-size hatch (to date British customers have bought over 600,000 of them, making the Focus the UK's bestseller every year since its launch) but, more importantly for the customer, it has substantially raised class standards across the board for medium sized family saloons in terms of both design and dynamic ability.

On closer inspection you’ll quickly appreciate the large amount of available headroom. The Focus is a tall car, the height of its domed-roof cleverly disguised by the rising waistline linking those big, bold angular headlamp units and low bonnet line to the high-placed triangular-shaped tail-lights flanking the rear screen.

The new 130bhp 2.0-litre Zetec we tested hits 125mph and is more than ready, willing and able to have some fun. Sporty, bolstered seats (the driver gets height adjustment) and a leather-trimmed steering wheel adjusting for rake and reach ensures a first-rate driving position. Add class-leading ride, a fluid chassis, smooth, well-sited controls and switchgear, and sharp steering. It all adds up to a car that’s as sure-footed in town as it is out on the open road.

Once inside, the generous headroom and roomy interior will be forgotten as the dashboard’s clever mix of triangles and curves, all shrink-wrapped around a triangular-shaped centre console, take
your eye. Even the hazard-warning switch, the boot-release button, and the useful coin box/ashtray are triangular. Give me Toblerone! Large doors afford easy access to the rear, where there will be no complaints about lack of space. If you need to carry goods instead of bodies, the rear seat splits and folds to provide generous luggage space.

On the move a supple ride and excellent road manners are taken for granted, because the Focus’s chassis is as razor-sharp as its New
Edge styling. Throw in independent rear suspension, traction control, and Ford’s new anti-skid Electronic Stability Program (which corrects potential under- or oversteer before it happens), and you are guaranteed a pleasurable drama-free driving experience.

With the Focus it really is a case of what-you-feel-is-what-you-get. Steering is informative, the pedals are perfectly positioned, and the gear lever requires just a touch to shift it swiftly through the five gears. The brakes, too, are exemplary and, in addition to ABS, you get Ford’s foolproof Electronic Brake Force Distribution to provide positive stopping power.

The recently introduced 2.0-litre Zetec four-cylinder powerplant is refined and rev-happy. When called upon, its 130bhp will get you to 60mph in a whisker over nine seconds. And it’s no gas-guzzler,
either, returning 33mpg overall.

Before we drive a test car we always have a semi-serious competition to find everything from the fuse box to the instrument light dimmer without checking the handbook. When it came to releasing the Focus’s bonnet we gave up. Unless you’re already on intimate terms with the Focus you’d be hard pressed to find the key-operated bonnet lock hidden away behind the Blue Oval grille badge. Well-considered features such as this (designed to prevent the bonnet being opened from inside the car) and the high-security engine immobiliser helped the Focus win Best-in-Class in What Car? magazine's Security Awards.

So there it is. A mass-market car with personality. And, like VW’s Golf, the Focus also succeeds in providing the refinement of a bigger and more expensive car. Every Focus comes with a top NCAP safety rating. The three-door tested here — without doubt the shapeliest lady of the Focus family — also has two front airbags (side airbags are optional), CFC-free air-conditioning, electric windows, heated screen, remote central locking, power steering, deadlocks, and stand-out 16-inch alloys wrapped in fat low-profile 50-series rubber.

There’s also traction control, and a decent CD unit with column-mounted remote controls. Everything you could wish for. And then some.