The facelifted Ford Focus will cost from £13,995, the same as the current model, when it goes on sale in November.
Ford's biggest-selling global car has undergone a significant refresh that adds more technology, improved cabin quality, new powertrains, some cosmetic revisions and a raft of chassis and handling tweaks.
The range retains a six-level line-up of Studio (from £13,995), Style (£16,795), Zetec (£18,295), Zetec S (£20,045), Titanium (£19,795) and Titanium X (£21,795). The prices of the high-level Titanium and Titanium X versions are £100 less than the current equivalents.
The entry-level model will continue to be a 1.6-litre TI-VCT petrol in Studio trim equipped with a five-speed manual gearbox. The cheapest diesel variant will cost £17,895 for a 1.6 TDCi in Style trim with a six-speed manual transmission. The entry-level estate-bodied car is the 1.6-litre petrol at £17,880.
Ford product development boss Joe Bakaj has pledged that the new Focus, heavily revised in the latest generation, will regain its slot as the best-handling car in the class.
Stung by the handling prowess of the latest Volkswagen Golf, which ousted the Focus as the best-handling car in the class, Ford has engineered a raft of detailed chassis changes as part of a deep-facelift that also includes four re-tooled body panels, revised front and rear bumpers, new front and rear lights, a new dashboard and new cleaner engines.
"We want our handling crown back, that's why our engineers put a lot of effort into revamping the Focus chassis," said a determined Bakaj at a launch event for the new Focus earlier this year.
Many of the detailed chassis components are replaced or retuned, starting with new, more expensive front dampers, which now offer more subtle body control thanks to two extra steps in the damper valving.
The springing stays the same, but there are new, stiffer bushes both front and rear, aimed at firming the chassis in a lateral direction with the benefit of more stability.
"The turn-in was already pretty good," says Bakaj, "but the new Focus has less delay on turn-in and that extra edge of bite in cornering."
Also retuned is the electric power steering, which Bakaj says now offers better 'on-centre' feel. "The steering wheel weighting is now much more progressive, too," he adds.
More handling improvements come from a reprogrammed ESC system, which is said to operate more smoothly with more gentle intervention.
As a result, Bakaj says the new Focus is now more stable in extreme lane-change manoeuvres and can tackle slalom-type courses at higher speed. "It gives you more confidence," he adds.
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Saucerer
"The facelift program — the
rickerby
Absolutely correct Saucerer.
Boulle
Better
Roadster
Boulle wrote:It's better,
I agree about the Focus being a complete mess. When Ford's Kinetic styling was first seen on the S-Max,Galaxy and Mondeo, it looked understated but good. Then it got a bit brash for the Fiesta and first Kuga which, while attractive, made those cars age quickly, but when Kinetic appeared on the Focus, C-Max and B-Max, what a total mess! These cars not only look uncohesive and wierdly proportioned, but their styling is trying too hard and as a result they look cheap and unsophisticated. This facelift certainly improves matters up front and the rear, but the rest of the Focus is still a mess. I hope the Mk 4 model looks more balanced and mature. The new Mondeo/Fusion has set out Ford's current design language so fingers crossed that the next Focus does't look like a dogs dinner. But then, that's what happened to the current model despite the stylish S-Max/Galaxy/Mondeo.
johnspan
Well... actually Focus seemed
scotty5
Focusing on the defensive.
I'd like to address this nonsense with the Focus being a Golf rival. I run both current models, as I did mk5, mk6 and mk2.5 focus. The magazines will tell you they are rivals but if paying with your own money (ie real world prices), you'll pay £4000 upwards extra for the Golf. The Golf is also the more expensive car to run due to depreciation. Each car obviously has it's pros and cons, I love my Golfs but each one of them has required some very expensive repairs, luckily all done under warranty or 'good will gesture' basis. Touch wood, nothing has gone wrong with any of the Fords. V40 smashing sales? Well that wouldn't be hard as their sales were pretty poor in the first place. Compared to the previous generation S40 and even older V40 (the older estate version when Volvo was owned by Volvo), the latest V40 sales is a disaster. The Auris? well that's beyond comment and the Astra may have the looks but it also drives much worse, has ancient engines and I'm led to believe Vauxhall have just stumbled upon something called DAB radio. I'm not even sure they provide USB's. The Focus is light years ahead of the Astra in terms of technology. I also drove an A3 Sport recently - not only did that not have DAB, (listening to Radio 5 live via AM thru it's TWO speakers!) it didn't even have a trip computer. I had to resort to pen and paper to work out my mpg! something I haven't done in any car since the late 90's! The Focus has never lagged behind the competition. Add to that, a national Ford dealership were selling 1.0 ecoboost del miles '63 plate Zetecs for under £12k last month, at that price the Focus is a seriously good buy.
FastRenaultFan
Definately looks better now
Herald
Other manufacturers, take note please ...
catnip
Herald wrote:... and ditch
I totally agree. Just look at the new Suzuki S-Cross, a tidy enough design completely ruined by oversized front light units. But its even more annoying on vehicles designed from scratch to use compact LED lighting such as the new S-Class, where they end up filling the space with loads of twiddly bits of plastic.
Back to the Focus, I didn't realise the Golf had become the best handling car in its class - is that the whole range or just the ones with the multi link rear suspension?
Andrew 61
Will have to see one in the
Will be interesting to see a full road test...
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