Of course, the new Ford Focus is available as station car, as a four-door saloon for certain markets,
not ours though. Also, a Focus Active will be available early 2019,
which is going to be a sort of raised Focus. That almost makes it a crossover.
Anyway, it's also available as a five-door hatchback, and that's the car we're driving today.
When they were designing the new Focus, Ford started with a completely blank canvas.
That gave them the freedom to develop a completely new platform as well.
They've called it the C2-platform, and as opposed to other manufacturers,
the platform isn't scalable, so they can't use it for Fiesta's or Mondeo's.
It's solely dedicated to the C-segment,
so next to the Focus, we can only expect a C-Max or a Kuga on the same platform,
but that's about it. Ford says the new platform offers a lot of freedom,
and mostly in things as safety, more space and more rigidity.
It's also cheaper. On the outside, the Focus has underwent quite a transformation.
It breaks with previous styles and the same goes for the interior.
That means the big button mess has disappeared. They've removed 50% of the buttons actually,
but they've still kept some. The air conditioning and audio system are still controlled by a button,
which is nice, because you don't have to use a touchscreen for those simple things.
The used materials feel good, the interior feels solid as a whole...
and the instrument cluster has a nice and classic setup. A rev counter and a speedometer.
It doesn't get clearer than that.
The dashboard is a little bit further away from the passengers, which gives a spacious impression.
That feels very pleasant, and it's not cramped to begin with.
Even with my 2 metres in length, I've got space left everywhere.
There's only one thing that could make me happier, and that was if you seat base only was a tad longer.
Maybe if the front of the seat could be raised a little, that would be nice as well. It's kind of flat now.
Anyway, those are details.
With the new platform, the wheelbase has increased as well.
Five centimetres to be exact, which contributes to the legroom in the back.
That's nice and all and you can use the extra space to hang back a little.
That would be nice as well, because headroom isn't a strong feature in this car.
Since we're still talking about space, the boot has grown as well.
It has increased from 363 litres to 375 litres, which is a nice and average amount in this class.
Right now, we're driving the 1.0-litre 125 horsepower petrol version,
which we already know of course. It has been altered a little to meet emission standards,
so it produces less CO2.
The engine suits the car well, you never get the impression that the engine is underperforming.
If it has to, the engine does what it needs to do.
Ford themselves say that they work with active cylinder deactivation, to reduce the fuel consumption.
We haven't noticed yet however, but Ford should see that as a compliment,
because it's this seemless.
The versions with lighter engines, come with a torsion axle.
That's the reason we've chosen for this lighter engine, because I wanted to try the torsion axle.
A big advantage of the torsion axle, is that it has a lighter construction.
Every gram counts nowadays, because it saves you CO2.
Also, it's cheaper, but is it a worse choice?
Well, it's actually not that bad. The car feels nice and stable on the road,
it's able to stay on track, and it has the same spring construction as the Fiesta ST for example.
That means that when you're cornering, the wheels stay nice and flat on the tarmac.
The steering perfectly fits the drive. It's a little light, but there's a lot of feeling and precision to it.
Ford has given us a lot of information, in which they sum up the systems they've invented for this car.
I'll mention a few. The car is able to keep itself between the lines,
it's able to keep distance when you've engaged cruise control, so with that, it's become a level 2 autonomous car.
Other than that, Ford has invented a system which is called MyKey.
If the kids borrow the car, you can set a maximum speed with that system.
You can also block the ability to answer incoming calls and that they can't use the audio system if they...
don't wear their seatbelts. That's a nice piece of safety right there.
And the car is filled with similar systems. Prices start just below €24.000,
and I think that's a pretty good deal from Ford. For that money, you get a very pleasant middle class car.
If there's something to complain about, it's the headroom in the back.
On the other hand, you've gained five centimetres to sit back,
so yeah, this car is alright with me.