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We've taken delivery of one of the first new Ford Focuses to come into the country.
It joins our fleet for a six-month test of a host of interesting innovations Ford has thrown into the lower medium segment.
Let's start with the engine. Ford has been waxing lyrical about its new Ecoboost petrol engine technology for over a year now, but only with the introduction of the 1.6-litre version does it start to make real sense.
This 150hp 1.6 Ecoboost petrol Focus has an official economy figure of 47.1mpg and emits 139g/km of CO2, the latter figure being important because it puts this car into the 14% benefit-in-kind band, one lower than the 140hp diesel. With the petrol car also being £1000 cheaper to start with, that means BIK bills are £7 per month cheaper for a 20% tax payer. Given that the economy difference is only 9.4mpg behind the more efficient diesel, the £1252 saved on list price and company car tax over three years will pay for a lot of fuel.
To get the Ecoboost engine, we've had to choose Titanium trim, the second from top of the four, as the engine is not available in Edge or Zetec trims. Standard kit is plentiful, as it should be on a £20,000 Focus, and includes Bluetooth, cruise control, DAB?digital radio, auto lights and wipers, dual-zone climate control [1] and a leather-trimmed steering wheel.
To that we've added four options in the form of the Candy Yellow paint and 18-inch alloy wheels [2] on the visual side, and a couple of bits we're interested in trying to see if they're worth the cash. The convenience pack consists of powered folding mirrors and Ford's Active Park Assist system, which guides the car into a space. I've always been fairly cynical about these systems as they tend to be a bit slow to react, but we'll see if this one can change my mind. However, the one I was really keen to have is the £750 (£1000 on Zetec trim) Driver Assistance pack. Ford is justifiably proud of the array of technology on the new Focus, and has bundled seven of the safety systems including lane-keep assist [3] into one pack that looks as much of a bargain as £750 can ever be. We'll give the pack some proper attention in a future issue, but it seems like a duty of care no-brainer at first view.
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