The late Max Byrgrave’s catchphrase was “I wanna tell you a story”. Well, this is my story about the Ford Focus.
Seven years ago, my daughter bought a Ford Focus 1.0-litre petrol version. She still has it, but in the early days she was surprised at how much petrol the car needed compared to the much smaller Nissan Micra she had traded in. Then from speaking to colleagues in the motoring business I learned that the 1.0-litre petrol version was a bit thirsty.
But we have moved on and my girl is very happy with her reliable Focus. All this is by way of talking about the Mild Hybrid version of the Focus that I drove last week.
Car companies are using Mild Hybrid versions as a way of getting customers used to the next step which will be Plug-in Hybrid and then a fully electric version.
We are due to see a new version of the Focus within the next 12 months, but for now I think Ford are putting a lot of energy into their first fully electric car the Mach E, which I will be writing about in a few weeks.
The Focus has been a huge seller for Ford and I really like them. I had a silver-coloured version myself 22 years ago just at the start of the new millennium, so there is a history of Ford in the family. This Mild Hyrbrid version was certainly very frugal.
Naturally the 2021 version of the Focus has some modern touches from the 151 version that my daughter drives. The dash is more modern and I was able to listen to a lot more radio stations thanks to ApplePlay.
An interesting addition to this version is a strip of material on all four doors which will prevent the doors scratching another car when you park in a busy car park. I have said it before that I think some people’s cars get lonely. There may be plenty of room in a car park when you park in a large shopping centre cark park and to into a shop and when you come out, somebody has squeezed into a space right next to you!
The seats were comfortable if a bit dark, but there is a touch of red stitching which helped to brighten the interior décor. I would prefer the old-style handbrake to the modern electronic one, but sure you can’t have everything.
The boot is a decent sized and it was nice to see a space-saver spare wheel in there, a spare wheel is always better than a repair kit.
My test car was a six-speed manual ST-Line with 125 brake horse power with a plethora of extras, reversing camera etc. It came in Chrome Blue which was a bit underwhelming. The new versions of the Focus have the letters FOCUS spelt out on the boot which is impressive.
The starting price of the regular Ford Focus is €25,844, while the ST-line will cost you €27,894. My test car had 18-inch machined-glossed black alloys which certainly looked impressive. They will cost you an extra €488, but I know that people naturally want to go easy on the extras when buying a new car.
I suppose I am a bit biased when it comes to Ford cars. This Mild Hybrid version of the Focus is brilliant and you won’t have to stop at many petrol stations.
