More smiles per kilometer

Krabi, Thailand—A sweeping right-hand bend appears on the horizon. You settle yourself into the bucket seat, brace your right foot against the dead pedal, and tighten your grip on the steering wheel. Do you slow down or speed up? A split-second later, you mash the throttle and take the bend. Your car remains planted. Secure. Without a squeal from the front Michelins. You crack a satisfied smile, and continue on with the rest of your journey. This is your new family car. This is the all-new Ford Focus.

More often than not, “driving dynamics” and “family car” aren’t mentioned in the same sentence. But that’s exactly what Ford did with the Focus. It introduced cutting-edge driving dynamics in a mass market car. Riding on Ford’s new global C-car platform, the Focus retains the dynamism and stability of the previous model while adding better agility and comfort.

This is achieved in three ways: first, the Focus has a highly rigid body, applying 55 percent high-strength steel on the total vehicular structure. Second, the suspension is retuned, with a thicker 23.5-mm front stabilizer, optimized damper valve tuning and bushings and a repackaged rear Control Blade multilink for excellent riding comfort. Last is the addition of Torque Vectoring Control system which distributes the power between the driven wheels during cornering.

The difference is immediately apparent when the Focus starts rolling. Despite the sporty, almost-lowered stance, the Focus is much more comfortable over rougher surfaces, allowing it to soak potholes without transmitting too much shock into the cabin. The suspensions of the 4-door and 5-door Focuses are different, with the latter receiving a sportier tune at the expense of a slightly firmer ride.

At lower speeds, the Focus is very “pointable”—allowing you navigate traffic with tremendous precision and accuracy. As the speeds pick up and you lean into a corner, the Focus serves up a sharp turn-in with very little understeer. As the speeds go even higher, the Focus feels very planted, secure, and stable. Indeed, in one fell swoop, the all-new Focus has knocked out everyone (including its predecessor) off the fun-to-drive throne.

The Focus also introduced a choice of body styles: a 4-door sedan and a 5-door hatchback. And while the previous Focus was considered a looker in its time, the new Focus is smoking hot. It brings Ford’s “kinetic design” to the next level and as a result, there’s no mistaking the Focus for anything else. The 4-door and 5-door versions have a menacing fascia with a massive trapezoidal grille with blacked-out detailing. The wrapped headlights then carry your eyes around the side, where the Focus’s sloping shoulder line and subtle strake give it a sense of movement. Out back, the 4-door benefits from a remarkably short trunk deck with a nicely detailed lamp cluster; while the 5-door looks even sexier with a heavily sculpted rear fender and lamp cluster that coincidentally integrates the fuel door and an attractive roof spoiler. Finishing the look are 16-inch multi-spoke alloys on the 4-door Titanium+ and 17-inch split-spoke rims on the 5-door Sport+.

Thanks to Smart Keyless Entry with Ford Power Start, the new Focus allows the driver to lock or unlock the doors and start the car without taking the key out of a bag or pocket.

Inside, the Focus offers a nicely modern, easy-to-use interior that’s simply revolutionary. Although there’s no mention of added head, shoulder or knee room, the all-new Focus feels much more spacious than the model it replaces. The cabin is dominated by a large center cluster that is pushed outward and then upward, creating much more usable space in the front. The Sport+ model benefits from a charcoal black interior, creating a dynamic and young appearance while the Titanium+ model has Asian-exclusive two-tone beige and black interior for a more mature feel. The seats both front and aft, offer excellent bolstering and support.

The excellent seats serve as an appetizer to the Focus’s driver-centric interior. All the major controls, from the steering wheel to the position of the controls to the font-type of the instruments are all designed to be understood and operated at a glance. The instrument panel is deeply-set and large, supplemented by a full-color LCD screen nestled between the tachometer and speedometer. This screen can be set up to display a variety of information such as the trip meter, fuel economy reading, Ford’s very own Eco Mode, and a host of others. Handy 4-way controls on the steering wheel makes the screen easy to use and easier to set up.

Aside from flipping through the various screens in the multi-information display panel, the 4-way control on the steering wheel activates the Focus’s crowning addition: Ford SYNC. This is the next-generation in hands-free, voice-activated in-car connectivity which allows the Focus to connect to almost any mobile phone or digital media player via Bluetooth and USB. It then allows the driver (or even passenger) to make calls (including conference calling), reply to text message or play tunes via different voice commands. Ford SYNC works most of the time, with the system actually learning and adopting over time.

The previous-generation Focus set the standard in fuel-efficiency with its choice of E20-capable gasoline engines and the TDCi engine. In the new Focus, Ford blended these two engines into a brand-new 2.0-liter 4-cylinder gasoline engine with twin independent camshaft timing (Ti-VCT) and gasoline direct injection (GDI). The engine purrs silently on idle, but thanks to 170 hp and 202 Nm of torque, the Focus can hit its stride with considerable ease. The dual-clutch PowerShift automatic is responsive, and has none of the low-speed refinement issues that plagued the previous model. Plus, the Focus has a manual shift override called Select Shift, though there are no paddle shifters. The Focus can reach speeds approaching 220 kph, but those wanting a more conservative drive can activate either the cruise control or even a built-in speed limiter. And despite the spirited high-speed driving, it managed to return an impressive 13.33 km/L. And for those wondering, there are no current plans to re-introduce the TDCi engine due to weak sales in the Philippines.

The Focus is also adept at handling the urban environment with a slew of smart technologies. First is Active City Stop which uses LIDAR to monitor the road ahead for traffic and then applies the brakes automatically if it detects that the car in front has stopped unexpectedly. It must be noted that this system doesn’t work on pedestrians, animals, or even bikes since it only picks out traffic with two reflectors (the brake lamps) and a number plate. Second is Active Park Assist in which the Focus can parallel park itself totally hands-free using sensors around the car to detect a suitable parking space just 20 percent larger than the car. Like Active City Stop, Active Park Assist is eerie and somewhat counter-intuitive for seasoned drivers, but it’s a helpful tool for the novice and those who consider parallel parking their Waterloo. Lastly is the Blind Spot Information System or BLIS that detects vehicles in the Focus’s blind spot and then issues a corresponding warning (an orange light) on the side view mirror when changing lanes or parking with limited visibility.

The bottom line with the all-new Ford Focus is that buyers should no longer be surprised with the notion of having a compact car with luxury sedan features, sports car-like handling and eye-popping fuel economy. While its competitors offer de-contented cars with cheap interiors and dull driving dynamics, the all-new Ford Focus proves yet again that family cars can have a pulse.