2012 ford focus first drive

[CODSASR]

I did a serch and noticed this artical hasnt been posted yet........

Sounds like it is going to be the best in its class looks good has some good gadgets and sounds like it drives well in the words of big kev "I'm excited"

Also sounds like our stock will all come from Germany

Paul Pottinger road tests and reviews the all-new 2012 Ford Focus at its launch in the US.

GOOD
* Driving dynamics
* Technical sophistication
* Design

BAD
* Awkward gearshift
* Rear legroom
* Very little else

If Ford can't sell the new Focus, they should give the game away. Though it comes into a segment so crowded with rivals that listing them all could in itself fill this page, the Focus is in the front row of its class.

Slated for Australian release in the third quarter, the Focus which was launched in Los Angeles last week is according to its engineer James Hughes a "paradigm shift: night and day" compared with the slow selling but sweet driving South African made model now in run out.

Our cars will come from Germany which is apt given the scare it should throw into Volkswagen's Golf.

"We looked at all our competitors, Asian, domestic and European and benchmarked the Focus against the Audi A3," Hughes says. "Its dynamics, interior and wind noise are better than the A3."

This is no empty boast as Carsguide found in some 200km of testing on California's freeways and b-roads. As enjoyable to drive as the current Focus, the new one lives in a different dimension for technical sophistication and refinement.

VALUE

While local pricing is some way off, indications are the Focus will stay price competitive against its strongest rival the Mazda3. If Ford actually promote the thing, they can claim a car that's far more refined and poised yet equally enjoyable to drive.

Watch this space closely. Logic alone suggests that a 2.0-litre turbo diesel is likely to come on line by the time of local release. A potentially GTI hunting ST is due in 2012. Unlike the Golf, the Focus takes basic unleaded and won't cost a fortune to service.

TECHNOLOGY

Something of a tour de force.

If the lean running four-cylinder direct injection petrol engine isn't exactly revolutionary (even the dear old Commodore has DI these days), it is an improvement on the current naturally aspirated four.

Better still is the six-speed twin clutch automatic, which replaces the current four speed torque converter so much better is the new thing they probably shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence.

Much of the tech story is in the interactive overload that is the My Ford Touch/SYNC system. This in-car connectivity system runs through LCD screens and an eight-inch video screen. It's capable of understanding 10,000 voice commands; say "I'm hungry" and the nav system will guide you to any number of local restaurants. And it'll allow you to order takeaway via Bluetooth and direct you to the joint while it cooks. Then there's its myriad music and entertainment functions. If that's not enough, the system makes the car a WiFi hotspot.

Expect it as standard on top spec models, optional on others.

SAFETY

No crash test dummies have yet died in the Focus's case, but five stars from all agencies seems a formality.
Airbags are "tailored", monitoring the passenger's weight and the way in which they're sitting before exploding into action. Moreover, there's a sense of door thunking solidness the Focus that you don't necessarily expect from a small medium car made in American, as our test examples were. Looks like the Yanks have figured one of the reasons why their cars weren't selling.

DESIGN

Another aspect in which the Focus will shake up the ****-retentively styled Golf.

In hatch, but particularly sedan form, Ford's designers overseen by Moray Callum have evolved it noticeably from the current car. The hatch's detailing is a bit fussy around the rear, but it is distinctive. Love the way the nose tapers to give the impression of a short front overhang. Any chance of losing the sedan's spoiler?

The inside story is something of a triumph, certainly in the top-spec Titanium variant, fully living up to Hughes's claim for it. Callum says he was after a cockpit feel and even in models without leather trim it's a pleasure to sit behind the sportingly stylised wheel in a seat that manages the neat trick of providing ample lateral support while being comfortable over a long day.

Caveats? Several.

The wheel being festooned with controls for phone, audio, sat-nav and cruise, there's no place for the gear shifting paddles which add an extra degree of manual interaction for the diver. Nor is there a shifting gate. Instead when the stick is moved into sport, you can manipulate gear changes via an up and down button in the knob. This is as awkward as it sounds.

As to space in the rear, I wouldn't be able to sit behind me for too long, if you see what I mean. The cargo space figure of some 370 litres surprised me it's pretty shallow in there.

DRIVING

There's little doubt some will carp that Ford has compromised the Focus's "edge" whatever that means. They're wrong, but it is massively more refined, almost eerily so. The NVH drone that plagues the outgoing car is consigned to the past.

This is the best twin clutch transmission I've driven in an affordable car. Hill hold curtails the alarming roll back that characterises such things. More impressive is way in which the low speed abruptness and jerkiness in reverse (the curse of VW's DSG) has been overcome. It's a bit sluggish when booted off the mark, but otherwise you'd swear this was a conventional auto. Most punters won't spot the difference.

While the manual button is a drag, you'll be happy enough to leave it in drive or sport, where it adapts itself rapidly to conditions and the vigour or lack of it with which you're driving.

Torque vectoring, which send the grunt to the wheel with the most grip during cornering, is fairly seamless and completely confidence enhancing, especially of ultra-grippy 18sh. The Focus could so readily handle more power and torque this is a well-sorted car, yet on which even on the low profile rubber rode such rough stuff as we encountered almost with impunity.

VERDICT

Excellent. A giant step for Ford in the segment. Roll on the hot version.

RATING

75/100

FORD FOCUS

Price: from $21,000 (estimate)
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder DI petrol; 119kW/197Nm
Transmissions: 6-speed twin clutch auto; 5-speed manual
Thirst: 5.8L/100km (claimed)