2009 ford focus3/22/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() So Golfs will continue to sell very well. People still remember David Bailey's 23 year old commercial, ‘Few things in life are as reliable as a Volkswagen' and delude themselves it's still true. As always, that will put off the snobs who feel somehow superior driving a Golf, even though they're not really enjoying enjoying themselves as much. No less than 1 in 20 cars sold in the UK over the past 9 years have been the Ford Focus. It will continue to be Britain's most popular car. But nothing else gets close to the car's stunning combination of ride and handling, except, maybe, a Volvo C30, which is based on a Focus floorpan. (No doubt something the garage could fix.) And it's now just a 5-speed rather than 6-speed. Our 2.0i Sport had a duff gear change gate that made 3rd hard to find. Like its predecessor the new Focus is an excellent car. Unfortunately, though, it's in Emissions Band E, so won't find as many buyers as the Band B 1.6 TDCI. Instead of nothing to torque about under 1,800 rpm, the new car will pull up fairly steep hills from just 1,200rpm in third. This car takes to corners like The Stig does to the Top Gear track.įord has also sorted out the power delivery. The handling, however, was every bit as fine. But with this car the rough stuff was merely cushioned rather than absorbed. Maybe stiffer suspension for load carrying. Yet, despite being on slightly deeper profile tyres than the Zetec Sport, the ride wasn't as good. ![]() No problem with tyre noise, but, of course, the thick carpeting would have deadened any of that. And, in truth, at 70mph, with the engine turning over at just 2,000rpm, you could still hear it was a diesel. I wanted to try the wagon because there had been some criticism of noise levels inside the old model. The 2.0TDCI 135 estate we tried next day came with top-level Titanium trim, which include a fully carpeted load area, satnav and 205/55 x 16" tyres. But in a calm, unflurried manner, as likely to appeal to a vicar as to a rally driver. Not in a sportscary Porschy way, reassuring you that you're some kind of hot stuff behind the wheel. At any kind of reasonable speed, and as long as you didn't do something daft like brake half way round a corner, it simply gripped. And it combined this with simply stunning handling and roadholding. Instead it had the astonishing ability to isolate driver and passenger from bumps and thumps as if they were happening elsewhere. So it should have ridden a bit hard, but it didn't. The Zetec had the ‘Sport' option, which includes 205/50 tyres on jewel-like 17" alloy wheels and sports suspension. Instead, all we got to drive were a 2.0 litre 145PS petrol Zetec 3-door, and a 2.0 litre 135PS diesel estate, both ‘lever Espana' (Manuel). I'm calling this a ‘pre-test' because they didn't have any 114g/km Focus ECONetics, or any cars with Ford and Getrag's ‘Powershift' equivalent of VAG's DSG transmission. Readers report Real MPG to be between 23–68 mpg.Engines range from 1.4 to 2.0 Automatic.High list prices made the Ford Focus a relatively expensive car and the entry-level models cost more than the cheapest Audi A3 and BMW 1 Series. But there was one big drawback - the list price. There's no doubt that the 2008-2011 Focus was better than ever before, with a high quality feel, great handling, a comfortable ride and a wide range of engines. Usefully, ESP stability control was also made standard on every 2008 Focus and there were more variations than ever.Īside from the high performance Focus RS and Focus ST models, it's the super efficient Focus ECOnetic 90 with Start-Stop that grabbed the headlines thanks to economy of 74.2mpg and CO2 emissions of 99g/km that means it still qualifies for free annual VED. As before, there's plenty of room for four adults while the layout of the buttons and controls is very user-friendly. The basic structure has been left along, so it retains the superb handling and comfort of before, along with the five-star Euro NCAP crash safety rating.īut the outside was sharpened up while the interior got a major revamp with improved quality, better soundproofing and a neater design. Technically the 2008 Ford Focus isn't really new, it's a revised version of the second generation Focus, introduced in 2004 with most of the faults of that model corrected. It's a genuinely great hatchback that excels in nearly every area. And that's no mean feat when the competition includes the the Volkswagen Golf and Honda Civic. The 2008 facelift Ford Focus may be a common sight on our roads and was the default choice for many company car drivers, but there's a very good reason for it. ![]()
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