2019 Ford Focus Review

What’s the spec?

The Focus hatchback is available in five-door form only, or there’s the estate. If you want more rugged appeal, the Focus Active hatch has SUV styling in the form of chunky black wheel arch surrounds, a raised ride height, black roof bars and a more pronounced front lip.

There are 10 trim levels to choose from, starting at Style for £18,545 and rising to £26,145 for the Vignale spec. If you’re a boy racer at heart, there’s the awesome 188bhp Focus ST warm hatch (also available as an estate – yes please), from £29,495, which we’ve tested. We write “warm” only because of the barn-storming Focus RS, with more or less double the power of the ST.

Tell me about the interior and exterior

The outside of the Focus has never been much to write home about, but that’s partly its appeal. It’s very much an everyman hatchback, blending in on roads in a manner which means someone will always let you out of a junction.

Beneath that bog-standard exterior, however, lies Ford’s usual engineering box of tricks which trump practically every other standard hatchback out there (see How Does it Drive, below).

Inside, there is decent amount of knee clearance for six-foot adults in the front and rear, and there’s a wide, deep boot which will take suitcases or a big family shop. The new Focus deploys materials like brushed metal, polished glass and fine-grain wood effect to echo more upmarket cars and the dash has a fluid wrap-around design.

New tech includes adaptive cruise control, adaptive front lighting and “Active Parking Assist 2” which controls forward and reverse gear selection, throttle, braking and steering to help you park your car.There’s also cyclist and pedestrian detection and a “wrong-way” alert.

How does the Ford Focus drive?

Like an absolute gem. We tested the Focus ST, with its 2.3-litre turbocharged engine and seven-speed automatic gearbox (there’s also a six-speed manual). The steering and suspension put many more expensive cars of all body shapes to shame, and even some sports cars don’t handle as well. There’s also a clever anti-lag turbo on board for smooth acceleration.

All Focus models now have different drive modes so you can adjust the way the car moves to the driving conditions. The engines on offer range from Ford’s wonderful, small, frugal 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol engines with power outputs from 84bhp to 180bhp, to Ford’s diesel EcoBlue engines, with power from 94bhp to 148bhp.

In a nutshell:

Don’t let the boring exterior styling put you off this well-kept secret of a car. If it’s fine handling, decent engine power and precise steering you’re after, but don’t want to kiss goodbye to a modicum of practicality, look no further than a Used Ford Focus. We’re torn between a base model with the 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol engine, and the ST in estate form. Or maybe we’ll wait for an RS. Decisions, decisions…. You can also view the entire range of used Ford cars on finance with ChooseMyCar.

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The Alfa Romeo Giulia Velcoe, a rear-wheel-drive saloon offers power and performance with a 1995cc four-cylinder 16v turbocharged petrol engine.

If you’re looking for a saloon car with a more sporty feel, then the Audi S7 is a rapid, but equally smooth ride, and can claim up to 620-mile range on a full tank.

The immensely stylish, upmarket Mercedes A Class is possibly the ultimate family hatchback and comes in Petrol, Diesel, and Hybrid options.

Not well known in the UK, the Lexus ES has actually been around for seven generations. If you’re looking for a more spacious kind of Premium car, the Lexus ES300h f Sport makes a strong case for itself.

Finally, if you have a slightly bigger budget available to you and you’re looking for your first EV, the Jaguar i-Pace and its supercar-meets-SUV design will give you an impressive range of 292 miles.