New Ford Focus launched

[Nors]

phazed said:

The designers seem to take an existing design and then morph it into something more extreme.

That isn’t exactly what we want but what we get.

The original mark one focus was a breath of fresh air, beautifully designed and fit for propose.

Take the Ford badge of this one and it could be anything. Designers are trying just too hard to extend on existing similar designs rather than going in their own direction to give us something individual that can relate to their brands.

Looks very average.

Moan over.

Pretty much sums it for me too!

[Car-Matt]

sjg said:

Car-Matt said:

I think the sad thing is that only the 2.0 diesels and the 1.5l ecoboost will have the multilink rear suspension, the rest will be torsion beam......so the thing that makes a focus, despite being blunted over the years actually disappears from the models most people will buy. Shame

Looks good though IMO

Some of the best-handling hot hatches of all time have torsion beam rears. Frees up boot space too.

Which ones would those be out of interest?

As for the boot space, i doubt it makes any difference as the shell will almost certainly be generic

[austinsmirk]

where's the all electric version ?

[sjg]

All the 80s/90s Peugeot GTIs.

Mk1/2 Golf GTI

mk1 Clio inc Williams

[Fastdruid]

austinsmirk said:

where's the all electric version ?

They only sell Skoda and Hyundai...
http://www.allelectric.co.uk/

[unpc]

Otispunkmeyer said:

PHEV and mild hybrid not all they're cracked up to be (hence VW and BMW stopping production). I get to emissions (real world, not lab either) test these things as part of the day job. The mild hybrids are really not that great.

However, I do hope the platform is geared for taking a decent battery for a full EV model. I think they will have done this as they did already have an EV MK3 focus that they only sold in the US. Hopefully learning from that has gone into this one.

A ICE engineered vehicle make lousy EVs and that's why the eGolf or whatever it's called is being binned. There's no way to package enough battery and cool them. EVs need to be ground up designs as witnessed by Tesla and the new Jag thing. An EV version of this is never going to be convincing.

[bloomen]

The estate looks great. I can take or leave the hatch.

Once again though the size appears to be creeping up.

[M4cruiser]

rampageturke said:

M4cruiser said:

That's the end of it for me then. How do you stop when all the "systems" fail? You need a solid handle with steel cables!

yeah, because normal handbrakes never break, right?

Electrics, hydraulics, mechanics. I say keep them separate. Maybe you missed the point!

[Kenny Powers]

Best to use chocks. The only way to be sure

[white_goodman]

Car-Matt said:

I think the sad thing is that only the 2.0 diesels and the 1.5l ecoboost will have the multilink rear suspension, the rest will be torsion beam......so the thing that makes a focus, despite being blunted over the years actually disappears from the models most people will buy. Shame

Looks good though IMO

They did that on the mk7 Golf too didn't they? mk5/mk6 Golf did all have multi-link rear suspension? It does make a difference in my opinion. The best-driving cars in this class all have a multi-link rear: Focus, Golf, all Mazda 3s and Honda Civics now?

[lee_erm]

I like it. Hopefully the 1.5, 3 cylinder is decent.

[anonymous-user]

lee_erm said:

I like it. Hopefully the 1.5, 3 cylinder is decent.

I love 3 cylinder engines. Torque of a twin with revs of 4 with a characterful rasp.

A 3 litre turbo triple with 400hp and 4wd would be fantastic but I doubt they would build such a thing.

[MrGTI6]

jamei303 said:

Not even the base spec has a manual handbrake

Same for the Golf!

One of the many reasons I actually prefer the current Astra!

[Car-Matt]

white_goodman said:

They did that on the mk7 Golf too didn't they? mk5/mk6 Golf did all have multi-link rear suspension? It does make a difference in my opinion. The best-driving cars in this class all have a multi-link rear: Focus, Golf, all Mazda 3s and Honda Civics now?

Exactly, if it didnt then the more powerful sportier models wouldnt have the multi-link and the cheaper ones the beam

No doubt someone will roll some toss out about the Pug 205 Gti being the best handling hatch of all time with a torsion beam to counter the point.

The ONLY reasons cars have a rear beam instead of multi link is cost and packaging, both of which compromise performance, given one of the Focus' USP's is that it drives so well then it had better be decent still.

[Sam993]

Car-Matt said:

given one of the Focus' USP's is that it drives so well then it had better be decent still.

Mondeo was know for great handling too, until they globalised it with the last facelift and made it more boat like. Ford might not be interested in making cars that drive well anymore but rather that are cheap to make and sell in 000,000's.

[BeirutTaxi]

I hope it's an improvement over the current Focus.. Which is great to drive but with 20% improvement could be 80% better.

[white_goodman]

Sam993 said:

Mondeo was know for great handling too, until they globalised it with the last facelift and made it more boat like. Ford might not be interested in making cars that drive well anymore but rather that are cheap to make and sell in 000,000's.

Which was where they went wrong with the mk5 Escort in 1990...do we never learn from history?

[caymanbill]

A poor mans VW Golf.

[donkmeister]

Gatefold said:

donkmeister said:

I don't agree with the "if it were a VAG" comments above...

If VW announced a new cooking-spec Golf (or Skoda/Seat equivalent) it would not be PH-worthy news.

If Ford had announced a new Focus RS this WOULD have made the front page. But they didn't.

Ford announced the one that you'll be getting on holiday as a rental (cooking model), from work as a company car (ST line) and the one that the retiring lifelong Ford owner will be buying with his pension lump sum (the Vignale).

This is PH, not Auto Express surely?

How about an article on the facelift the current model received?

Good point. I can't believe Ford announced a 245bhp Focus that was ignored whilst the 148bhp Golf got a mention.

Oh... wait. The 245bhp Golf got a mention whilst the Focus with a maximum of 148bhp was the one missed.

[BarbaricAvatar]

Hello Hyundai.