Ford Focus Review 2023

The 2018 Ford Focus has all the attributes that have traditionally made the model one of the UK’s best-selling cars, and has accentuated them even further. Yes, a Skoda Scala is cheaper, and a Volkswagen Golf feels posher. However, no rival is better to drive than the Focus, and the Ford does well enough on all these other points to ensure its popularity. It may be one of the obvious choices in the class, but that’s because it’s one of the best family cars on sale.

Occasionally, Fords get accused of being boring. Ordinary. Common. Humdrum, even. But have you ever stopped to think why that might be?

Could it be because they’re absolutely everywhere? After all, they do say familiarity breeds contempt. However, the reason that Fords are such a common sight on our roads isn’t because they’re boring. It’s because they’re popular. Really popular. And why’s that? Well, it’s because most of them are really good.

Take the Focus. This is one of the UK’s best-selling cars each and every year, meaning it’s also one of the most popular, and it has been for a long time. Is it the most glamorous choice? Nope. Is it the most interesting? Probably not. But is it a good choice? You bet.

Let’s start with the area in which it excels the most, and that’s in the way it drives. This is a car with a level of dynamic polish that many more expensive cars could only dream of.

It changes direction with incredible sharpness thanks to strong grip and tight body control, and the controls - the steering especially - give you lots of information about what’s going on, making you feel part of the action every step of the way. And no, it’s not all about boy-racer handling.

It’s just as much about the feeling of safety the car gives you. Ask any little old lady who owns a Focus, and she’ll tell you that she loves driving it, but she doesn’t really know why. Well, that’s why.

Even more impressively, the Focus manages to combine this handling prowess with a level of ride comfort that’s a match for just about anything else in the class, and that’s not an easy thing to achieve.

Meanwhile, you have a wide range of petrol (named Ecoboost) and diesel (called EcoBlue) engines that give a good mix of power, refinement and economy.

The Focus does a very solid job in other areas, too. The latest version is roomier than ever thanks to increased space in the back, and it’s now among the class leaders on that score. The boot is also very competitive on size, and the cabin comes stocked with a decent amount of standard equipment. Most of the latest infotainment gadgetry is present and correct, along with all the important safety gear.

Granted, there is one area in which it struggles relative to many rivals, and that’s on interior quality. Some of the plastics on show inside the cabin just don’t have the lustre that they do in competitors. Judged in isolation, however, it stops short of feeling cheap overall, and there’s no reason to suspect it won’t be durable.

The Focus isn’t the cheapest family car on sale, either, but it is very competitive on that score, so it does stack up financially. All in all, we can see why the Focus has proved so popular over the years, and that’s because it’s a sound, sensible - not to mention really enjoyable - choice.

Rear legroom is among the best in the class, and headroom is very good, too, and this allows tall passengers plenty of room to stretch out, even behind a comparatively lofty driver.

Bear in mind that cars with a panoramic roof are appreciably shorter on rear headroom, but still, your passengers would need to be pretty gangly to feel short-changed.

Sitting three in the back is comfier than it is in most rivals, too, because the cabin and the middle seat are wide, while the central tunnel running down the middle of the floor is low and flat, so it’s comfy to sit with your feet on top of it if you wind up in the middle. 

The boot is satisfactory for size, but it can’t dust it with the very best. There’s a lip that you’ll need to heave heavy items over, too, but it’s only small. The rear seats drop to boost your cargo bay, and they lie almost flat, with no awkward steps in the floor.

Unless you find yourself an early Style car, you’ll get nice leather wrappings for the steering wheel and gear shifter.

Elsewhere on the dash, however, are plastics that are harder, scratchier and of a considerably lower quality, and many of these are in plain view the whole time. One or two of the panels don’t line up with quite the precision that they do in rivals, either.

This doesn’t give the cabin a low-rent feel overall, but these inconsistencies means that the Focus feels some way behind not only the Volkswagens and Hondas of the world for poshness, but also the Kias and the Hyundais.

Early Style-trimmed cars have a very basic stereo system. It still has DAB and Bluetooth, but the tiny 4.2-inch screen looks a bit rubbish. Zetec and ST-Line cars get a bigger 8.0-inch screen, which is the same size as the one you get in all versions.

You also get Apple Carplay and Android Auto. However, while the screen size stays the same, the upgrade to ST-Line X, Titanium or Titanium X trims gets you a more sophisticated system that also includes built-in sat-nav and voice control. Vignale trim adds a reversing camera and an upgraded surround sound system.

The various systems use the same user interface, and it could be better. The graphics look dated, the software is slow and some of the on-screen icons are small and fiddly. And, because it’s a touchscreen, you have to concentrate hard on hitting exactly the right bit of the screen, which is distracting.

If you were to buy your Focus brand new, then at the time of writing, prices started at just over £20,000 for the 1.0 Ecoboost 100 Zetec manual, and rose to just over £30,000 for the 2.0 EcoBlue 150 Vignale Auto.

Look at the two versions that we reckon will be of interest to most buyers, those being the 1.0 Ecoboost 125 manual and the 1.5 EcoBlue manual, both in Titanium trim, and these sit either side of the £23,000 mark, separated by a sum of about £500.

Compare prices with those of key rivals such as the Honda Civic, Skoda Octavia and Vauxhall Astra, and there’s barely anything in it, although all of them are appreciably cheaper than the Volkswagen Golf. Ford usually carries some pretty good finance deals on its website, too.

At the time of writing, we found the 1.0-litre Ecoboost 125 ST-Line being offered for £220 per month on a three-year PCP following a deposit of around £5,500. That equates to a £750 deposit contribution from Ford.

There’s very little to separate the Focus from its rivals on residual values, so prices on the used car market are likely to be just as tight. But thanks to the Focus’s incredible popularity, used examples will be incredibly high in number, meaning you shouldn’t have trouble finding one that suits you perfectly.

As usual, it’s the diesels that’ll give you the best fuel returns according to the official WLTP figures. Both versions of the 1.5 deliver a maximum average just shy of 63mpg, while the figure for the 2.0-litre stands at 60mpg.

With the petrols, the 1.0-litre will deliver between 51mpg and 53mpg depending on which power output you go for, while the 1.5s will deliver between 48mpg and 47mpg. Bear in mind, too, that if you add an automatic gearbox to any of these, you’ll sacrifice another two or three miles per gallon. 

If you ignore the sporty ST models, insurance groupings for the Focus lie between groups 8 to 21. Between these extremes, though, look at the versions that will appeal to most buyers, and they all sit in the mid-teens.

This should mean affordable premiums, especially for those with a decent no-claims bonus, and importantly, the Focus compares well with rivals on this score.

This makes the car feel assured and agile as it changes direction, putting a smile on your face and delivering a satisfying feeling of safety.

If you’re worried that such nimble handling will result in a car that’s uncomfortable over bumps, you needn’t. The suspension is supple enough to absorb most of what a ragged road surface can throw at it, and the ride is also superbly controlled at all speeds, so your life is comfortable and civilised at all times.

ST-Line models sit 10mm lower, which makes them marginally more agile, but happily, that doesn’t put any dent in your comfort levels.

An adaptive suspension was also available through the options list, which varies its behaviour according to which driving mode you select, but we haven’t yet had the chance to try it.

The petrol range kicks off with turbocharged 1.0-litre three-cylinder engines with either 85PS, 100PS or 125PS, and there are also 1.5-litre units with either 150PS or 182PS. So far, we’ve only had the chance to try the most powerful 1.0-litre and both 1.5s.

The 1.0-litre will be fine for most buyers. It’s not fast, but it’s flexible enough to pull you around easily. Upgrade to one of the 1.5s and the performance you get is a good bit fizzier, with more low-down pull and more willingness to rev. You won’t actually detect much of a difference between the two, though, so we wouldn’t bother paying to upgrade to the 182.

We’ve also tried the 120PS 1.5-litre diesel engine, and it’s great, with enough low-down punch for any situation and a very decent turn of pace. This engine is also available with an output of 95PS, and there’s also a 150PS 2.0-litre diesel. However, we haven't had the chance to try either of them yet.

Importantly, automatic emergency braking is standard across the entire Focus range, along with lane-keeping assistance, electronic stability control, hill start assist and brakes that lock themselves on after an accident to help prevent any further impacts.

The standard roster also includes MyKey, a programmable fob you can give to your kids when they drive the car, which allows you to pre-set maximum thresholds for things like speed and stereo volume. Clever stuff.

Meanwhile, Vignale models add brighter LED lights and a head-up display that beams key driving information onto the windscreen so you don’t have to look away from the road as often.

Optional extras for buyers of new Focuses included blind spot monitoring and a Driver Assistance Pack, which includes traffic sign recognition and adaptive cruise control with lane centring.

The Focus was crash-tested by Euro NCAP in 2018, and scored the full five-star rating. Bizarrely, it was then tested again in 2019, and predictably, the result was very similar.

The Focus has a slightly unconventional trim structure, so you might have to bear with us on this one. The original entry-level version, called Style came with a decent amount of standard equipment, including manual air-conditioning, four powered windows, automatic lights, remote locking, a space-saver spare wheel, DAB radio and Bluetooth.

However, most buyers upgraded to Zetec trim at the very least, as it provided cruise control, cornering fog lights, leather wrappings for the steering wheel and gearknob, a heated windscreen and a touch-screen infotainment system.

That’s why Style trim was eventually dropped, making Zetec trim the entry point. From that point on, you make the decision to choose either the sporty path up the trim structure, or the more luxurious one. Those who go sporty will come across ST-Line trim next, which gets you a host of sporty styling touches inside and out, plus keyless entry and a sports suspension.

Then there’s ST-Line X, which adds more luxury items such as heated front seats, a powered driver’s seat, part-leather upholstery, automatic wipers, rear privacy glass, front and rear parking sensors and two-zone climate-control.

Those who go down the luxury route will get most of that on the Titanium trim, but if you want the privacy glass, part-leather upholstery and powered driver’s seat, you’ll need to upgrade to Titanium X. At the top of the tree sits the Vignale, which adds full leather, a heated steering wheel and active parking assistance, on top of its own unique styling touches.