Handles well, comfortable, noisy around town or in lower gears, once in 3rd it is fairly quite (for a diesel) Ok at legal motorway speed.
Steering just seems heavy no matter which of the three settings you use.
Gear selection a bit like stiring porridge & gears not very well matched to the engine torque either, 1st seems to short while 2nd to long, try to change up at 2000 rpm into 2nd & it bogs down, other ratios are fine.
Clutch is very sharp with very little feel. (I own & drive other cars but struggle to make a clean jerk free change in the Focus even though i drive this the most)
Better interior plastics than most of direct competition but body is very tin like. (If the wing fell of i could use it to wrap the christmas turkey) but i feels solid enough when driving.

The ipod connector in the glove box is a nice touch just don't buy the cable from dealer for £24 when Ebay can supply for £5 inc postage.

Boot is big enough for most of my camping gear, not tried it with the trailer yet, but fuel economy is not good when laiden, same trip in my 2003 130 se TDI Golf at easter i managed 56mpg with same load on board the Focus only managed just over 41 mpg.

Only had car for a month so most niggles will become the norm, i hope.
Would i recommend to a friend? most definetly, my 1st Ford but i doubt it will be my last.

Time for an update. Had the focus just over 12 months now, faults are none, Fuel economy a bit better after service, new filters etc, now average 44mpg. Bristol st. service very reasonable even better with a 3 year service plan.
Recent 1700 mile round trip to France saw the average fuel consumption rise to 55mpg. Closer to the Ford figure than we get in UK. Goes to show that the low mpg we get here is down to stop start driving on our ageing congested roads rather than exagerated manufacturer figures. Very comfortable even after 10 hour drive.
Overall very cheap car to run, any genuine parts i have bought i.e. mats & boot liner have been very affordable. 4 mats & the afore mentioned liner plus door sill trims came to less than i paid for 4 genuine VW mats for my previous Golf.
Car now 4 years old & still looks & drives as new. Will post another update in 12 months see if it still exceeds my original expectations.

Just over 2 years of ownership & still very happy with my purchase, 1 small glitch this year when it started surging on acceleration Kings Norton ford traced it to a blocked fuel filter & would have charged £120 to fix it until i pointed out that it was a service item & was scheduled for change @ the last service, They said it must have been "forgotten" work subsequently done F.O.C. Just come back from Northumberland holiday, clocked up 900 miles & averaged 59 mpg. Service & M.O.T. done this week 58,000 miles with no advisory info. Still incredibly happy with my 1st Ford.

Owned for 3 years now, 66,600 miles, am I still happy with my Focus, Yes definitely, another service & MOT with no advisories again. Had the aircon topped for yet another trip to France, fully loaded with camping gear and covered just over 2300 miles I averaged 53 mpg with the aircon on most of the time, never missed a beat, 12 hours behind the wheel no aches or pains. Had two problems this year, but nothing major, ESP light came on diagnosed as an ABS sensor which was replaced under warranty & the Turbo pipe split this was £100 & all is fine again.
Over the last three years of ownership I have been incredibly impressed with my Focus, so impressed that for the 1st time ever in 30 years of car driving replacing my car every three years I am buying another Ford Focus, I think there is no better recommendation than that. If you need an economical, reliable & comfortable car that is also a pleasure to own & drive buy a Focus 1.8TDCI I just hope my new 1.6TDCI Titanium is going to be as user friendly.