Ford Focuses sights on small car segment

BY IRA SIEGEL For Sun-Times Media September 17, 2011 7:29PM

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2012 FORD FOCUS
HATCHBACK TITANIUM

ENGINE: 160-horsepower 2.0-liter inline four-cylinder

TRANSMISSION: six-speed automatic

DRIVETRAIN: front-wheel drive

FUEL ECONOMY: 27 city/37 highway

BASE PRICE: $22,765

AS TESTED: $24,755 (including $725 for destination)

WEBSITE: ford.com

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Updated: October 26, 2011 3:56PM



Ford has redesigned the Focus, setting new standards in the small car segment. The all-new 2012 Ford Focus is fun to drive and very appealing, both inside and outside.

Speaking of good looks, I lost count of how many fellow motorists offered positive comments on how excellent the Focus looked. Small cars like the Focus don’t usually garner so much attention. It’s usually much more expensive cars that draw interest.

The new Focus is so much better looking – and so loaded with advanced technologies and a fun-to-drive attitude that it makes the old Focus seem inferior.

Offered as a sporty five-door hatchback or sleek four-door sedan, the 2012 Ford Focus is vastly improved in every way possible. Slip behind the wheel of the new Focus and you’ll be greeted by a stylish and functional interior.

The most significant innovation is SYNC with MyFord Touch, which replaces many of the traditional buttons, knobs and gauges with colorful LCD screens and five-way buttons. There’s a bit of a learning curve to operate this system, but the screens can be personalized to display relevant information using a button, voice command or touch screen tap.

Focus sedans are offered in four trim levels – S, SE, SEL and Titanium – while hatchbacks can be had in SE, SEL or Titanium.

Pricing starts at $16,270 for the sedan and $18,065 for the hatchback. The premium Titanium trim level is new and should appeal to those thinking about stepping down from a larger vehicle without giving up luxurious amenities.

My 2012 Ford Focus was a hatchback with the premium Titanium trim. There’s plenty of head and legroom up front for tall folks like me, but as you might expect, there isn’t much rear legroom when the front seats are all the way back.

I found the front seats to be comfortable and supportive. Plus, my tester featured the winter package ($470), which adds five-position heated front seats, power heated side mirrors and all-weather floor mats.

The materials used in my tester looked nice. Another key point worth noting is how quiet and refined the cabin remained while operating at highway speeds.

Powering all Focus models is a technologically advanced and completely new 2.0-liter gasoline direct-injection DOHC four-cylinder engine with twin independent variable camshafts. The technology employed by this 160-horsepower engine is designed to enhance performance and improve fuel efficiency.

Mated to the engine is either a five-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission. SEL and Titanium models come only with the automatic. The automatic, though, is essentially an automatically shifted manual transmission using a dual dry-clutch to drive it.

This setup helps improve fuel efficiency. My Focus Titanium hatchback tester was rated at an impressive 27/37 mpg city/highway.

The dual dry-clutch mechanism, though, provides a different feel than what you’d experience with a typical torque converter. Overall, the performance is good and on the sporty side of the spectrum. This makes the new Focus fun to drive.

Some of the innovative technologies featured in the Focus include active grille shutters that block airflow through the cooling system when not required to improve aerodynamics and fuel efficiency, and torque vectoring control that enhances handling when cornering.

Some additional available features worth noting are active park assist, HD radio, rearview camera, push-button starting and SYNC with traffic, directions and information.

Take the 2012 Ford Focus for a test drive and you’ll experience why it’s now the benchmark for this segment.

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