The Ford Focus changed the nameplate's image when it was new in 2012, taking it from lackluster to lap-worthy. Attractive, affordable, and fun, the Focus has won our Best Car To Buy award, as much for its trend-leading features as for its excellent front-drive handling.The 2014 Ford Focus is powered by a four-cylinder engine, which most reviewers say provides adequate power. A five-speed manual transmission is standard and a six-speed automated manual transmission is optional. The EPA reports that the base 2014 Focus gets 26/36 mpg city/highway, which is good for a compact car. An optional SFE package boosts fuel economy to 28/40 mpg. Test drivers agree that the Ford Focus is one of the best-handling cars in the class. They say the Focus offers precise steering, as well as a well-tuned suspension that provides great cornering ability and a comfortable ride. Additionally, many critics note that all of the Focus’ performance attributes are amplified if you opt for the Focus ST.
The Focus is available in S, SE and Titanium trim levels. Even the S version is well-equipped with air-conditioning, full power features, a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel and a sound system with a CD player and auxiliary audio jack. Moving up through the trims gets you luxuries such as Ford's Sync voice-activated phone/audio interface, leather upholstery, a power driver seat, keyless ignition/entry, rear parking sensors and a rearview camera.Ford invited us to Belgium to witness the late stages of the car’s development. What’s left to do at this point is the fine tuning, the detail work that separates a great car from one that’s merely good.
Under the hood lies Ford’s direct-injected, 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, bookended by redesigned intake and exhaust systems. U.S.-market output figures have not been announced—it doesn’t go on sale here until late 2012—but the engine makes 247 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque in Europe.. I also appreciated that the displays were cool blue, not angry red. The main interior drawback was the seats were hard to adjust. Also, the extremely raked windshield gives a huge dashboard. It's impossible for a short armed woman to reach the distant inside surface of the windshield while seated. The ride on this car is good and feels solid. It steered well, nice and responsive, and brakes were good. The transmission was not so great. The Ford transmission was very jerky at low acceleration from a stop, especially on a hill or around the transitions between 10 and 35 miles per hour. It would shift when you stepped on the gas, just not smoothly. The car was nicely fuel efficient. The rear seats were a little cramped when the front seats were pushed back. The trunk was spacious for a car this size. A few controls required the engine to be running, or the car to be in park, or both. We had a minor panic trying to remove a backpack at school drop off when the trunk would not release.The Ford Focus is the sweetest-handling car in its class. It’s also refined, safe and has competitive CO2 emissions.speeds—and there's a Sport mode or you can control shifts on your own with a little +/- button on the side of the shift knob. The Focus handles as well as—or better than—the most deft handler in the class, the Mazda 3, with a suspension that doesn't crash and bang over rough transitions. Ford's electric power steering system provides nice weighting and it performs well, providing precise control but not transmitting much feel of the road.
For even more efficiency, there's the Focus Electric, which is strictly battery-powered like Nissan's Leaf. Propelled by a 107-kilowatt (143-hp) electric drive motor and powered by a 23kWh lithium-ion battery pack, the Focus Electric can be recharged in just 4 hours from a 240-volt power source. Owners can also keep tabs on their electric Focus' charging state via smartphone integration.Before that, he headed Porsche’s racing efforts. And before that, he won the truck category in the 1985 Paris–Dakar rally. A story that speaks to his racer’s ingenuity: In the previous Focus ST (an offshoot of the not-for-the-U.S. second-generation Focus), he wanted higher-quality top-grain leather for the steering wheel, but internal regulations forbade this, even for a specialty car. Learning that perforated leather requires the use of the better cowhide, Capito made a new request for perforated leather that circuitously granted him his steering wheel.
