Ford Focus 2008 Review

The Focus Coupe-Cabriolet is a breath of fresh air in the Ford camp. Motorists have shown great interest in convertibles. Not just the traditional little two-seat sports cars but the four-seat versions.

And especially with the advent of the hard top that folds away - a two-door hard-top coupe one minute and an open-top convertible the next.

Or the next 29 seconds, in the case of this convertible version of the Focus, derived from the Focus hatch and sedan already familiar to Australian motorists.

It was a bit remiss of Ford not to have a convertible in its range for more than four years.

Ford Australia used to make a soft-top convertible, the two-seat Capri in the early 1990s.

This new Focus Coupe-Cabriolet brings open-air motoring back into affordable reach - $45,490 for the five-speed manual and $47,490 for the four-speed auto. These are the same prices of rival Holden Astra Twin-Top.

Considering the extra expense in building the car and in the roof mechanism, these prices aren't bad when also looking at the equipment list. It has dual-zone climate control, leather-trimmed interior, variable front seat heating, six-stack CD with eight-speaker system and 17in alloys.

Safety is addressed with ABS brakes, stability control with traction control, front and front side airbags and, should things start going upside down, twin rollover protection hoops that spring from behind the back seats.

The front windscreen sweeps back so far that drivers who need or prefer to sit closer to the wheel have the windscreen just about covering their heads.

The two rear passengers cop a lot of breeze with the roof off and do not get the heated seats of the front occupants. However, we tried a country drive one chilly night with the roof off and found that with the four side windows up and the heater blowing through floor vents under the front seats towards the rear, it was tolerable. And fun.

Fun is what this car is about, not performance. The Focus two-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine drags a lot more weight, the result of cross-bracing and the roof mechanism. At 1465kg, it's about 160kg more than the Focus hatch.

It means that come to a hill and this car struggles. At least in the automatic version we drove. It has a manual sequential mode but the transmission control unit takes an age to think about changes. Maybe the manual is the go for people who want some zip.

There's only a trace of scuttle shake when the roof is off. It's no Audi when it comes to body control, but Audi doesn't sell such cars for $45,000. Rear-seat leg room is tight, but boot space is good for this type of car.

The two-litre Duratec engine delivers 107kW of power at 6000rpm, 185Nm torque at 4500rpm and uses petrol at a rate of 8.6 litres/100km.