Ford Focus 2007 review

Ford's diesel-powered Focus is a sweet machine, feels solid and true with the goods and right price to be a considered rival to Holden's Astra and Volkswagen Golf diesels.

The compact Ford is screwed together in a tidy, economical package, which should find favour with quite a few commuters. It has some European style with decent road dynamics and a certain amount of personality.

Circumstances dictated this particular five-door Focus was only belted around the town, hardly saw fifth gear let alone sixth.

Yet it impressed straight up with its tidy interior, ride quality and the willingness of that 100kW diesel engine. It impressed with its road manners and ability to slice through spaces in city traffic.

Cabin ergonomics are good, controls and instruments all logical and legible with smart finishes.

It has the European approach to dark and sensible colours for interior trim, the stereo quality is top class for a sub-$30,000 car and there's a useful trip computer.

Little touches such as the fold-away key add to the Euro-design feel.

Some may find those front seats a little narrow and the back seats, while having decent legroom, may not suit taller passengers.

There is a not a lot of oddment space in the centre console but the rear cargo area is a good size with easy loading access.

The four-cylinder Duratorq engine; the largest common-rail turbo diesel in the Ford passenger car range; starts with a little shudder and then settles into a comforting, sporting grumble. (Indeed the Focus engine noise is more akin to a warmed-over petrol engine than anything much else).

It runs through the gears with a certain sweetness though best to keep engine revs north of 1800rpm to make best use of the power and torque, the first few hill starts may see a little clutch slip until the best clutch-revs balance is struck.

This short run didn't see the hatchback fall much below 10 litres per 100 kilometres, that should be much improved with less stop-start, short-haul traffic; indeed Ford reckons it should get down to 5.6 litres per 100km and that sounds reasonable.

The steering and front end are good but favour understeer in fast, tight turns.

The other surprise was the suspension on city streets, over big bumps and little, It rode the city streets with the type of confidence normally reserved for more expensive machines.

So this five-door Ford Focus has good road manners to go along with handsome style, excellent fuel economy and a reasonable price. Well worth a look if chasing a compact machine for general duties.