Ford Focus Sport - Review

While Ford's all-new Focus ended 2012 by being crowned the world's bestselling car, it was a different story in Malaysia. Outside the cognoscenti circle, Ford's Cologne, Germany developed model is not at the top of the general car buying public's mind.
What you see here is the reinvigorated One Ford's attempt to go mainstream in ASEAN.
Imported from Ford's ultra modern RM 1.36 billion plant in Rayong, Thailand, the Focus is priced at just RM115,888.
Even the standard Sport model comes very well equipped and undercuts many Japanese and supposedly better value Korean rivals by a significant margin.
Dynamically, nothing on this side of the GTI/RS badge divide drives like the Focus. More on that later.
Believe us when we say that pictures don't do the Focus Sport any justice. Details like the intelligently hidden fuel lid, intersecting concave and convex lines, and that sexy waist line and curvaceous rump can only be fully appreciated in sheet metal.
Inside, the Focus' cabin is best appreciated at night. A pair of amber ambient light softly illuminates the front, while the rest of the cabin, including the steering wheel control buttons, are bathed in soothing blue light.

While other cars have their instrument panel cluttered with separate icons for the headlamps, front and rear fog lamps, the Focus adopts a nice graphical representation of a car to provide a simple overview status of all exterior lighting functions.

While the Focus feels premium and has a user interface that's designed with great care, the large frame front seats appear to take up a fair bit of interior space, slightly compromising the rear legroom.

Up ahead, occupant space is taken up by a dashboard that protrudes significantly more than its peers.
The standard Focus Sport misses out on an auto dimming rear view mirror available in the Sport+ model.
When driving at night with the rear view mirror flicked to manual night mode, two strips of amber from the roof's ambient light are inadvertently reflected on the mirror, causing minor irritation.
Clearly, the Focus' cabin was validated and signed off on the higher range Sport+ model rather than its lower range twin.
On the move is where the Ford Focus Sport shines. The Ford Focus is a reminder to the working class that driving joy is not a purview dominated only by luxury German brands.
It is not for nothing that the Ford Focus was the only non-luxury, non-performance car finalist in the industry journal Vehicle Dynamics International's 2012 Car of the Year, alongside the Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ, Porsche 911 and BMW 3 Series. In the year before, Jurgen Putzschler was honoured the Vehicle Dynamicist of the Year, while his Focus vehicle dynamics team narrowly lost out on the overall title to McLaren Automotive.

That says a lot about the pedigree of cars that experts compare the Ford Focus against, at least as far as handling is concerned.
At a constant 120km/h, there are few other cars in its class that offers a quieter cabin. At higher speeds and crossing rougher sections of the highway, only the faintest wind noise and tyre roar can be heard.
In fact, it is quieter and rides better than many higher range D-segment sedans that are supposedly more comfort oriented.
Fancy electronic gadgetry working behind the torque vectoring control (TVC) helps even the most ham-fisted driver to string up corners like Sebastien Loeb's prodigee.
Road undulations, mid-corner bumps, uneven cambers, the Focus just soaks it all up. As a highway cruiser, the Focus is an excellent companion.

The six speed PowerShift dual clutch automatic transmission has a thumb operated rocker switch on the shift lever for manual selection of gear ratios. While the set-up simplifies left hand drive to right hand drive adaptation by the manufacturer, they are difficult to use when you are pushing on.
Operating them require the precision of a brain surgeon operating on a swaying boat.
On the plus side, the latest version of Ford's PowerShift unit is smoother than some earlier units we've tried in the past. Only in slow traffic will a driver notice that he is driving a dual clutch unit rather than a torque converter automatic.
Like all dual clutch transmissions, it shifts with sniper like precision when you are eagerly pushing the car but is clunky when inching along in heavy traffic, or in our case, when slowly climbing up our office multi-storey car park's very tight and steep angular access ramp.
There isn’t enough space in this page for us go into further detail. We can only summarise that the

Focus is a mighty impressive car.
Yes, the fancier Focus Sport+ model stops itself and parks itself, but for the prudent buyer, the standard Sport model already offers everything that you would want to have in a C-segment family car.

Specifications of the all-new Focus
Engine: 2-litre 16-valve DOHC four-cylinder Ti-VCT
Max power: 168hp at 6,500rpm
Max torque: 202Nm at 4,450rpm
Transmission: Six speed PowerShift dual clutch automatic
Safety: ABS with EBD and BA, ESP, TCS, HLA, Isofix, four airbags
Fuel consumption: 6.6-litre per 100 km (manufacturer's figure)
Price: RM 115,888 on the road with insurance