Family not included (Ford Focus 1.8 Ghia Estate)

Member Name: thequy

Product:	Ford Focus 1.8 Ghia Estate
Date:	21/03/02 (1341 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Handling, features

Disadvantages: Um, it's a Ford

Every so often I’ll need to be down South for the beginning of the week and consequently I get to take a hire car home from the preceding Friday. My company sold off its fleet when it realised that it was cheaper to hire as and when needed, and the upshot of this is that whatever I’m given is rarely any more than a year old. If you like driving, you’ll realise what a welcome change this is from a G reg car.

It’s not all roses though. Reasonable requests for a GTi or Beemer convertible inexplicably fall on deaf ears and I’m always lumped with a Focus. They’ve won all kinds of awards including Top Gear’s Car of the Year, and they do handle superbly but... they’re *Fords*. Sigh... at least it ain’t a Vauxhall.

[Before Vauxhall and Ford drivers arise in indignation, it’s just a matter of personal preference, ok? Some people like red cars, others like 4x4’s. I’m not overly fond of Fords and Vauxhalls.]

On this particular occasion, there was the added poop factor of driving an estate. Some bright spark suggested that I take some (i.e. lots of) parcels down seeing as I was headed that way, and save us the courier fee. Cheers, ‘mate’. Estates are fine as family cars but being somewhat lacking in that department, I’d prefer not to be at the controls of a tank.

I wrote Audi S4 down on the requisition form just in case there was a temp working that day but alas, the usual efficiency was present and sitting waiting for me on Friday morning was a Focus estate. Repeating the mantra “It’s not a G reg” to ease the pain, I took it home, wondering whether it was illegal to drive with a balaclava on.

As you might have gathered, I have no intention of buying this car but Top Gear had a point when they named it best in its category and to be fair, I’m not exactly their target market. With that in mind, I shall do my l
evel best to keep the objective hat on and sing its praises.


Like the Ka and the Chrysler PT Cruiser, the Focus is one of those quirky shapes that you either love or hate, with very few fence-sitters. I’m quite neutral on the original Focus hatchback but must admit that Ford did a good job metamorphosing it into the estate version. Most modern estates have moved on since the Volvo bricks that used to embody all that was repugnant about them, and the Focus estate is one of the smoother models out there - quite appealing in a “if I had a family and still couldn’t afford that S4” kinda way.

The Ghia tends to be the highest or second highest equipment level on Fords e.g. you also have Mondeo Ghias. The list price for the Focus Ghia 1.8 estate is £14,230 and for that you get:

*) two airbags in the front
*) air conditioning
*) immobiliser
*) electric front windows

Ford also make a song and dance about power steering and remote central locking but you’d expect that on most new cars these days. Other toys like CD changer, satellite navigation and leather seats (!) are available but for several more of your precious pennies. Something to bear in mind is that Fords tend to suffer from depreciation at the kind of rate that gives central bankers recurring nightmares. This particular one was estimated to lose 70% or £10 grand over 3 years/36,000 miles.

The interior was typical of other Fords I’ve driven – plastic fantastic and shoddy plastic at that. Although everything was nice and shiny new, if I were the owner, I’d be immediately worried about how long before things started to look really worn and bits came away in my hand. On the other hand, it was also typically Ford in that everything was superbly functional, well laid out and easy to work. Even the ashtray emerged with a pop up shield so that when you flick the cigarette, ash doesn’t fly up a
nd out. However – and this was the only fault I could find with the layout – it was right next to the steering wheel. Handy for the driver this might be but if the passenger should smoke, they stood a good chance of singeing their chauffeur every time it was used. Fortunately, I don’t smoke when I drive and Zoë wouldn’t either despite repeated attempts to set her on fire.

Something that seems to be standard on all Mondeos and Focus’ was that the basic stereo controls (volume, radio tune and mode) were replicated on the steering wheel so you could adjust them whilst keeping hold of the wheel with both hands. The stereo itself was passable but if you have even slightly audiophilic tendencies (no, that's not rude or immoral), you'll feel a strong urge to upgrade the lot.


I found the following quote in an independent review of the estate:

“Road and suspension noise is well suppressed, wind disturbance is far better than average and engines are smooth and tuneful.”

Well, I beg to differ. Wind disturbance was reasonable but that was only because I wisely eschewed beans for breakfast before the long drive. Otherwise, the road and suspension noise were noticeably worse than in my normal car (admittedly an Audi but still one that’s 12 years old) while the engine whined like a banshee in heat every time I overtook or built up speed to join a motorway.

On the subject of acceleration, I couldn’t help but miss my own car. Whilst old, it’s a 2.2 litre saloon and there’s normally only me in it. With a 1.8 litre estate and a full boot, it often felt like one of those dreams where your legs are pounding away but you’re not running very fast or even going anywhere for that matter. Good thing there was no bogeyman behind me really. There was a strong feeling that with a family inside and even a half empty boot, things would be much worse.
<
br>0-60 is quoted as 10.7 seconds but for that, I think they’re allowed to push it down a hill with several large people inside. On the plus side, the puny power to weight ratio helps to keep the 1.8 estate in insurance group 7, which would have saved me £500 a year on insurance vs the Audi. Average miles per gallon is 37.7 – not to be sniffed at if you’ve got kids to chauffeur everywhere. The boot capacity is 1580 litres with seats down, again useful for families (or people with ridiculously large subwoofers).


It was when I came off the motorway that the Focus came into its own. One of the things that won the hatchback its Car of the Year award was its sharp, responsive handling and the estate was just as good to drive around town. The last estate I drove went around corners like a tractor but this one was so slick I actually didn’t mind being in one (only in places where I didn’t know anyone, obviously).

Chucking my personal prejudices to one side, the Focus Estate is probably a good family car if your needs are that way inclined. Depreciation might be sharp but running costs are low, especially parts and servicing compared to most other manufacturers. If you’re planning on driving long distances though, I’d suggest you at least take the 2 litre version for a test drive to see what more power is available. Either that or relatives that live in the countryside become that much more inaccessible.

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Length – 4445mm
Width – 2007mm
Height – 1447m
Kerb weight – 1178kg
CO2 – 179g/km

Summary: