Ford's latest family car is very in-Focus indeed! My opinion is based over a very extensive drive over a weekend's car hire. We travelled through all types of road conditions - motorway (straight), town (urban), country (twisty & bumpy) etc. It was a pleasure to drive, very comfortable both as a driver and both rear and front passenger. The layout of the controls were excellent. All the controls were within quick and easy reach, best described as very ergodynamic (whatever that means!). It's handling across town, motorway, country lanes was superb. You could read a paper going through very bumpy country lanes without getting sick - it was that good! The Focus's looks aren't all that special after a while. Fuel consumption wasn't that great and neither was the boot space. It is deemed as a family car. Just hope you have less than 2.5 kids to run around! A normal Focus 1.8 LX just doesn't have the room to handle a family of 2 adults and 2 children plus all their rubbish - which is the biggest let down of all! You wouldn't get a pram in the boot! NO WAY PEDRO! So if you have less than 1 child and don't need a lot of boot space, then this is the car for you! It is a crying shame that Ford could produce such a fine car but seriously mess up on the importance of boot space. If the boot gave a bit more space then we would be down the nearest Ford Dealer and buy one. As it is, we're still looking for the elusive medium family sized car!

Update 28/3/2006: Many years later we have now bought the Ford Focus - 1.8 Zetec S-Reg after my test drive. We are very happy with it. Until you learn that you're expecting a baby and need to buy a rear facing baby seat that will actually fit into the back seats! Nothing fits! The rear seat belts are too short by about 5cms. We are unable to fit the seat in the front due to the airbag. There are no switches to turn the airbag off. My advice if you have a baby and want to drive a ford focus go for the later models as the earlier models (Regs T-V) are incompatible with rear facing baby seats. If any reviewers know of any please email or leave a review.