After much deliberation about buying a family car after the birth of our Daughter without having to buy a 4x4 or a saloon car - we settled on a 1.6 Zetec Ford Focus (Petrol and Manual version).

Information from Ford (if you do not want to read all of Ford's information, scroll down to the bottom where I give my opinion):

1.6i Duratec petrol - Manual transmission

Available on: Style, Zetec, Zetec S, Titanium
CO2 emissions: 157g/km (Zetec S) / 159g/km (all other bodystyles)
Annual vehicle excise duty: £155 (first year rate 2010-11)
Fuel efficiency (combined cycle): 42.2 mpg

Key Features:
Bold styling
The design of the Focus is confident, contemporary and utterly distinctive.

What's new?:
ECOnetic
We are determined to reduce the environmental impact of our vehicles through technology. Our engineers have worked hard to deliver a Focus that emits less CO2. The result is the innovative Focus ECOnetic, which emits just 114 g/km of CO2; a class-leading level.
Sony DAB

Design:
Distinctive bodystyling
Focus exemplifies our progressive Ford kinetic Design principles. Stylish, swept-back headlights and an imposing grille give it an athletic front-on stance. Along its sides, graceful lines sweep down towards the rear, leading the eye to the dynamically styled back bumper with chrome detailing. This is a car you'll love looking at as much as driving.

Transmissions
Manual transmissions are available in five-speed or six-speed. There's also four-speed automatic transmission available on our 1.6-litre and 2-litre petrol engines, and six-speed PowerShift automatic transmission on our 2.0-litre diesel engines.

Petrol engines
These start with the 1.6-litre Duratec petrol engine and extend up to the 305 PS 2.5-litre turbocharged Duratec petrol engine in the Focus RS.

Diesel engines
If you prefer diesel, there are a range of smooth, refined diesel engines to choose from, such as the 1.6-litre Duratorq TDCi 90 PS, through to the 2.0-litre Duratorq TDCi diesel with 136 PS.
Our diesel engines use the latest technology to combine power with outstanding fuel economy and reduced CO2 emissions.

My opinion:
I had to really research things like the boot size to ascertain whether it would suit our needs of our growing family. As sad as it sounds, I had to measure the pram we wanted to buy to see whether it would fit in the boot. At this stage I had already set my heart on purchasing a Focus and was very disappointed that the pram would not fit in the boot. However, after further research, I discovered that if you choose the option of having the mini spare wheel rather than the full size spare wheel, the space in the boot increases dramatically.

Apparently, the full size spare wheel does not fit very well in the boot underneath it's protective cover and Ford have to insert a lot of protective packaging around it, thus taking up vital space.

The pram fits perfectly in the boot with the mini wheel. You may think, oh typical woman choosing a pram then the car - but believe me a lot of prams are of a similar size and it really is an issue when having a standard car rather than being forced down the 4x4 route. I am sure all you golf players will also measure boot size to fit your clubs and trolleys!!!

Anyway enough of the boot size. The car itself drives very smoothly and has quite a few luxuries such as air conditioning, iPod/MP3 socket, heated front window, adjustable height in the driver seat, stereo controls on the steering inside the car, among many others in addition to being spacious.

If you have children, I would certainly recommend purchasing the ClimAir made to measure sunblinds for this car which gives it 90% UV protection - they are well worth the money and allows my Daughter to relax in the car without the sun glaring in her face. I had tried all the normal sun blinds and shades which really do not cover the entire window - defeating the object of their use!

Due to being short, I do find it difficult to see properly out the rear window when reversing into a space. However, I have now managed to judge the distance and had wondered whether I should have opted for one of those annoying reversing sensors! This car is fantastic at handling and is a smooth ride. Surprisingly though my previous car (a Fiesta) had more oomph when driving off from lights - but hopefully it's because this is a new car and needs wearing in (not that I am a girl racer or anything with my Baby in the car!)

It costs approximately £58 to fill up the tank and you can get approximately 420 miles out of a full tank.