So, it’s all change for 2008 with a brand new Focus, and Ford is once again hoping for great things from this car in what is the very competitive, mid-size car market - and significantly, the Focus is now readily available here in the Middle East. But, it is here that it will face its stiffest competition yet, against the hugely successful, if a little less charismatic, Japanese brands that have built a formidable reputation for value and reliability. The Focus will have to deliver that value and reliability, as well as its almost legendary driving experience, if it is to attract ‘the man on the street’ away from the almost-certain-to-satisfy, established Japanese brands.

For this AutoMiddleEast test drive we’re looking at the 1.6 Ghia hatchback model, painted in a not unusual silver colour, mirroring the most popular colour choice for the European cars – in Europe it seems that all Focus’ were painted silver. I would like to see the car in the UAE favourite, white; I think that colour would complement Ford’s ‘Kinetic Design’ style. ‘Kinetic what?’ Let me explain…

‘Energy in Motion – what Ford vehicle would better suit the Ford 'kinetic design' philosophy than the Focus? After all, the Focus was a major factor in establishing Ford’s excellent reputation for driving dynamics. The balance we have created between dynamics and harmony makes the new Focus the best looking Focus ever.’ These are the words of Martin Smith, Executive Director of Design at Ford Europe. He’s basically trying to say that the new Focus looks like it’s moving, even when it’s not… something that you might be able to get away with saying when talking about the flowing, fighter-jet-like lines of, say, the latest Ferrari, but not really of a car that’ll rarely be driven over 120kph, and is more likely to be taking the kids to school than taking bends a breathtaking speeds!

Saying that, the new Focus looks nice enough and definitely has a different, European-look to it; a welcome and refreshing change to the legions of Japanese cars that cruise the Dubai streets, looking as they do, almost identical to one another with a mostly very bland, over-computer-aided design style. At least the Focus looks like it has had a little bit of human time and soul invested in its styling.

Crisp and definite body lines flow from the front to the back, taking in the new trapezoidal grilles with chrome surrounds and the swept-back headlights featuring the latest HID Bi-Xenon Adaptive Front lighting System (AFS) – they look good and are nice and bright, to you and I. The bold, almost flared wheels arches give the Focus a pleasantly chunky, tough look and the smooth and clean rear end, again with the latest lighting, this time super-bright LEDs under a cheeky roof-tip spoiler, all add up to what can only be described as an uncluttered and well thought out overall design. You can still see the previous model’s DNA in the new car, but Ford have sharpened it all up and added a dash more class. I think it outshines the Japanese Corollas, and the like… do you?

Still, Ford are more than happy to harp on about driving dynamics, and it’s safe to say that the last model had that in plentiful supply; the new Focus has much to live up to, so let’s see what she’s got. As I’ve mentioned, this is the Ghia model, nestling very near to the top of the range just under the Titanium, so you’d expect a fairly decent interior and first impression are pretty good. The black leather seats in our test car were well enough appointed and after a mixture of electric and manual adjustment were found to be comfortable enough, but with this 6-footer driving, the rear seat passengers were fairly squashed-up – you’d get more rear legroom space in most of those aforementioned Japanese cars of the same price bracket.

The air-conditioning was, on the other hand, unremarkable; I had to have it on full-blast at all times other than at night, even though this car came with welcome and quite dark 3M window tints - the blasting interior wind noise easily managed to drown-out the again unremarkable in-car entertainment - the stereo may be a small point to most people, but the A/C is certainly a big point to everybody. And everything other than the smallest cans of refreshing beverages will not be securely held in the too-small cup-holders… come on Ford. The steering wheel, whilst not being the prettiest to behold, did feel good to hold and, after adjustment, fell to hand comfortably. And a good steering wheel feel and position is a very good start to what will hopefully be a great Ford Focus drive…

Erm, I’m afraid not, not with the automatic gearbox, anyway. This Focus had the smaller 1.6-litre engine (a 2-litre is available), producing 100hp (the 2-litre makes 145hp); 100hp is a fairly respectable amount of power for a 1600cc engine, but coupled to the 4-speed Durashift automatic gearbox, that 100hp felt more like 60hp. Surely in this day and age, and in such a competitive market, Ford could have stretched to a 5-speed auto ‘box? I’m sure the extra gear would reduce the acceleration lag. The car takes 13.9-seconds to reach 100kph, which certainly feels like a lifetime, and will eventually pull up to 180kph, although you’d probably need a find yourself a spare week to hit that speed.

I think it’s the fault of the under-geared ’box rather than the engine, as the Duratec range of engines have a good reputation; I would very much like to drive the 2.0-litre manual Focus to get a real feel for what Ford have done with the dynamics of the new car. Still, you’d have to pay around AED 70,000 for that privilege, so it’d better be a whole lot better than this car.

Pointing and shooting this Focus through the bends and roundabouts bought back all the good memories of the previous model, with light and direct steering, minimal body-roll and a shore-footed, sporty feel on the road, but with that all too vague gearbox and asthmatic acceleration, you’d have to work very hard to keep all the speed you’ve worked up, because building that speed again is an all too slow and frustrating experience. I feel that there is more to come from the new Focus, and a further test drive of the bigger-engine’d car will only reveal the car’s true and hopefully glorious colours.

Image Gallery