Faults:

Squeak from tailgate

Intermittent clonking and vibration from rear end.

Uneven front tyre wear.

General Comments:

Great car to drive, but ownership experience is ruined by truly awful dealers and a few quality issues.

115 PS TDCi engine is a match for the 130 PS unit in my old Golf due to the Focus being 200kg lighter. Ford unit is more refined too.

Fun to drive with fantastic handling and great "feel", especially through the steering. Feels sportier than the Golf.

Dealers are hopeless. Tried three, and none can fix the clonking rear end which occasionally makes alarming grating noises over bumps. All rate the front tyre wear which sees the outer edges bald whilst the rest of the tyre has 3mm of tread remaining as "normal". None can fix a simple rattling tailgate.

To be fair, VW dealers were no better, and the Golf was less reliable, but that's no excuse. Car buyers deserve better.

Will go Japanese next time.

Faults:

Temperature gauge went faulty at 12,000 miles. Fixed first time under warranty.

Creak from tailgate over bumps appeared around the 20k mark - fixed first time under warranty.

General Comments:

Fabulous car. Lively performance, good economy (35 mpg av) and fantastic handling.

Great "dual role" car. Practical and reliable for carting the kids about and doing the shopping yet entertaining enough to warrant going out for a blast on your own just for the sake of it. With the best will in the world, you wouldn't do that in a Golf or Astra, but the Focus rewards hard driving in spades. Still a sharp looker too.

Gripes are confined to just two things. Firstly the interior plastics look a bit cheap after my previous mk4 Golf, although the endless problems I had with that car show the core engineering isn't much cop. Secondly, the seats aren't the best after a couple of hundred miles.

Other than that, it meets or exceeds every criteria for an affordable family hatch. It's full of really thoughtful touches too. I really like the fog light switch that resets to off when you turn off the headlights, for example. Also the heated windscreen with heated washer jets, the steering wheel that adjusts for reach as well as rake, and the brilliant speed sensitive power steering which makes a mockery of the latest technological breakthrough being trumpeted by VW for the mk5 Golf's steering. The Golf has a tenth of the Focus's feel and weighting.

As a package, and especially if you enjoy driving rather than just wafting from A to B, the Focus is still the pick of the class. Buy one before they ruin it with the new model which is bound to be heavier, slower and duller.

Faults:

Rear washer jet no longer squirts water on the rear screen, it now goes straight onto the parcel shelf - trip to the dealer very soon!

Otherwise no problems at all.

General Comments:

My previous car was a Mondeo ST24 which was great, but not all that economical. The focus has saved me £100 a month on petrol, but still goes very very well.

I have been pleasantly surprised by this little car, it is very well put together, looks good and has superb handling.

For the money there is not much on the road that will beat this car.

Nice stereo as standard.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

Just a temporary hire car, but impressed me so much I had to put a review on here.

In the past 4 months I've had a Golf, an Astra, a 206 and finally this Focus, and it's the best of the lot to drive by a country mile.

Sharp steering, powerful, well servoed brakes, knife through butter gearbox, brilliant handling (a blat over the Cat and Fiddle in the pouring rain one evening provided the test) and an eager, revvy engine. It's a 1.6 family shopping car, but, performance limitations apart, drives like a finely honed hot hatch. It feels like it's been set up by someone who cares about how a car feels. It doesn't need to be this good, but it somehow adds to the feelgood factor when you find out that it is.

Comfortable and stable on the motorway (70 mph = 2,900 RPM) decent seats, smart and well built interior (as well put together as the Golf and better than the Astra or 206). Quickclear windscreen is a bit of genius and superb on the frosty mornings we've had of late. 34 mpg average and it was driven hard!

Never driven anything that impressed me so quickly. I'd spend my own money on one tomorrow! A real feelgood car in the days of boring, derivative and dull hatchback clones. Just hope the forthcoming facelift model keeps the dynamic excellence.