2015 FORD Focus Facelift Review

On two occasions it got me on the wrong road. The other two the 8-inch screen simply started to loop my current location in an erratic manner, refusing to properly display the destination I've previously entered.

That's how I was forced to use Google Maps on my Android smartphone to get to the restaurant I wanted to grab a bite at and the hotel I got to stay the night in.

With this redesign, the Focus got a heck of a lot safer than before. Just to name a few highlights, I'll mention the intelligent HID headlights that can swivel the low or high beams through a corner for better visibility, Hill Start and Lane Keep Assist, Cross Traffic Alert and the airbags suite thas comes as standard.

Then there's a gadget dubbed Active City Stop, which can brake the vehicle automatically at speeds of up to 50 km/h (31 mph). A detail that really nagged me a lot were the ultrasonic sensors placed in the front and rear bumpers. In stop & go city traffic, they start beeping even if the car in front of you or the vehicle in your rear is over a foot away.

They're not calibrated properly and too easy to trigger off in my book, which is why I turned them off. Even when I had to park in really tight spaces, I only needed the help of the reverse parking camera.

 

Its 2.65-meter (104.3 in) wheelbase, 1.82-meter (71.8 in) width and fairly high roofline make it aplenty for taller adults both front and rear. As it’s often the case, only the middle rear seat suffers from the typical middle console that's protruding through the footwell, limiting the space where the third rear passenger can place his or her feet.

Thanks to the 363 liters (12.82 cubic feet) the trunk is able to swallow when the 60/40-split rear seats are in their upright position, there's room for five adult occupants, each carrying a backpack and a handbag for a weekend's trip away from the concrete jungle. If you need more, the four-door sedan or the roomy wagon are recommended.

It's time we talked about the powertrains available on the 2015 Focus. Before the launch event kicked off, auto journalists were offered the chance to pick their engine of choice.

I went for the all-new 1.5-liter EcoBoost mill for all the obvious reasons, but got a glimpse of the 1-liter EcoBoost and reworked 1.6 TDCi as well, albeit on short stints on the open road or on the track.

Let's start with them first. Only the 100 hp variant of the 1.0 EcoBoost comes with the base five-speed manual, while the 125 hp model adds an extra ratio. If you want the Powershift dual-clutch six-speed auto, tough luck! Only the 1.6 Ti-VCT with 125 ponies is available with it on the Euro-spec 2015 Ford Focus.

Going back to the 1.0 EcoBoost, I drove the 125 hp variant a little and you can't help but feel the three-cylinder mill work its heart out when trying to overtake a slow coach on the motorway. It's droning at high revs even though Ford worked on soundproofing and aero.

It's a good partner in town, but in the open, the Focus needs more grunt to pass effortlessly. In terms of fuel consumption, the 1.0 EcoBoost 125 hp sips less fuel than the 1.5 EcoBoost, but the extra efficiency pales when compared to the compromises one has to take in any other area.

As for the 1.6 TDCi with 115 horsepower on tap, the thicker glass and better soundproofing render it less audible than on the pre-facelift Focus, but its oil burner-grade fuel economy makes it a far better choice than the more torquey 2.0 TDCi if there's more than 10,000 kilometers to clock per year.

It has the right resources for in town A to B driving and highway cruising, making the 2-liter turbo diesel an option for people that really need the extra grunt. With those two engines out of the way, let's focus (no pun intended) on the 1.5 in its least potent form, packing 150 ponies and 240 Nm (177 lb-ft) of twist.

 

I can hardly remember the last time I was impressed by a sub-2-liter powerhouse. I know what you're thinking, but the 360 ponies developed by the 2-liter mill of the Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG do not count. They're apples and oranges those two, so let's not dwell into an unnecessary argument.

With all due respect to the Ford research & development team, please strap this engine on the next-gen Fiesta ST. It'll be a blast, even with the 182 horsepower the 1.5-liter's most powerful iteration is capable nowadays. If the demise of the old 1.6 EcoBoost will come in the next two years, I sure hope Ford will replace grandpa 1.6 with this newly-developed 1,498 cc EcoBoost.

When integrated with the 2015 Focus, the 1.5 petrol-fed and turbocharged engine is not the most economical of choices, but it will reward you the most, even if you're not a spirited driver that likes to row through the gearbox and heel and toe his way around the corners.

Keep in mind our test car was brand new and I drove it with the climate control and heated seats on at all times in a fashionably rapid manner.

On the motorway I got as low as 7.2 l/100 km (32.6 US mpg), which is far from what the manufacturer says it can do, but Ford doesn't account for the rainy weather, overtakes, high speed and other variables when testing a car on the NEDC cycle.

So fret not – in real-life conditions, when driven as intended, not like on a two-day launch event, the 2015 Ford Focus 1.5 EcoBoost is a bit more forgiving at the pump. Even at motorway speeds, all you need for overtaking the Mondeo in front of you is to swap two cogs and away you go. It likes to rev, making a pleasant mechanical hark under acceleration and it's economical when you don't give it the beans.

What more do you need from a car designed for young families? Did you say handling? The 2015 Ford Focus is, as ever, the best in its class regarding driving dynamics. If you're not too bothered by the intricate way of turning the traction control system off and the drum brakes at the rear on low-powered models, then you'll like what you'll hear next.

 

Yes, even the 1-liter EcoBoost with 100 ponies has that. In addition to that big dynamic advantage over its rivals, the facelifted Focus also benefits from an electric power-assisted steering system. As one would expect, the setup feels almost numb in most scenarios, but you do get a good sense of where the front wheels are pointing at any given moment.

It's only when you pick up the pace and go over 50 km/h (31 miles per hour), only then you can feel the electric steering rack working its magic, providing you with better steering feel at high speeds than a normal, hydraulic system.

On the track, the chassis feels tight as a drum. During my time with the Focus on the circuit, I happened to not push the gear lever in gear as much as intended, only halfway into the gear I was aiming for.

Even so, the snickety six-speed grabbed it and forced it gracefully in the selected ratio as I popped my foot off the clutch, which is saying a lot about how good the manual feels like even for the most butterfingered of drivers.

I'm not beating around the bush here – Ford did a great job with the Focus' underpinnings. If I were to choose the spirited driver-oriented aid that impressed me the most, that would be the electronic Torque Vectoring Control system and how great a job it does when you attack a corner like a mad man.

Don't think for a moment Ford reinvented the Focus with this minor redesign. The nameplate is a winning formula as is, which is why the brand didn't meddle with the core values of the Focus.

The 2015 Ford Focus in its facelift clothes is a great travel companion, I'll grant the American automaker that, but in a segment dominated by the Volkswagen Golf, the Focus needs to work on the way people perceive a family car that wears Ford badges and its cabin design, all while retaining its slight pricing advantage over the Wolfsburg-made compact segment pacesetter.