Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1062629
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 DECEMBER 2018 MOTORING M6 THE new Ford Focus shows that the American motor company, Ford is back to its best. The compact car, which was first introduced in 1998, hits all the key family car requirements: it's com- fortable, spacious and well equipped. No doubt the latest Focus is based on a completely new platform, called C2, dressed in a sharp new suit and kitted out with the latest in-car tech and info- tainment. Ford is making bold claims about the latest model, calling it the best car in the company's history. Now in its fourth-generation guise, the new model is defined as a much better car than its predecessors, bigger inside with a sweet engine and a proper au- tomatic transmission. On engineering and usability merits alone, the new Ford Focus has its sleeves rolled up and ready for action. The new Focus has a 50mm longer wheelbase, with all of that and more handed over to rear seat legroom, yet overall the hatch is about the same length as its prede- cessor. Luggage space is up, as is head, shoulder, knee and legroom, while fuel consumption is down. The success of the new Focus starts outside, where the look is better pro- portioned and more finely detailed than before, even if little about it screams originality. The good part of all of this is that the 2018 Ford Focus hatchback is now a very good car. Its ride is good, it's quiet and the cabin has just about everything people have come to expect in this class, with the Focus ST-Line looking like the pick of the model walk for value and dynamics. The Focus offering improves even more inside, where the upper-spec models now score a stand-alone touch-operated 8.0-inch infotainment screen atop a surprisingly shallow dashboard, which no longer eats deep into the cabin area. The Focus entire chassis architecture is new, with a massive step forward in body stiffness and torsional rigidity – so much so that the Focus has claimed five NCAP stars in Europe with only six airbags, rather than the now-customary seven. The Focus is an easy car to quickly feel at home in. It starts with the little three-cylinder engine, which is a de- lightful companion and its exertions are beautifully isolated from the car's occupants. It's smooth and calm, sur- prisingly flexible and it's even cheerful about chasing high revs at full throt- tle. The new Ford Focus feels like it hasn't just stepped up a single genera- tion. It's a very good car that feels like it's stepped up a whole class. Come visit the GasanZammit show- room in Mrieħel and take the oppor- tunity to test drive the new Ford Fo- cus. The new Ford Focus Better than its predecessors