Focus expanding range

Now with smart features like active park assist being introduced to the range, South African customers have even more to get excited about.

When it was introduced globally in 1998, the original Focus brought new levels of agility and responsiveness to the small car segment. Throughout the years the Focus has continued to raise the benchmark, offering class-leading driving quality that blends steering precision and road feedback with significantly improved refinement and ride control.

Distinguished by its sleek and sporty design, the Focus is packed with dynamic technologies and features that set it apart in the C-segment, now more so than ever with Ford’s acclaimed active park assist technology being introduced as part of an option pack available on the sport derivative.

Active park assist is an intuitive parking assist system which will help drivers to parallel park. When activated (by pressing the button on the centre console), the system uses the front and rear parking aid ultrasonic sensors to identify if a gap is large enough to park in. The steering is operated completely by the Active Park Assist system, while the driver controls the brake and throttle.

Other features offered as part of the Sport Option Pack include front and rear park distance sensors, Bi-Xenon headlamps with LED Daytime Running Lights and full leather seats with driver side four-way power adjustable seat.

These features are in addition to the already impressive list of equipment found standard on the sport model including the sport styling kit which comprises an ST spoiler, body colour side skirts and front and rear bumper extensions.

The sport is powered by a 2.0-litre petrol engine that uses gasoline direct injection (GDi) in combination with twin independent variable camshaft timing (Ti-VCT), producing 125kW of power and 200Nm of torque. CO2 emissions are as low as 154g/km with an average fuel consumption claimed of 6.6 litres per 100 km on a combined cycle, obviously dependent on body style and transmission.

In addition to the Focus sport there are a number of compelling choices on offer. 12 models make up the Focus range with a choice of both sedan and hatch body-styles and a number of engine and transmission choices. In addition to the 2.0 GDi, there are 2.0 litre diesel and 1.6 litre petrol options on offer. The 2.0 litre Duratorq TDCi model produces 120kW at 3750rpm and 340Nm at 2 000 – 3 250rpm while the 1.6 litre Duratec Ti-VCT has a maximum power output of 92kW at

6 000rpm and 159Nm at 4 000rpm.

Despite being the entry into the range, the Ambiente models boast impressive features including manual air conditioning, front power windows with driver one touch up/down functionality, ABS brakes with EBD, ESP, hill launch assist, torque vectoring control and dual front airbags.

The Trend models further benefit from features such as curtain airbags, cruise control, steering wheel mounted audio controls and SYNC In-Car Entertainment system. Also available is a trend option pack which comprises a number of additional features including rain sensitive front windscreen wipers, auto headlamps, follow me home lighting, an auto dimming rearview mirror and more. In addition the car looks the part with the sport styling kit on offer and 17-inch alloy wheels while the interior is differentiated with full leather sports seats, a leather trimmed gear knob and four spoke leather steering wheel with cruise control and audio controls, which all come as standard.

Lastly the sport model tops the range with additional features such as sport suspension, partial leather sports seats, keyless entry with power start button, dual zone air conditioning, auto dimming rearview mirror, global close on front windows as standard, front and rear 12V power points to name just some of the luxury features.

All Ford Focus models come standard with Ford’s warranty and service plan, which comprises of a 4-year/120 000km fully comprehensive manufacturer warranty, 5-year corrosion warranty and 5-year/90 000km service Plan.

The Focus 2.0 GDi Sport sells for R303 700 (including VAT). The Sport Option pack sells for an additional R13 870 (including VAT).

– Own correspondent.