March date for Scots Focus fans 24 | 01 | 2011

FORD'S ALL-NEW Focus range will enter Scottish dealership showrooms in March. The two-model line-up of sporty 5-door hatchback and 5-door estate will boast even sharper handling and driving characteristics, and will start from £15,995.

When it was introduced in 1998, it was acknowledged that the original Ford Focus brought new levels of agility and responsiveness to the C segment; the new generation plans to raise the benchmark once more.

Cornering stability and agility have been improved still further by Ford's engineers introducing an advanced Torque Vectoring Control system. Just for good measure, they've also retuned and enhanced the innovative suspension concepts, plus they've developed optimised new designs for the ‘Control Blade’ multilink rear suspension and the semi-isolated front subframe. Clearly they've been busy.

Inside the cabin, the new Focus has a modern, cockpit-style interior incorporating Ford’s latest generation Human Machine Interface (HMI) system with twin five-way toggle switches on the steering wheel controlling the two main vehicle displays located in the instrument cluster and high in the centre of the instrument panel.

There's a compehensive range of fuel-efficient, low-CO2 powerplants, including the new 1.6-litre Ford EcoBoost petrol engine and completely updated 1.6- and 2.0-litre Duratorq TDCi diesel engines. Auto-Start-Stop is standard on the 1.6-litre EcoBoost and 1.6-litre TDCi engines for optimum efficiency. All this means Focus CO2 emissions start at 109g/km

At 1484mm high (on 17-inch wheels), 4358mm long and 1,823mm wide (without mirrors), the new 5-Door model is 16mm lower, 21mm longer and 16mm narrower than the current Focus.  Its wheelbase is 8mm longer at 2648mm.

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Jim McGill