Test drive Ford Focus 4 doors 2005 - 2007 Sedan

The science of seduction

It is difficult to recall the case that the new car model is cheaper than the previous one. Ford such a focus was a success.
 

I dreamed about this day as a child who was promised the most wonderful toy in the world. A new focus with the heat, with the heat, just from the Vsevolozhsk! The one that made his debut last fall in Paris. It is now grabbed in Europe like hot pies, at least 14,500 euros. And from us you can buy for $ 11,720! I remember, I almost did not fall from the chair, learning about it. Of course, the price is primarily due to Russian assembly. But until recently, we were swattering the Izhevsk spectrum for almost $ 13,000 even without a steering wheel.
 

It is not surprising that two months of crowds of people tormented Focus II in Ford salons, hoping to excavate the secret of his cheapness. And having surrendered, they left $ 500 as a bail, not very embarrassed that the car would have to wait at least six months. But the demonstration Fords were collected in Spain ...

That's why I was waiting for this day. Give me him soon! I’ll check it myself and look from all sides so that no one interferes, and touch my native, Russian focus like he, a gold, to the touch? And, of course, I shout him enough along our paths. After all, it is one thing when the car is made in Europe for their own, and a completely different car assembled with us for our market. Well, how will they sacrifice the quality of materials and assembly? And I flew into the car dealership with a bullet ...


Calm, only calm
How matured, however! The new car is not at all characterized by the impudence, which eight years ago surprised many the first focus. But no matter what they say there, the second does not seem boring to me at all. It now looks much calmer, more powerful and more solid. Preserving the family features of pronounced wheel arches, triangular front headlights and a characteristic shape of the air intake in the bumper.
    
  

   
 


Look how he looks like an older brother Mondeo. And it’s not sacred, because the focus II, although shorter, but wider (!) It is already 3 cm. And even its predecessor, it is 126 mm longer, higher than 25 mm and wider for all 142 mm. Significantly more of the car, let only visually for less money, but I already like it, damn it! So, let's come closer ...
 

As for the quality, I was worried in vain. An inspection with addiction did not reveal any defects in painting and poorly fitted body panels, all doors are closed without effort, with a noble smash.

 
   
The glove box is not only very deep, but in the configuration of the GIA also with cooling

Device readings are well read, as well as the information of the on -board computer in Russian

For such an audio system and separate climate control will have to pay $ 1090
 
 
Adjustable background for the lower back is available only with leather upholstery seats

Now the focus on the front panel has a convenient box for trifles


In the interior, it is unlikely that you can find any part from the previous car. The plexus of swift lines that broke the front panel of the first focus remained in the past. The cabin now dominates classic forms, so familiar to the owners of Volkswagen. Only ventilation deflectors are oval. The instrument shield, he was generally done in Wolfsburg. What, someone doesn't like it? Oh well. Only here there is no hint of cheapness, everything looks like before, high quality, but now with a light raid of a sort of noble charm.
 

The steering column, as before, is regulated in two directions. The seat is all the same as a tough and with a very convenient profile, so I would not have crawled out of it. And on the back sofa, even if you have a height of 190 cm, and at the wheel a person sits no lower, it will be convenient for you. A newcomer at the shoulders level in front is more wider by 5, and behind 2.7 cm and only the volume of the trunk decreased by 23 liters. In truth, I did not notice these missing liters. Maybe this is because I am already addicted?
 



More tender, Victor, more tender
Just a few kilometers after the wheel of Focus II, I remembered those men from television advertising. It seemed to me that the car began to relate to the inhabitants of the salon. And in fact: tram tracks, potholes in the asphalt and cobblestone bridge focus now passes without disturbing passengers. The only thing he allows himself is to sway slightly and slap in displeasure with tires.
 

It is amazing that the car did not see how to quickly and almost without rolls at all. Actually, as before, at a speed of 160 km/h you do not need to strain, catching a car floating along the road. Neither rutter nor waves on the asphalt can make the focus scour and swing.
 

Of course, his predecessor possessed a wonderful suspension, but she was still a sporting harsh. Now the engineers managed to find a compromise between comfort and sports character. They increased the hardness of the body, stretched a base at 25 mm and 50 and 55 mm track in front and back. Naturally, all this in the most beneficial way affected the course stability.
 

And to manage the focus is still a pleasure. The steering wheel power hydroxide, which is now put on versions with 2-liter and diesel engines, perfectly copes with the functions assigned to it. The car reacts quickly and clearly to a slight turn of the steering wheel, and the hands feel noticeable resistance. But in the parking lot, the steering wheel can be twisted with a little finger.
 

Moreover, I found one, in my opinion, absolutely wonderful feature in the focus. By pressing only two buttons on the right steering wheel switch, you can change the force on the steering wheel. Until now, this has not happened on a serial car.
 

The driver can choose one of three modes. Comfort is intended for intense urban movement. I tried it and really, you get tired less. In the standard mode, according to my sensations, the power on the steering wheel is optimal. As for the sport, if I were the owner of the sedan, in 99 cases out of 100 I would have nothing to do with a heavier steering wheel. But in the three -door, with it, it was emphasized by a dynamic appearance, I would often recall the sports regime, especially on the winding roads near Moscow. Now, if we were also a motor ...
 



Not all at once
You probably already guessed, which out of five I chose for dating? Clear business, not 1.4 liters. And not diesel: I repent, I do not trust the quality of our diesel fuel yet. Not a 1.6-liter German cetetle that replaced the Argentinean rockam. And not even his namesake with variable phases of gas distribution. Alas, a man is weak. So I could not resist the temptation by a 2-liter engine. And who would resist? After all, a focus with such an engine can be bought for only $ 14,820.
 

True, the sedan, and even in the configuration of the GIA is more expensive, but this circumstance does not change the essence. I was already looking forward to how dashing I would start from a traffic light. It was not there. Apparently, the one who tuned this unit under our fuel did not care at all my fantasies. I didn’t succeed in leaving the traffic light from the first or the tenth time. Do not think that the car is not enough power. But it seems that the horses have somewhere scattered somewhere. If on a tachometer less than 2000 rpm, the focus does not like to go in the second gear, its engine is nervously twitched. And in order to take a quick overturning 90 km/h, I had to switch to a third (!) Transfer. I sincerely hope that engineers will be able to find optimal settings, because the dynamics of Mondeo and Si-Max with such a motor is significantly better. Otherwise, I simply do not see the point of overpaying for this motor, let it and only $ 860 more than 115-horsepower.
 

Well, at least a gearbox, as on the first focus, pleases with exemplary clarity. And noise insulation has become noticeably better. You can calmly go when the tachometer arrow is at a mark of 4000 rpm, at least three hours in a row and do not get tired of the sound of the engine.
 



But the most generous
So, beauty, you have become more, more solid, older and more spacious inside. Your suspension managed to make it more comfortable, without losing its sporting character. In the steering, there was a unique opportunity to choose settings. The minus I saw so far only one slurred two -liter engine.
 

But the most powerful weapon of the second, unprecedented capabilities of choice and low prices. Of his competitors, no one can boast of such a variety of bodies. And if with five different engines, four trim levels and two types of transmission now rivals are not scared now, then it is very possible at the cost. Now the car costs an average of $ 500 cheaper than its predecessor. So in the future we will leave our bloody and wait six months in the hope of getting a modern and solid car in good configuration. We will not forget that the focus still has the lowest, 5 percent lending rate and minimum maintenance prices. Well, how can I not sought out?
    
45 different tricks

Based on your wishes and financial capabilities, you can choose the right car of 45 (!) Possible options.

Listing all sentences is pointless. And we will not do this, giving the opportunity to choose to customers ourselves. Moreover, to calculate what the car you are interested in will cost is not at all. After all, the surcharge for certain body and the motor is the same, regardless of the level of performance,
 

Body Supplement, $
3 -door hatchback (except GIA) -
5-door hatchback 460
sedan 920
universal 1550


Engines surcharge, $
1.4 (80 l. P.) -
1.6 (100 l. P.) 460
1.6 a/t (100 l. P.) 1610
1.6 (115 l. P.) 920
2.0 (145 l. P.) 1780
1.8td (115 l. P.) 2860


Execution of surcharge, $
Ambent 1.4 -
Comfort 1.4; 1.6 (100 l. P.); 1.6 a/t (100 l.
1.6 (115 l. P.); 1.8TD 1090
1090
Trend 1.6 a/t (100 l. P.); 1.6 (115 l. P.); 2.0 1320
GIA 1.6 a/t (100 l. P.); 1.6 (115 l. P.); 2.0 2060
 
BEHIND

A large selection of bodies, engines and sets, excellent suspension work, good handling, spacious interior with high -quality finishes, profitable price
AGAINST

Inadequate dynamics of a 2-liter engine
 
Ford Focus 2.0

Total information
 
Body (number of places/doors)
Sedan (5/4)
 
Equipped mass, kg
1230
 
Length x width x height, mm
4488x1740x1497
 
Base, mm
2640
 
Front/back, mm
1535/1530
 
Speed, km/h
206
 
Acceleration time 0100 km/h, with
9.2
 
Fuel consumption, l/100 km highway/city
5.4/9.8
 

Engine
 
Location
Front transversely
 
Design
gasoline, in-line, 4-cylinder
 
Working volume, SMZ
1999
 
Power, L.S. at rpm
145/6000
 
Twisting, kgsm at rpm
18.9/4500
 

Chassis
 
Drive unit
On the front wheels
 
Transmission
Mechanical 5-speed
 
Suspension: in front
Independent, such as McExeson, with a reptile stabilizer
 
behind
Independent, multi -link, with telescopic shock absorbers and a reptile stabilizer
 
Steering
rheck -type with an electro -hydraulic amplifier
 
Brakes
disk, in front ventilated
 
Tires
205/55 R16
 
 
Andrey Koltun, photo of Maxim Goncharov
 
 

Source: Magazine buy a car [11/2005]