Since its introduction in 1998, the Ford Focus has been making life miserable—for its competitors. Its combination of innovative styling and responsive dynamics has allowed it to please the harshest critics and climb the sales charts to the detriment of its rivals. Even its corporate cousin (and close mechanical relative) the Ford Lynx has not been spared, always residing in the Focus’ shadow. Well, the Lynx has been brought as close as possible to the Focus’ level, but just the same, we wanted to sample the real deal. We made our way to Amsterdam to find out just what all the fuss was about.
“So you haven’t driven this type of Focus before? Watch out—it’s a very fast car.” Such was the friendly warning from Martin Werkman of Ford Netherlands as we stepped up to the car in question. Would we be having a go at the ST170, the 170 bhp rip-roaring version of the Focus? I glanced at the badge on the hatch, and instead of “ST170”, it read “TDCi”, Ford-speak for the company’s latest generation of Turbo Diesel, Common-rail injection engines. A very fast diesel, eh? This I had to drive for myself.
Coming here to Amsterdam, we didn’t know what kind of Focus we would get to drive—we actually hadn’t driven any type of Focus before—but this was precisely the model we wanted: it was a 5-door hatchback, a manual, and the latest model, the TDCi. These oil-burners were meant to propel Ford back to the leadership of the family hatchback market, in a continent where the price for a liter of diesel could go higher than PHP40.
I could barely suppress a grin as my eyes ran over the car. In our part of Asia, the Ford Focus is about as rare as a pothole-free road, so to our eyes the Focus’ styling was as fresh a Dutch tulip. Its sharp edges, severely raked hatch and C-pillar mounted taillights still looked attractive even after three years of being on the market. The nose gets a meaner look courtesy of xenon high-intensity headlamps under the familiar cat’s-eye lenses, a black mesh grille and standard foglamps. The round fender flares were a bit out of sync with the angular cues, but overall the car is still the most radical looking in its class, refreshingly avant-garde next to its jellybean-shaped competitors.
To one so used to Japanese straightforwardness, the interior was no less radical. Nippon’s dash layouts look so orderly that one suspects some buttons are missing, although everything is of course present. By contrast, the Focus console seems to have so many different surfaces and finishes that one might mistake it for an airplane cockpit. What looks confusing at first falls into place easily enough after a few km, even without reading the manual. Particularly useful on those long Dutch highways was a small lever below the light-control stalk, allowing adjustment of the stereo’s volume and changing of track or station without looking away from the road or taking one’s hands from the steering wheel.
Enough of the styling, though. What about that engine, then? When we cranked her up, it started with a typical diesel rattle. Not the most magnificent of startups. However, it promptly settled down into a quiet idle. The diesel was then audible only during a complete standstill. Go to fan speed 2 on the aircon and you won’t hear it at all.
The silence can be attributed to the Duratorq engine’s capability to monitor its own noise level. A vibration sensor in the engine block can detect strong shocks and signals the electronic control system. The computer orders a reduction in the shock level by adjusting the fuel injection programming. An adjustment in fuel quantity, including squirting a small “pilot injection” before the main quantity of fuel, allows the engine to smoothen its singing. We can’t help but imagine Charlotte Church detecting a sour note coming up her pipes and imperceptibly clearing her throat.
The other major advancement here is the common-rail system. Most traditional diesel engines feed fuel through separate lines to each cylinder’s injection nozzle. In this diesel, all the cylinders get their fuel from a common line—the common rail. A high-pressure pump supplies the fuel to the common rail, which also acts as a high-pressure reservoir. The fuel is delivered to the cylinders via electronically-controlled engine valves. Fuel quantity and injection timing can be adjusted more quickly and thus give better engine response and fuel economy, as well as lower emissions.
That’s the textbook definition of the TDCi system, anyway. The proof was under the gas—er, diesel pedal, and this was one of the few instances where the textbook comes to life. On the road, the TDCi ran smoothly and silently up to redline, and low-rpm torque was immense.
Where diesel engines usually match the gasoline engine of one displacement lower, say a typical 1.8 liter diesel being as responsive as 1.6 liter gasoline, this 1.8 diesel can easily match the grunt of a 2.0 liter gasoline. It may have only 114 bhp, but no non-turbo 2-liter gasoline can deliver the low-end thrust that this engine can. In fact, it offers up 250 Nm at just 1850 rpm, with the ability to go up to 280 Nm for short bursts when needed. This translated to TGV-like in-gear acceleration. Putter around at 1500 rpm in fifth gear, press on the accelerator, and without any rattle and hum, you’ll cause the speedometer to spin rapidly into triple-digit speeds.
On a clear highway, it was indeed an effort to stay below the 120 km/h speed limit. The Dutch interactive traffic signs were so kind as to inform us that we were speeding a few hundred meters before the next police camera. (Ahh, Holland.) Good thing, then, that our navigator was familiar with Dutch; otherwise I would have I thought that a flashing “Snell” (fast) meant we were going like a snail and we would have sped up even more. A sustained 160 km/h is no trouble at all for the TDCi, and its terminal velocity is 196 km/h.
The factory quotes 0-100 km/h time of 10.7 seconds and a mere 9.5 seconds from 50-100 km/h. If more acceleration is needed, the notchy but positive gearchange is cooperative. A one-gear downshift suffices for most situations, and changing two gears down results in a satisfying surge forward. To help things along, the clutch is well-weighted and quite easy to engage.
It’s something of a pity that we were in the Netherlands and not in the south of France. Netherlands’ highways and even secondary roads are as flat as pancakes, with only high-tech windmills to mark our progress along the geologically featureless landscape. We derived our entertainment mainly from the highway entry and exit turns.
There we discovered that another of the Focus’ reputed traits, laser-scalpel handling, was indeed well-deserved. This car has one of the most excellent, reactive chassis that we ever danced with around a corner. At first we found the steering very quick to respond, almost to the point of jumpiness. After a turn or two we realized that it was not nervousness at all but a deliberate sharpening of the mechanicals. The car would track true to twists of the steering wheel, with hardly any understeer. Soon we were wondering why aren’t all cars this responsive?
The feisty handling can’t be attributed to stiffened springs or shocks. The suspension and the Michelin Pilot Primacy 205/50R 16 tires provided a smooth ride, filtering out the worst that cobblestones and tram tracks could dish out. The well-designed combination consists of McPherson struts up front and the secret weapon here, Ford’s so-called control-blade rear suspension. The independent control blades are compliant enough for a smooth ride, and they contribute to the smooth, linear response when one turns the wheel. Body roll was not obtrusive, and the car’s direction could be adjusted with the throttle as well as steering wheel.
The liveliness of the handling doesn’t quite extend to the interior trim: it’s mostly somber gray in here, from seats to gauges to plastics. Some mock titanium on the door panels and dashboard helps to lift the atmosphere. The passenger compartment felt roomy at the front, the floating center console freeing up some knee room. The rear seat felt spacious for two, but narrow for two adults and a child seat, while the headroom was adequate all-around even for six-footers. The trunk was also not that roomy for a hatchback. Two full-sized pieces of luggage would eat up most of the space, with just some room left at the sides for stuffing soft bags. Those with a kid or two should definitely opt for the wagon.
Ford had to be radical when designing the Focus and it paid off handsomely, in the resulting design and sales figures—it is the best selling car in the world. By plopping the excellent Duratorq diesel in the engine bay, Ford ensures that it is still an excellent, perhaps even pleasurable vehicle. The mileage doesn’t hurt, either; despite our decidedly uneconomical driving, we managed 14.8 km/liter.
It caused us a bit of regret to return the TDCi—often the proof of an enjoyable test drive. If we had the means we’d have loaded it into a container and shipped it home with us. This Focus didn’t induce an immediate adrenaline rush but it kept us quietly pleased with each stint behind the wheel, the grins coming as standard even after hundreds of kilometers. This was indeed a very fast diesel—and a mighty fun one, too.
motioncars.com would like to thank
Ford Motors Netherlands for providing the Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi for our road test
By Jason Ang | Photos By Jason Ang
Originally Published in the August 2002 Issue
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