C O V E R     S T O R Y

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.

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