I found the front seats plenty spacious, and the rear seats are decent too, although there isn’t much wiggle room for taller passengers in the back – at 5’11” I could comfortably “sit behind myself” with my knees just brushing the seatback and about a finger-width of clearance above my head. The trunk is reasonably commodious at 374 L but the trunk opening is a bit small and you have to beware of the big exposed “hockey-stick” hinge arms when loading things in, lest you crush them as you close the trunk.

In terms of kit, all Focus models get air conditioning (manual in the S and SE trim, and dual-zone automatic in the Titanium), tilt and telescoping steering wheel, power front windows, split-folding rear seats, 12V power outlet, rearview camera, and an audio system with auxiliary input, twin USB plugs, and Bluetooth phone connectivity. S and SE trim cars get cloth upholstery as standard.

The SE trim adds features including 16-inch aluminum wheels (instead of 15-inch steel wheels), cruise control, illuminated entry, power rear windows and a rear 12V power port. Titanium trim adds things like a six-speed PowerShift automatic transmission (lower trims get a five-speed manual transmission as standard equipment), 18-inch alloys, classy contrast-stitched leather upholstery (although I noted that the door panel inserts remain cloth), heated front seats, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, keyless entry with pushbutton start, remote start, ambient lighting, fog lamps, upgraded 10-speaker Sony audio system and much more.

You can add an array of options on top of this, either individually or in various packages, and suffice to say that it’s A) somewhat confusing and B) capable of spec’ing out a car with near-luxury levels of equipment and a mid-size car price tag. Whether it’s better to have a fully loaded compact car or a lesser-equipped midsize car remains an entirely personal choice, but I found my loaded Titanium test car to be a remarkably pleasant place to spend time (and the available active park assist will amaze your friends, even if you’re skilled enough at parking that you never really need it).

The Focus is a pleasure on the road, too: the chassis and suspension are tuned with a decidedly European feel, giving the Focus crisp, accurate, and very assured handling. The flip side of this is that the ride is a little firmer than some of the Focus’s competitors, especially if you get the Titanium trim with its 18-inch alloys and low-profile tires, which are unforgiving over sharp road imperfections and generate a certain amount of tire hum on the highway. The bigger wheels also give the Focus a surprisingly large turning circle for a compact car (11 m / 36 ft), transforming two-cut parking manoeuvres around my townhouse into three-cut affairs.

In S and SE trim the Focus’s standard-issue 2.0L Ti-VCT (that’s Twin Independent Variable Camshaft Timing) direct-injected four-cylinder engine can be mated to either a five-speed manual transmission or a six-speed Powershift automated dual-clutch box, while Titanium trim cars are available with the automatic only. The engine is well-suited to the car, being both reasonably peppy and quite efficient, and Ford seems to have really worked to smooth out the shifts and creeping properties of the Powershift automated dual-clutch transmission. I found that it works well, but it definitely has a slightly different character than a conventional automatic.

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