Wagon enhances the appeal of Ford Focus

Drive’s Seán Creedon salutes Ford’s efforts to entice Irish motorists into the estate segment with the Focus Wagon

The great Kerry-born writer Con Houlihan, who studied at UCC many years ago, once wrote that Irish people like to arrive at the venue for a football, hurling or rugby game, five minutes before kick-off and then try to park their cars just outside the main gate.

It’s far removed from the custom at venues such as Twickenham and Wimbledon, where patrons can often be seen enjoying a picnic from their spacious car boots. We Irish probably don’t make enough use of our boots. But then, would you like to eat a picnic out of a boot that might have carried a bale of hay or bags of cement a few days earlier?

That’s all by way of introducing this week’s test car, the Wagon version of the Ford Focus. The Focus is truly a global car and it’s still Ireland’s best selling motor, but traditionally Irish people don’t seem to be keen on station wagons. However, it’s often said that variety is the spice of life and Ford is now offering Focus fans an opportunity to enjoy the comforts of their award-winning motor in an estate version.

The Focus has been around since 1998; it replaced the Escort and last year it had yet another makeover. That revamp helped the Focus win the Irish Motoring Writers Association’s Compact Family Car of the Year Award for 2012. The Focus, which has won the Irish Car of the Year Award twice previously, in 1999 and 2005, went close to winning this year’s overall award, losing out by just five points to the Kia Rio.

The five-door hatch is very attractive, while for many ‘tyre-kickers’ the saloon version is even nicer. The Wagon is probably best suited to newsagents for their regular trips to the cash-and-carry outlet, dog owners who might want to bring their pets out for a run in the wilds, or possibly farmers who may need to carry bales of hay in the spacious boot.

I drove a red version of car, and while initially I thought it might have been too bright for an estate, it was definitely eye-catching. The interior is much the same as the hatchback and saloon versions of the Focus, with all controls on the dash well placed and easy to use.