2005 Ford Focus CL review from Australia and New Zealand

Nothing, although it is only less than a week old.

It's an LS CL Focus sedan, with a 'smooth pack' that includes (above the air conditioning and single CD), cruise control, alloy wheels, power body coloured mirrors and a leather wrapped sports steering wheel.

It's Blueprint (not the Falcon Blueprint) a very pretty shade of blue.

My partner picked it up on Tuesday last, with 25 km on the odometer, and by Friday morning it had 150 km when we trekked off to Sydney, from Canberra. This served as a run-in drive.

It has very nice handling and took to the open road like any late German designed automobile should. Our baby son was very comfortable in the middle rear seat position and slept most of the time.

The only fault I could find was that there is a slight amount of wind noise from the upper rear windows, and the road noise is apparent when sitting in the rear seat, as I did on the way back. It's not too bad, the road noise, but I was aware of it, possibly as it is distinctly more than in my Boss 260 XR8 ute cabin, which is not too much.

Suspension is good with the control blade rears, and although the wheelbase is relatively short, it is quite smooth through the initial cornering. Front wheel drive helps in some tighter corners, but it does have a slight tendency towards under-steer if you go in or let it get neutral. A touch of the throttle and it grabs back without any jerkiness. Goodyear NCT5 all round, with 15 inches and discs all round.

Roomy enough inside, (I'm 6'2" and I didn't feel too cramped or stiff after the 4 hour drive through Sydney holiday Friday traffic and along the Hume Hwy.

In short, it is a perfect car for my partner and baby, and we had the windows tinted as well, so there is no need for unsightly black nylon shades on the windows.

It delivered an average of 7.4 L/100 km on the trip, and that will improve as the engine runs & beds in.

I'm actually impressed with this Focus, and the engine (2.0L 16 V transverse, coil on plug, Multi Point Fuel Injection etc) has a healthy throatiness to it, but lacks in torque.

107 kW @ 6000 rpm

185 Nm @ 4000 rpm.

However that is 143 bhp & 136 ft-lb... and for comparison purposes, my first Ford V8 289 CID delivered 200 bhp stock standard, then it is quite impressive for a light 'mid' size sedan.