The new Ford Focus: fun for all the family (Sponsored)

The Ford Focus is among the best-selling family cars in the UK. But it doesn’t take an expert reviewer to tell you why the latest, Mk4 version is so good. Better to get an everyday family to put the new Focus through its paces and report back on its many talents – then you can see how easy it is to live with in the real world.

As with any modern family, the Robinsons have different priorities in a car. Dad’s focus is on the infotainment system and safety features, while Mum is more interested in how easy the car is to drive and its practicality. For teenage son Sam, meanwhile, it’s all about having fun behind the wheel, plus good looks and tech like the FordPass Connect Wi-Fi hotspot.

Parents of teenage children will be used to spending a lot of time running the family taxi service, and the car they own determines whether they have a quiet life doing this. If it’s a capable all-rounder like the new Ford Focus, swallowing youngsters’ bags in the boot, offering plenty of space for friends in the back and allowing hassle-free syncing of phones so music playlists can be tapped into, all the better.

Adding to the Ford’s appeal is the safety tech that’s got parents’ backs. Kids of all ages can cause distractions when you’re driving, but features such as head-up display and adaptive cruise control with stop and go help you to keep your concentration. “This head-up display is so cool,” Dad explains after his first time at the wheel. “It tells you what the speed limit is; it’s got the outline of the road sign and everything!”

Meanwhile, the Park Assist function is more about providing confidence for quick manoeuvres when dropping the kids off. It takes control of the car to back into a parallel space at the end of a journey, and is a breeze to use, as Dad demonstrates: “Press the button, indicate. So it’s scanning the spaces here. And then I put it in ‘N’, and it’s like the wheel’s doing it itself. You see? How good is this?”

You’ll always take the quickest route to your next destination, thanks to the sat-nav, and younger drivers will love the hi-tech secondary instructions. “Wicked!” grins teenager Sam as he spots this feature. “I’ve put it in the sat-nav, and it’s even got it in the head-up display.”

As well as everyday items, the Focus can carry more awkward loads when you fold the rear seats, which takes seconds. The space is cleverly designed, so loading a mountain bike into the boot is really easy, for example. This means the car is a perfect fit for outdoor types, like the mum in our modern family. Yet as she reports on her way to the country park for her bike ride, this impressive flexibility is combined with strong refinement; Mum describes the Focus as “so smooth, so comfortable”.

The youngest driver in the family also appreciates this comfort; Sam tells us the new Ford’s seats “have to be the most comfortable I’ve ever sat in. And being able to electrically move them was pretty cool”. Not surprisingly, though, a thrilling drive and a long list of tech are bigger priorities for twentysomethings like him taking the wheel. Sam reports that the Focus is “really fun to drive, really good”, before adding: “Wi-Fi was wicked as well.”

So every member of the Robinson family was hugely impressed by the practical, stylish, fun and hi-tech new Ford Focus, which you can find out more about at ford.co.uk. “It’s got great quality, a great feel,” Dad tells us, while Sam sums it up best by adding: “Thank you very much, Ford.”