The Focus used to be Ford's top model in China, but after the mid-facelift of the third generation, sales have been much worse than before, in this case, Ford launched the fourth-generation Focus in an attempt to save Ford's decline in China, but the situation does not seem to be optimistic, and the market response after the launch is quite lackluster.
Since the mid-facelift of the third generation, the Focus has used a "Martin face" similar to that of the Aston Martin, and the whole design is very flattering. The fourth-generation Focus continues to use the "Martin face", which has a very strong sense of inheritance, and has created a sedan version specifically for China, which is designed independently from the appearance, and is not directly pulled from the hatchback. The higher-spec models will have the ST Line exterior package, allowing consumers to get the look of the Focus ST at a lower price.
The fourth-generation Focus will be sold in the same hall as the third-generation, perhaps because Ford itself lacks confidence in the performance of the three-cylinder engine in the Chinese market. The fourth-generation Focus is powered by a three-cylinder turbocharged engine, with a 1.5-liter naturally aspirated engine mated to a six-speed automatic transmission in the lower specs, and the remaining two models are 1.0-liter and 1.5-liter, paired with Ford's new eight-speed automatic transmission.
Ford has long developed and launched a three-cylinder turbocharged engine, and the four generation Focus are the Eco Boost 125 and Eco Boost 180, corresponding to 1.0T and 1.5T respectively, and the 125 and 180 represent the maximum horsepower output of the engine. After actual testing, the 000 acceleration score of the 1.5T model is 9 seconds, compared with the L15B8 of the same displacement of the Civic, although the maximum horsepower is a little larger, but the zero hundred score is more than 1 second slower.
When it comes to the jitter and noise of three-cylinder engines, Ford is leading the industry. Although its own shaking and sound is not as good as the four-cylinder engine, open the engine cover to see and listen to the characteristics of the three-cylinder engine, but it has been suppressed relatively well, with the help of good enough absorption capacity of the foot glue and engine compartment sound insulation cotton, it is difficult to detect its shaking and noise in the cabin. The foot glue that can achieve this level may be a short board in terms of service life, and the shock absorption effect after aging may not be guaranteed.
The eight-speed automatic transmission, codenamed 8F24, on the fourth-generation Focus, replaces the 6F15 and 6F35 of the previous generation 1.0T model. This 8AT was developed by Ford, and the effect is not too good, and it is not as good as ZF's 8AT in terms of smoothness, nor is it as good as Aisin's 8AT, so it can only compete with GM's 8AT. When driving at low speeds in urban areas, release the throttle to downshift, and there will be a slight frustration; When driving on mountain roads, the gearbox response and upshift action are obviously slow, coupled with the turbo delay of its small-displacement turbocharged engine itself, the phenomenon of power lag will often occur, and even if the power comes, it will come softly, and there will be no push back feeling at all, not quite like a 180 horsepower engine.
The chassis of the Focus gives people the feeling of traditional European car tuning, the rear suspension of the 1.0T model is a torsion beam, which does compress the cost in terms of hardware, and the rear suspension of the 1.5T model is a multi-link, the limit of the entire chassis is very high, plus the steering wheel of the electronic power steering is more sensitive, and the action into the corner is very free, giving people a lot of confidence in the corner. The daily shock filtration tends to be flexible, but it lacks a sense of heaviness and will not have a soft feeling, and there will be some noise coming up when the suspension action is passed through some bad roads.
In terms of central control, the new generation of Focus uses the current mainstream layout, which is much neater than the previous generation, and the functions of each area are simple and clear, and the difficulty of getting started is very low. The upper screen is equipped with the Sync3 system, which is mature and easy to use, integrating Apple Carplay, Baidu CarLife and other practical mobile phone interconnection. The shift mechanism has been changed from a mechanical gear lever to an electronic gear lever to free up more storage space for the front row, but the texture of this shift knob is quite average.
The wheelbase of the new generation Focus has been lengthened by more than 50mm, which is clearly reflected in the rear space, and the rear row of the Focus has always complained about the lack of human rights in the back, but the new Focus even has two "human fists" in the knee room. Sufficient space and ride comfort are often not uniform, and the rear seat backrest angle of the Focus is straight, which always makes people feel like they are sitting upright.
The reliability problems of the previous generation Focus mainly appeared in the gearbox, Ford's dual-clutch transmission and 6AT, the reliability is below the industry average, and after replacing the 8AT, the expected reliability is not optimistic. As for safety, the fourth-generation Focus received a 5-star rating in the E-NCAP crash test.