The Ford Focus is an adequate car

When the Focus was redesigned in 2012, driver assistance features were still expensive options that few cars in this segment offered and fewer buyers were interested in. Now, driver assistance features are on many shoppers’ wish lists, and many cars offer a full suite as either optional or standard in lower trim models, including the base model. The availability of these types of features make rivals like the Honda Civic a much better value when compared to a comparably equipped Focus. If your budget just won’t allow for a slightly more-expensive option, you’ll be plenty happy with a Focus. But if your budget has some flexibility, you can get a lot more for your money with better-ranked rivals like the Honda Civic or Mazda3.

The Ford Focus is an adequate car. It will get you to and from work or school comfortably for not a lot money, but comparable cars offer more in terms of features, especially when it comes to driver assistance features. It gets adequate safety scores but below-average reliability ratings, with many rivals scoring better in both categories. The everyday performance of the Focus is adequately sporty, but other options in the class will give you bigger and better driving thrills, although there are few alternatives that can match the dynamic driving characteristics of the high-performance Focus ST and Focus RS. Still, for the average driver the Focus does exactly what it intends to; nothing more, nothing less.

An automatic transmission is standard in all trims, with the exception of the base Focus S sedan, SE sedan, and ST and RS hatchbacks. The Focus S sedan has a five-speed manual transmission standard, while the Focus SE sedan, ST, and RS have a six-speed manual transmission. An automatic transmission is available in both the Focus S and SE sedans, but not in either the Focus ST or RS hatchbacks. The Focus Electric is equipped with a single-speed automatic transmission.

A 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine is standard in all trim levels and body styles, with the exception of the Focus SE sedan, and the ST, RS, and Electric models. A 1.0-liter three-cylinder turbocharged engine is standard in the Focus SE sedan, but the base engine is also available. The Focus ST is equipped with a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, and the Focus RS has a 2.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder. The Focus Electric is equipped with a 107-kW electric motor.

The biggest differences between the compact Ford Focus and the subcompact Ford Fiesta are size, available features, and price. The Fiesta is a subcompact and therefore smaller than the Focus. The Focus has 90 cubic feet of total passenger space in both the sedan and hatchback, while the Fiesta only has 85.1 cubic feet in both the sedan and hatch. The size difference is also noticeable when looking at cargo space. While the Focus has 13.2 cubic feet available in the sedan and 43.9 total cubes available in the hatch, the Fiesta only has 12.8 cubic feet available in the sedan and just over half the total amount of cargo space in the hatch, with only 25.4 cubes available.

A base model Focus S sedan starts at $16,775; there is no hatchback available at this level. The next-level SE sedan starts at $18,175, and the SE hatchback starts at $19,765. The SEL sedan starts at $20,775, and the SEL hatch starts at $21,275. The top-level Titanium sedan starts at $23,575, and the Titanium hatch starts at $24,075. The high-performance Focus ST starts at $24,775, and the Focus RS hot hatch starts at $36,120. The Focus Electric starts at $29,120. The ST, RS, and Electric models are only available in the hatchback body.