Refocussed

Silver is the new black.

Regular readers will remember that my bride's Ford Focus was hailed.

This, as I pointed out at the time was an ill wind. We were about to trade it, on a late model second hand vehicle, and had been doing the rounds of the various yards in Toowoomba in preparation.

We'd found a Mazda 3 (Skyactiv SP20) which looked pretty good - only 17000 km - but weren't happy with the lousy trade-in. Then we found out that the payout of the Focus was $3000 more than the best offer as a trade, so decided we might as well buy new.

Red cars go faster.

The Mazda was a good car, but lacked both refinement and rear seat space compared with the Focus Trend, that we bought. We didn't want to have to put up with whinges from adult offspring on the fairly rare occasions when we carried them in the rear. The Mazda's Skyactiv technology (including idle-stop) was interesting, but the economy gains marginal at best.

The Focus is like all small Fords, a treat to drive, although the loaner car (a 1600cc Ambiente with the old-fashioned hydraulic power steering is actually more tactile). I believe that a car is for driving, so you might as well enjoy it. The Trend (2000cc) has electric steering. It's initially very light, but firms up as speed increases, and has a good road feel.

We were loaned this until the Trend turned up.

My bride, fortunately, is of the same opinion.

After about a week of ownership, the Trend is looking OK.

It's fun to drive, very quiet, and comfortable. For an old fart like me, it's not too difficult to enter and leave. SUVs are superior in this respect, but we weren't inclined to be saddled with driving around all that extra metal.

It comes with a full size spare (rare these days), 60 profile Michelins, and the Sync feature which allows you to talk to it.

This works well with the phone, but is a bit unnecessary with the audio, as you can do most things using the steering wheel mounted controls.

The sedan is lighter, stronger, and easier to see out of than the hatchback.

And if I want to shift anything large, I'll use the trusty ute.