Year of the Wagon
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- The Ford Focus Station Wagon is the ninth new estate car to be introduced here this year. Are station wagons back for good?
By Sheldon Trollope
JUST WHEN WE thought the mainstream estate segment had gone the way of the dodo, the launch of the Chevrolet Optra Station Wagon, Renault Megane Sport Tourer, Opel Astra Sports Wagon and now the new Ford Focus Station Wagon over the last 10 months has kick-started buyer interest in such cars.
Factor in pricier offerings like the Peugeot 407 SW, Subaru Legacy GT Wagon, Audi’s A4 and A6 Avant models and the BMW 325i Touring that join existing estate offerings from Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan, and you’ll realise that there’s now quite a variety to choose from.
While many upmarket estates offer more in the way of style than space, Ford’s engineers have worked hard at making sure the Focus Station Wagon does pretty much what it says on the tin, which is essentially to promise to carry a lot of stuff with a minimum of fuss.
For starters, the Station Wagon is more than 13cm longer overall than the Focus hatchback, with the increase in length going directly to the luggage bay. Good news if you are an Ikea regular.
Its rear end may look rather plain in comparison to that of the rakish hatchback, but the Station Wagon’s low, wide and square tailgate makes loading bulky items into the cargo bay a piece of cake. Importantly for an estate, the load space is relatively free of rear wheel-arch intrusions that
compromise practicality.
Up front, it’s business as usual which means the same superb ergonomics, comfortable driving position and generous front and rear space as found on other Focus models.
The 1.6-litre engine found in the hatchback and sedan Focus variants also pulls duty in the Station Wagon. Its modest output of 100bhp combined with the Wagon’s extra weight that comes with its longer body means that progress is relaxed rather than rapid.
This car is best enjoyed at a moderate pace. But while outright speed may not be its forte, its responsive steering, well-balanced chassis and superb suspension set-up mean that it will gamely carry plenty of speed into any given corner, letting the driver make the most of the available grunt. The steering is well-weighted and has a degree of accuracy that most other cars in this class can’t really match up to.
For good measure, and to ram home the point about the Focus being a proper driver’s car, the automatic transmission gate features a sequential shift function with the ‘+/-’ functions arranged in a more intuitive layout than those conventionally found on other geraboxes. Basically, the driver nudges the gear lever back for upshifts and forwards to change down, all together more natural.
Even at its modest $76,900 asking price, the Focus Station Wagon offers plenty in terms of safety with standard-fit features like Electronic Stability Program (ESP) and a plethora of airbags.
While refinement and comfort levels are worthy of a premium badge, they also serve to highlight the surprising exclusion of a CD player in the otherwise superb-sounding factory-fitted audio system, which is the only real gripe we have with the Focus Station Wagon. But to some, that’s no problem at all.
NEED TO KNOW
FORD FOCUS STATION WAGON 1.6 (A)
ENGINE TYPE 1,596cc 16V in-line 4
MAX POWER 100bhp at 5,500rpm
MAX TORQUE 150Nm at 4,000rpm
GEARBOX 4-speed automatic
TOP SPEED 172km/h
0-100 KM/H 13.6 seconds
PRICE $76,900 with COE
WARRANTY 3 years / 100,000km
CONTACT Regent Motors
TELEPHONE 6376-2233
