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Ford Focus CC-3: Voice-controlled car-bot

Meet the Ford Focus CC-3, the Optimus Prime (well, maybe Bumblebee) of cars you can actually buy. Not only does it transform from coupe to convertible like some crazy metallic origami gadget on wheels, but pretty much everything inside it can be controlled by your voice. Want to skip CD tracks, change the radio frequency or set the precise temperature in the cabin? Just hit the voice-activation button, say the words, and the Focus CC does the rest...

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If you were one of those kids that used to fantasise about having their own personal transformer, then you might want to check this out: it's a Ford Focus CC, which stands for Coupe Convertible – you could think of it as two cars in one. When you want a nice, sleek-looking coupe you can have that, but at the push of a button you can also have yourself a sweet-looking drop top.

That slightly robotic transformer-like element carries through to the interior. All the action stems from this central control panel, which looks like it was designed by NASA. The touchscreen is surrounded by dozens of buttons so it's not immediately obvious what you're doing. The Navigation element is pretty good, but using everything else, especially in the early stages, is pretty much guesswork.

There is one way to embrace your robot overlord and that's voice control – pretty much everything can be activated or deactivated just by... well, just by asking. The voice-activation button lives on this control stalk here... so, let me demonstrate:

"Radio" "FM" "enter frequency"...

"Climate" "temperature" "27"

"Fan speed" "3"

Okay, so you'll look like a complete nerd talking to your car, but trust me – doing things this way is a lot easier than trying to figure out mission control over there on the dashboard.

Ford manages to incorporate a good amount of features you might find on modern cars. For example, there's a hands-free mobile phone system, which again is voice activated. There are rain-sensitive wipers, which you can adjust for sensitivity – one mode switches on the wipers if there's the merest hint of moisture in the air, while another will leave the wipers off until it's absolutely necessary. At night, you get front headlamps that come on automatically, and these turn in conjunction with the steering wheel to help you see round dark corners.

The Focus CC-3 has a pretty good audio system. There's FM and AM, a six-CD in-dash head-unit and an auxiliary port in the dashboard for your MP3 player. The speakers have a loud, powerful sound, even with the roof down and the wind blowing overhead. The only drawback here is the lack of a proprietary iPod connector – so if you want to skip or rewind a track, you're going to have to reach over to your MP3 player and take your eye off the road.

I could waffle on for ages about the buttons inside the car, but let's face it – by far the most interesting thing here is the convertible roof. And that brings good news as well as bad. While the roof is up, the CC is as quiet and refined as an ordinary coupe, and the fact it's made entirely of metal means vandals can't take to it with a knife. The problem is the Focus CC is a four seater, and to fold away a roof that big, it needs a massive boot. Now the big booty thing is alright on a sexy sports car but here it just looks slightly deformed.

Luckily, with the roof down it's a completely different story. All it takes to go from zero to sexy is 26 seconds. Now when you see the Pininfarina Insignia, you actually believe it was co-produced by guys who build Ferraris and Maseratis on a daily basis. Now when you look at it, you start to think it can compete with proper established convertibles from Saab or BMW. Kinda.

Ford Focuses are renowned for their performance – especially in the handling department. The good news is, the Focus CC-3 handles very well – better than most convertibles. You see, taking the roof off a car is a bit like removing your spine – it might sound like a good idea, but what you end up with is a car that feels like jelly on wheels. But not the Focus – this has extra reinforced steel built into all the right places, so it feels tight and handles really well.

If we check under the hood, we can see this top-of-the-line CC-3 uses a 2-litre engine, which is painfully slow. There's also a 2-litre diesel and a 1.6 litre petrol engine on the entry level CC-1, but I doubt that thing could even pull this car up a hill.

So, to recap: what we have here is a sensible-looking car that's slightly too demanding with its human-computer interface; looks best with the roof down; and handles well but is really quite slow. But who am I to complain – it does what it sets out to do very well, and that's to help you keep up with the Joneses. If you can't afford a Saab or a BMW drop top, you could do a whole lot worse than than the Focus CC. I definitely recommend it.

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