Ford Focus Titanium 1.8 TDCi: The hatchback gets a facelift

What do you do when you have something or someone that's really nice on the inside, but is getting on a bit? You give it a facelift. And that's what Ford reckons it's done with the 2008 Ford Focus... they've even nicknamed it the 'Facelift' to highlight the fact that it has a new front grille, new headlights, a slightly more muscular backside.

It definitely looks the part, but I can't tell the difference between this and the old model. It's not so much a facelift... if anything, it's the Focus Botox.

Let's talk tech...

Now you're probably thinking that a car costing £17,000 comes with a lot of gadgets, and it can, it's just that you really have to dip into your wallet to get the extras. Adaptive front lights are an extra £250, cruise control – £200, Bluetooth for your mobile phone – £150, rear parking sensor – £200, an 'advanced' navigation system that doesn't really work – priceless. Well, it's actually £750, but you really can't put a price on something this rubbish.

Let me show you why. First of all the display is absolutely tiny, I've seen bigger screens on a wrist watch – it's nearly impossible to read some of the street names, especially if you're driving, and it gets flooded by icons and directional cues very quickly.

I actually thought it was broken at first, or haunted, because when I got it, it was doing some very strange things – let me tell you why... I entered a destination, told it I wanted to get home, and off it went. It was confidently giving me directions – "take the next left" – I got to a red light and stopped, but the navigation system kept going – the car icon kept moving and the robot lady kept hurling directions at me while I'm sitting at the lights. Turns out the thing was in 'demo mode'. Why would I need a demo mode? I'm not going on a virtual journey, I actually need to get home.

It's not all bad news, the new Focus comes with an optional Sony Sound system with a digital DAB tuner, and it's quite banging for a standard car – the four main speakers pump out enough bass to make you think it has an entry-level subwoofer, and the clarity is pretty good too.

You also get the obligatory FM radio, a six-CD in-dash changer and an auxiliary port for connecting your MP3 player or mobile phone. It's good to see Ford is also getting down with the kids by providing a USB connector that plays music off your memory key. Don't be fooled by the SD card slot in the dashboard – it's not for music, it's for making the sat-nav go from painfully slow, if it's running off a DVD, to just good old-fashioned lethargic.

Interestingly, there is some technology in this car that directly affects the driving experience. The electric hydraulic power-assisted steering can be adjusted on the fly, so it becomes lighter or heavier. Now I drive pretty enthusiastically, so I've got it in Sport mode, where the steering is quite heavy. But I can flick it into comfort mode and the whole thing just chills out – it makes things like parking, especially if you have the reverse parking sensor, much easier.

Unfortunately the new Focus has a slight issue going forwards, which is unusual for a car. Don't get me wrong, the handling is good, the ride is pretty comfortable, what I'm talking about is simple, straightforward pulling off the line: if you don't rev the absolute pants off this car, you will stall it, and you will look like a fool. Reason being the 1.8-litre diesel engine has the pulling power of a one-legged pigeon at anything below 2,500 revs. If you rev it hard, which you usually have to, the engine makes the kind of noise that can wake the dead. I suspect you won't get this problem with the petrol engines, but it's something you should be aware of on your test drive.

I'm in two minds about the Ford Focus. It's a nice-looking car but the only way I'd buy it is if it was fully loaded, and then it's pretty expensive with all the options. At the end of the day, it's good... but it could have been so much more.