All-new Ford Focus revealed - Focus on design

Few people would criticise the way the soon-to-be-replaced Focus drives, but it isn't always the most refined car.

Now it has extra underbonnet insulation and thicker carpets to quell noise and vibration.

There are no changes to the running gear (suspension, steering and brakes) because none were needed, but the Focus follows the Mondeo in getting stability control as standard.

You won't have any trouble spotting the revised car unless you're looking down on it from a tall building - every exterior panel except the roof is new, bringing the UK's number one seller in line with the 'kinetic design' already seen on the Mondeo, S-Max, Galaxy and C-Max, and banishing the insipid look of the current Focus, introduced in 2004.

'Kinetic design' is Ford shorthand for a bolder, crisper appearance. There are big trapezoidal lower grilles, trimmed with chrome on the most expensive models; strong lips round the wheelarches; and what Ford calls 'full surfaces', such as the large side panels free of rubbing strips or other ornamentation.

Ford is most proud of the swept-back headlamp units, though, and they can be filled with the most high-tech lights: bi-xenons that deliver a stronger, more piercing beam on two-thirds of the power of halogen systems, or adaptive low-beam units that swivel by up to 15 degrees to illuminate bends.

At the rear, you can have LED lamps that emit several pin-pricks of light instead of one solid beam, which gives the car a more expensive look.