Bioethanol Road Test - On the Road

Apart from the colourful livery on our test car, there is no easy way to tell a bioethanol Focus from its conventional petrol sibling. Get in, turn the key, and drive off, and you won't notice anything different. The cabin looks identical and you don't have to treat the car any differently.

The Focus FFV uses a 1.8-litre engine modified to cope with a mixture of ethanol and petrol. The engine constantly measures the combination of fuel in the tank and adjusts itself to get the best performance. That means you don't have to worry about what ratio you put in the tank – just fill up when you want to.

Once you take into account that the crops grown to produce the ethanol have already absorbed carbon dioxide, the 1.8 FFV engine produces only 30% of the carbon dioxide emitted when running on petrol.

Engine power is slightly improved when running purely on bioethanol, but only by five bhp – you'll struggle to notice any real improvement. Although the car isn't slow, it could do with a little extra pull when accelerating, compared to other 1.8-litre cars. Stop-start driving in town is easy and the engine is unstressed at motorway speeds.

The Focus FFV shares the standard vehicle's fine handling and ride, so you get a car that's enjoyable on twisty roads, and comfortable as a motorway cruiser. The only small issue is the Focus's wind noise, which you'll find on all models.

There's no real difference to the petrol car, and most of the time you forget you're in a green machine. Unlike LPG systems, there's no need for a separate fuel tank, hidden in the boot or spare wheel recess, so even luggage space isn't compromised.