Ford Focus Hatchback (2011 - 2018) 1.5 TDCi (120bhp) Titanium X Navigation 5d Owner Review

Bought this as the 1.5 TDCi was an early Euro 6 compliant diesel, and I wanted something that would not be penalised by low emission zones being considered by many cities. In that regard, it was ahead of most rivals of a similar age, whose 64-plate cars at about the same price only had Euro 5 engines. The free Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) was a bonus too. Was mildly alarmed by the amount of tech (and therefore probability of expensive faults) in the Titanium X version, but went ahead with the purchase anyway. When it works, it's got a lot of great features - the parking sensors, camera and self-parking technology is great, although I have had to intervene to stop the self-parking on the odd occasion as it would have driven me into parked cars. The sat nav touch screen is fairly slow and unresponsive, and entering an address is awkward and time-consuming. Air con seems to be troublesome, takes a while to cool a hot interior down and I've had to have it re-gassed twice in 7 months, despite Ford claiming it has no leaks. Tyres seem to lose pressure, despite me replacing them all, and I recently had three of the valves replaced to stop try to sort this problem - but the sensors tell me I'm still losing pressure every ten days or so - a bit annoying. By far the biggest issue is the electric power steering - have read a fair few examples online of the control module failing, requiring a very expensive replacement of the entire rack, module and motor. Had a failure once about six months ago which resolved after turning it off and on again, but about a month ago (at 4.5yrs old and 55k miles) I had a complete failure that cost me just over £1,000 to sort at a Ford dealer. Pretty disappointed with that. Fuel economy is a bit disappointing too at about 52mpg going by the trip computer - my old Xantia HDi years ago bettered that by about 10mpg. On the plus side, I've had no issues with the particulate filter. Ride is a little fidgety and hard, would have preferred the smaller 16" alloys of lower spec versions than the 17" wheels on the Titanium X. Rear legroom is fairly poor but I do like to ride with the driver's seat fully back. Build quality is average, few bits of interior trim have dubious fit and finish. Performance is adequate but you can tell it's being reined in a bit for the sake of emissions.