Ford Focus

While the Auto Express road test team gets to sample a number of luxury saloons and exotic roadsters from time to time, real-world motoring is where our Focus C-MAX's strengths lie. It's the workhorse of our fleet, and the mini-MPV's ability to carry cameras, shopping and long loads after a trip to the DIY store, yet still provide comfortable transport, has left many colleagues envious of my possession of the Ford's keys.
This doesn't mean the car lacks driver appeal, though - after nearly 25,000 miles, the 136bhp diesel's torque still impresses. And now that the gearbox has loosened up, motorways and twisty B-roads are polished off with ease.
All this driving has resulted in a need for new front tyres. Our local dealer has quoted £416.64 for fitting and balancing a set of replacement Goodyears, so this should see us through to the end of the year, when the car returns to Ford.
But for all the people carrier's good points, the past few months have thrown up a few problems. The most worrying has been with the electrics: the ESP light has come on a couple of times, followed by a loss of power. To the annoyance of other road users, this happened on a busy roundabout, then again on the congested A12 towards London. Unfortunately, a test at the local main dealership didn't pick up any faults, so at the next service I will have this looked at again. Another concern is the fact that too much smoke is coming from the tail-pipe under hard acceleration - although hopefully the check-up should rectify this, too.
The niggles don't end there, either. I have been particularly irritated by the clock. No amount of searching on the otherwise well laid out stereo gave any clues about how to change it and, like most people, I hate reading manuals. However, I thumbed through the book to find it could be changed in a sub-section of the settings menu. But it's not only altering the time that will cause a few worries when the clocks go back, as the headlights have become more of an issue as the evenings draw in. The daily annoyance of drivers coming the other way flashing me is wearing thin.
The C-MAX is fitted with xenon lamps, but the beam seems to be set too high and dazzles oncoming traffic. At the last service, I asked for the angle to be lowered, but was told the lights were set correctly, and that it was simply other people confusing the xenons' brightness for full beam.
After talking to Ford, apparently the adjustment is straightforward, so I will get the lamps checked again at the next service. However, the biggest hiccup in our time with the C-MAX was caused by simple bad luck. Having lent the car to a colleague for a shopping trip, an errant truck driver decided to reverse into the Ford, leaving a large dent in the rear quarter panel.
Dagenham Motors of Epsom, Surrey, did the repair, which included replacing the back bumper and fixing the rear panel. The work only took a week and the car now looks as good as new - but the bill came to £1,700. However, after 10 months of driving the C-MAX, I'm still enjoying its fine blend of performance, refinement and practicality.