Review of the new Ford Focus Coupe-Cabriolet 2.0 TDCi

The diesel engine has been around for a long time but it's only been in the last handful of years that technology has progressed to such an extent that you could conceivably fit one to a drop-top car. Diesels used to be agricultural, smelly and noisy and to drive around without the protection of a roof would have given any driver an insight into what it must have been like to be a stoker on the flying Scotsman. Much has changed in recent years and the development of smooth, refined common-rail diesel engines has meant that open top driving while your car squashes its heavy oil is not just possible but increasingly desirable. Ford has pitched in with their contender in this rapidly expanding market with the Focus Coupe-Cabriolet 2.0 TDCI and it's a belter.

As well as having a diesel engine, the Focus Coupe-Cabriolet also has another feature that's mushroomed in popularity - the folding hard top roof. Making this a vehicle that reflects the current leisure-oriented fashion for those with a bit of disposable income. Prices start at around £25,000, so it's not pocket money change but rest assured that this model will be in demand for quite some time yet, thus plumping up residual values nicely, in turn driving down the cost of a typical three to four year ownership tenure.

The 2.0-litre diesel engine is good for 136bhp and is acceptably refined. There are smoother diesel units out there in this class but few that offer this sort of response and broad spread of torque. It's almost as if you've got a big, unstressed petrol under the bonnet so lazy and muscular is the pick up. In this way, it's not wholly unlike the old Ford 3.0-litre Essex engine, a unit that, coincidentally, also made 136bhp. Even with the roof of the Focus Coupe-Cabriolet safely tucked away in its chunky rump, there's little in the way of engine din, the wind and tyre noise being a good deal more voluble. Even these sounds aren't overly intrusive though and 70mph cruising with the roof down isn't going to leave you feeling as if you've been twelve rounds with Amir Khan.

"The 2.0-litre diesel engine offers fuel economy figures that read like a misprint. In a good way of course"

The bald figures make respectable reading. The Duratorq diesel is by far the most impressive powerplant in the line up and makes sixty from rest in 10.3s on the way to 128mph and a combined fuel figure of nearly 50mpg. Backed up by a six-speed gearshift, it develops a heap of torque. This means that as long as you keep the needle in the sweet spot around 2,000rpm, you'll have plenty of acceleration in reserve whether it's just you at the wheel or even if the car is fully stacked. That fuel economy figure means that you won't begrudge using that torque at will either, making this Focus a very effective cross country mover.

Hood up or down, the Focus Coupe-Cabriolet is a neat piece of styling. In the early days, most folding metal top coupe cabriolet models looked rather ungainly, with huge distended rears that would open up like something from a Bond movie and then swallow the hood mechanism whole. While they undoubtedly provided good pavement theatre, they weren't what you'd call conventionally good looking.

Still, the benefits of added safety and security married to the fun of a convertible overcame their aesthetic shortcomings and the market for this sort of car has exploded. While early adopters like Peugeot's 308CC and Renault's Megane CC made hay, it took other manufacturers such as Vauxhall (with their Astra TwinTop) and Volkswagen (with their Eos) a little longer to join the fray. Ford have played a particularly patient waiting game and the Focus Coupe-Cabriolet has, as a result, to adhere to a tougher set of customer demands.

The two-piece electrically-operated hard top roof operates at the touch of a button and takes just 29 seconds, with no catches, latches or levers needing to be manhandled. Once stowed in the boot, the Focus Coupe-Cabriolet's lines are a good deal more elegant, with a classic rising waistline and clean rear deck. Ford turned to Italian styling house Pininfarina to create this model and you can't really argue with the finished result, even if it is severely toned down from the striking Vignale concept car paraded at the Paris Motorshow in 2004. The specially styled rear end is characterised by unique tail lights linked by a chrome strip bearing an embossed Focus logo to give the new model what Ford hopes is 'a premium feel'. This is further enhanced by a redesigned front bumper shape and 'distinctive' wheel arches.

Inside, the car's dashboard layout follows the style of other Focus models, but with a different colour scheme developed to distinguish it as a flagship. Two different colour schemes are offered: dark, sporty Ebony/Flint, and the warm, elegant Iris/Camel. Both CC-2 and CC-3 trim levels come with alloy wheels, electronically operated and heated door mirrors, a Thatcham 1 Cat alarm, a CD player and air conditioning. The CC-3 adds leather seats 17-inch Vignale alloys, a six-CD Sony stereo, cruise control, auto lights/wipers/mirrors plus chrome trim oin the fog lights and grille surround. Safety of course is paramount in a car like this and Ford's new Rollover Protection Device (RPD) plays a vital role in increasing the Coupe-Cabriolet's passive safety performance. In addition to standard front and side airbags, the RPD is designed to help protect passengers in the event of a vehicle rollover. If the system detects an imminent roll, two safety roll-bars "fire" and extend out by up by 20cm to provide a supportive safety strut along with the ultra-strong windscreen pillars to protect the car's occupants.

The Focus Coupe-Cabriolet looks set to mow down many of its erstwhile rivals in the hurly-burly of becoming the biggest selling drop top car in the UK and this 2.0-litre diesel model is going to account for a hefty slug of those sales. It's a very rounded car and it'll appeal to a wide range of potential customers.

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