Choosing which make and model of car you're going to buy is only half the battle. Once these questions have been resolved, it's time for the crucial specification deliberations to start. The format in which you order a vehicle from important bits like the engine and trim level to ancillaries like paint, wheels, mats and flaps, can have a significant bearing on the price, how much you get out of it and, ultimately, how much you get for it. When our five-door Ford Focus long term test vehicle arrived in opulent Titanium trim with a TDCI 115 engine, blacked-out privacy glass, Ocean Blue paint and a sticker price well north of £21,000, some eyebrows were raised.

Admittedly, this car is fully loaded. Bill Gates is relatively well off, Everest is quite a big mountain, Joe Pasquale can occasionally be mildly annoying and this car is fully loaded. It's as though Ford had indiscriminately scooped up the entire contents of the options list in a giant sack and emptied it wholesale into our car's sunroof. Actually, it hasn't got a sunroof but you get the general idea.

Titanium trim endows the Focus with a very detailed specification in its own right. Rain sensing wipers, automatic headlamps, sports seats, air-conditioning, the Quickclear heated windscreen, a leather steering wheel, front fog lights and rear privacy glass: this isn't the stuff of a stripped-down shopping hatch. Our test car, however, raises its game with metallic paint, rear parking sensors, the communications pack (satellite navigation, Bluetooth hands free technology and the Voice Control System), the Titanium X pack (full leather trim, powered drivers seat, heated front seats, xenon headlamps, LED rear lights and powered mirrors) and the Sport pack (Titanium 18" alloy wheels and sports suspension). Phew! One more pack and we could open a casino.

"Predictably, the Focus handles beautifully."

I won't deny that it's been great cruising around in privacy-glazed heated leather luxury, ordering the voice command system about and watching pedestrians, distracted by the bling exterior, step on their dogs but there is a problem with a Ford Focus specified to this magnitude. It's the price. The DIY enthusiast who blows a small fortune renovating his two-bed semi to five-star hotel specifications can easily loose sight of the fact that it remains a two bed semi, at the wrong end of town, next door to a sewage treatment plant. When you read the specification of our Focus, you can easily loose sight of the fact that it's a 113bhp Focus diesel not an executive saloon. At well over £21,000, the car is priced comparatively with some highly desirable rivals. Just like our Do It Yourself junky, anyone who did take the plunge would be unlikely to see their outlay reflected in the residual value when the time came to sell up.

Still, who says you'll want to sell-up. The Focus is undoubtedly one of the top family hatchbacks with or without the lion's share of the options list installed. Our version is the facelifted model with its front end treatment purloined from the latest Mondeo. It's quite a sight and not without menace when you see that super-sized air-intake hove into your rear view mirror. The Titanium alloys on our car have met with universal approval although the privacy glass has an aftermarket look about it and dark blue isn't a colour that sets pulses racing around the office.

Inside, the controls for all those features are straightforward enough and the dash doesn't appear overloaded with switchgear. Some aspects of the cabin are beautifully detailed. The instruments and their surrounds reflect the upmarket aspirations of the Focus and the oval air-vents are neatly executed but more effort could have been made to make the steering wheel feel special. The major aesthetic criticism relates to all the silver finishes on our model. The centre console is one riot of silver metallic with further brightwork employed round the instruments and on the doors. It smacks of Ford trying a little too hard to eject an element of glamour into this range-topping Focus. The quality is definitely up there but personally; I'd take the less busy approach of a lower spec Focus or the classy chrome tweaked darkness of a Volkswagen cabin any day. Others will doubtless disagree.

From a practical perspective, it's hard to fault the Focus. On a vehicle with more kit than the England rugby team and an interior that looks like it was designed by C3P0 and signed off by the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica, it's the boot that draws the most appreciative noises. It's massive and the hatch opens to reveal a similarly generous opening for loading bulky items. Rear seat accommodation is also very good for both heads and legs. With some bigger door pockets, it'd be close to perfect.

The 1.8 TDCI engine in our model is a bit of a letdown but mainly because otherwise, this car is at the very pinnacle of the Focus range. The 136bhp 2.0-litre TDCI unit would have been our preferred option but this particular car has probably spoilt us enough already. There's a coarse noise from start-up but once the engine is into its stride, this largely subsides. The engine feels strong enough through the middle of its rev range but a flat spot before the turbo kicks in means you need to pull away with a few revs on the board. Likewise, there's not much going on at high revs and you're better served by changing up early. The real strength of this engine is its economy and 54mpg is enough to excuse a lot of idiosyncrasies.

Predictably, the Focus handles beautifully with the independent suspension beavering away under the surface to keep the car planted and balanced. Great steering and no shortage of grip also help you to forget that you'd really like a bit more power up front.

Would anyone here pay over £21,000 for our long term test Ford Focus? Probably not. That doesn't make it a bad car though. It's a very good car labouring under the weight of a monumental equipment list. All the toys are great so long as you don't have to pay for them and for 90% of the time, we'd be just as happy in a standard 1.8 TDCI Focus Titanium for £17,500 - without the privacy glass and the blue paintwork. Having said that, those heated seats are handy in winter and it would be a shame to do without the leather. Oh and satellite navigation is borderline essential these days not to mention the xenon headlights - those have real safety benefits. Sometimes less really is more.

TOP 5 FOCUS DEALS

The results below show the top FOCUS deals on buyacar

	Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi Titanium 5dr Hatchback
	ETR	Mthly £261	Saving £4,205	Price £14,185
	Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi Titanium 5dr Estate
	ETR	Mthly £272	Saving £4,398	Price £14,842
	Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi Zetec 5dr Hatchback
	ETR	Mthly £251	Saving £4,034	Price £13,606
	Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi Titanium 4dr Saloon
	ETR	Mthly £268	Saving £4,185	Price £14,205
	Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi Style 5dr Hatchback
	ETR	Mthly £241	Saving £3,864	Price £13,026

typical 12.22% APR

PCP finance quote over 48 months,  10,000 miles pa,  deposit of £1000