I had a 2014 fiesta titanium before this which i was very happy with but after 2 years and 55,000 miles it was time for a change. I wanted a Focus ST3 TDCi but there was a 5.5 month wait for this which is totally unacceptable so i settled on this as it was in stock at the dealer.

Let me start on what i DONT LIKE about it so i can end on a positive.

1 - ambient lighting in the footwell, my right shoe glows red and is annoying(the buld is directly above the accelerator). i can see my shoe in my peripheral vision moving when i go between the brake and accelerator, my left foot is completely dark.

2 - A - The car has SYNC 2, the touch screen is REALLY annoying as i have to press it really s-l-o-w-l-y and very firmly or it misses letters.
B - It wont navigate to my works postcode, comes up with an error so i had to set a manual favorite point.
C - The sound quality is VERY poor from the audio system - my old fiesta was FAR batter. For a £23,000 car, this was a big disappointment.
D - only 6 radio presets per band. i always flick between stations and 6 is not enough for me, my old fiesta has 10.
E - It will not connect my phone through USB to the stereo, there seems to be a fault with it and i need to get it into the dealer. i have the latest iOS 10.2 on my phone. As it will not connect through USB, i i cannot use APPLINK for Spotify. I have tried the 'self update' through the PC but Fords Sync website seems to be as poor as their system and wont let me log in after i created the account.
F - At night i press the button to turn the Nav display off but any notification from my phone turns the display back on (which is ok) BUT it stays on so i have to press the button every time and turn it back off.
G - The display adjusts to the brightness from the light sensor which is a good idea BUT the brightness is not progressive between stages. It will Flick between each stage so therefore draws your eyes to it as it dims/brightens. it needs to be a soft progression between stages of brightness.

3. The car 3 weeks old and tonight its told me i have a 'brake light bulb fault'. I know its trivial but a bulb should last more than this IF it is a bulb fault. I'll have a look tomorrow.

4. The boot space is very small for the size of the car and competitors are bigger. you would not get a large pram in it for sure, even a medium one would struggle

5. No power fold mirrors on a Titanium model but the fiesta does.

6. The heated door mirrors - On every other car ive had, i put on the heated rear window and the mirrors heat up too which clears the rain drops / moisture off of the glass. The Focus does not seem to get the glass hot enough so it takes 30 minutes to clear raindrops off of the mirrors.

7. Ive NEVER been a fan of 'keyless start'. Think about it- you walk to your car with your keys in your hand, press unlock on the remote and get in the car. Once youre in, you can press the button on the dash and start the car. fine, BUT you got a bunch of keys in your hand with no receptacle to put them in like a BMW for example. so you put your keys in the cup holder, rendering it useless when you get a drive through so you put them in the door pocket and they rattle and slide about instead. very annoying.

Dont let the above make it seem that i dont like the car, i DO.
Its very smooth on the road yet still firm enough to make it agile. The responsiveness of the engine is very impressibe for a 1.5, My girlfriend doesnt notice any difference in this and her 2.0 Diesel Kuga around town or even on a run when driven 'normaly'. If anything, the car is a little TOO responsive at times, the accelerator pedal could do with being more progressive as sometimes the difference between 5-10% makes a drastic change to the engine torque demand/output.

The power is delivered very low down in the revs which is great for economy and around town but in higher revs nothing much changes but lets not forget its only 120ps and not 185.

The heated front windscreen is very quick but the car does seem to lack a PTC heater so you do have to wait a mile or two before you can ask any heat from the heater on a cold day, unlike the Kuga which is warm within 20 seconds. I can't comment on the AC performance as its winter and ive only had it a few weeks.

Build quality seems very good with a lot of soft feel trims but where i rest my right elbow, it has already made a depression in the top of the drivers door interior trim which is annoying. theres 2 USB and 2 12V outputs which is handy. The seats are comfy and driving position is natural. all the controls have a nice feel (except the Nav unit).

I have taken advanced/proactive driver training in this car and can say it does deliver all that you need in terms of road holding, smooth gear changes and is quick enough for reasonable overtaking the sunday drivers. Ive seen 120mph on the speedometer (on an airfield) and the car was still perfectly smooth and stable.

Is really is a pleasure to drive and i am very pleased with almost everything on the car but the stereo/nav system is the biggest disappointment for me. My fiesta was £5000 cheaper yet the stereo was FAR better. I know my car has Sync 2 and Sync 3 is available but thats just a different display and interface, the audio quality is still poor in my opinion for the cost of this vehicle. My friend agrees with me and he has a Focus ST too. There was a £300 upgrade to the Sony unit but my girlfriends Kuga has this as standard and this also sounds VERY poor, certainly NOT worthy of the SONY badge ford use under license. Im sure SONY would agree if they heard it too. My GF and our children all notice the poor quality and volume it delivers. The fiesta again was far superior with its SONY stereo.

4/5 stars from me.