See also our Focus RS first drive feature here

Ford are very proud of the Focus RS as a stunningly effective driver’s car, with good reason if the reviews are anything to go by (see our First Drive story here). Anything that gets Steve Sutcliffe from Autocar so animated must be pretty special. But Ford are also proud of the fact that they’ve been able to bring this car to the market at all, let alone with a £25,000 price tag, which is where our factory tour came in.

As if we needed any more reasons to be weary of our old chum The Credit Crunch, producing cars that enhance a brand’s image but don’t actually make any money is something manufacturers can no longer indulge in. Ford had to make sure that this new RS could be produced on the same line, at the same time and in the same factory as every other Focus. They couldn’t take cars off the line for ~any reason, or slow the line down to add extra components. Previous incarnations of the RS had to be whisked off to specialist suppliers for the “fast bits” to be fitted, which made the car expensive and slow to make. ~It was also a process that allowed quality issues to creep in because the process couldn’t be as accurately managed.

I was lucky enough to be asked by Ford to fly to Saarlouis in Germany with Richard Bremner for an article published in Autocar magazine. While doing the stills photography I also made the short video you can see above with the hope of showing what goes on behind the scenes in an ultra-modern car factory. It’s an awe-inspiring experience because of the sheer scale of the operation, although I’m always impressed by how calm and measured everything seems, despite that fact that 1,600 cars a day come out of this building!

Of course we missed the last flight back from Luxemboug and had to hire a rental car to hurtle back to the UK in time for work the next day, but that’s a story for another time…

Ford Anglias were two a penny when I was a girl – well at least £610, and were billed as the perfect family car. Even my parents had one – although I am far too young to remember of course!

You can just imagine it; father with a soft cloth, buffing and polishing of a Sunday morning and mother getting the children ready while making the sandwiches for the Sunday outing…

We used ours for holidays to Wales and Anglesey, and while I do have vague recollections of eating ice-creams and collecting cowry shells, our means of transport did pass me by. It couldn’t have been pleasant though, with three children in the back, one of them being the “child from hell”. My mother swears my middle brother (since left the country) ruined every family holiday. She now keeps calling my middle child by the “child from hell’s” name. Things don’t change, but at least we have a bigger car which avoids my little darlings being squashed together as we must have been in our Anglia.

Life did seem so much simpler then, as were the cars. Motorways were the new thing and this car, with its top speed of 80 mph, was just the ticket for those longer journeys.

The only safety feature that I could see in the Anglia I drove recently was a very baggy, hard-to-adjust seatbelt. I still have vivid memories of my mother pulling hers over her head so that she could reach the overflowing basket of goodies at her feet, from which she would constantly produce wonderful treats. And the lack of airbags and roll-over protection, while unthinkable in this day and age, does mean the pillars are slimline, allowing light to flood the cabin providing all-round, unimpeded visibility. There are no head restraints either, which enhances this open feeling. Very refreshing.

I was ready to have a few giggles at the car’s expense, but instead it was giggles of sheer delight. I was initially alarmed at the thought of using a choke but was saved any embarrassment as the car started first time. Then I was away – very gently through the gears but eventually up into fourth and 60 mph. I felt like the bees knees, despite the vague steering and brakes, and being overtaken by everyone else on the road. But what did I care?

It would be so much fun to have a car like this to potter around in. The kids would be mortified though – perhaps it might make them walk a bit more?

Mondeo’s don’t have a good image in my mind. I can only think of hire cars, salesmen and middle-aged, overweight, smoking, businessmen who look generally disappointed with life. And also an old boyfriend who I would have done anything for until he revealed his lack of driving abilities – in a Mondeo. I never saw him in the same way again!

While I’m quite a bossy mare and know what I want, I do sometimes like my men to take control, especially at the wheel. Knowing where they’re going, driving with purpose and certainty (not that women aren’t just as capable!). Either way I don’t expect to have to give a mini driving lesson to help them get their confidence back. All was lost that day, never to be regained. Funny how a small incident can alter your perception of people and things, with respect being very easy to loose but very hard to regain…

However, while it’s never been the same with said boyfriend and cars (now husband and cars), today’s image of the Mondeo has won me over after all these years.

Perhaps it’s the great drive, the space and the great look of this car that’s done it? The fact that it has an all-new optimised engine giving great mileage and low emissions is icing on the cake.

In my eyes the 2009 Mondeo ECOnetic has a near-ideal blend of looks, performance and driveability. We had the delights of an estate to sample and while sleek and gorgeous on the outside, the interior revealed a boot I could happily move into, and comfort levels far exceeding my sitting room. It was quiet too, unlike my sitting room.

It felt elegant, looked gorgeous and I could happily have driven away in it. To me this is a great family car, being able to accommodate adults, kids and oodles of baggage. A great one for turning up at the school gates (were I that sort of parent who sent their kids to a school where it mattered).

It wouldn’t be out of place in any setting, town or country. And as for husband being allowed to use it for his work car – well, from thinking it would be far too good for him, I’ve realised that’s the whole point: if you’re driving day in, day out and need to carry loads of kit, there can’t be many better places to be.

Boys and Their Toys

See also our Focus RS Factory Tour Blog here

I’ve recently launched myself headlong into the dubious world of forums, of the motoring variety.

My experiences so far have been pretty unpleasant and occasionally amusing. People seem to think they can write whatever they like with little regard to how it might affect the person it’s aimed at…In all fairness to them, it was rather like waving a red rag to a bull, so perhaps they weren’t completely to blame and they were, as a far as a could tell, all men. Need I say more?

The object of their attack? Me, in the all new, singing and dancing Ford Focus RS. It was white, with a huge grille, spoiler and wheels and to me looked exactly what it was, a boy-racer with more brawn than brain – sound familiar lads?

I happened to be at a media test day and this was one of the cars on offer. Not something I would normally aspire to drive, but I managed to have a great time in it and gave a first drive review and video, which, as ever, was driven by practicalities.

But the Focus RS isn’t about practicalities so the video went down like a lead balloon. It did, however, give those fiends something to bitch and rant about – namely me and how boring, middle-aged, unfit looking, small (actually referred to as a dwarf), hair too short, can’t say my ‘rs’, possible lesbian, likes wearing flat shoes (obviously haven’t seen my collection of heels) and what is a ‘bint’?

My skin is getting thicker, but I’m working hard on it with that constant mantra in my head ‘I am what I am and it’s alright with me’.

The moral of this story? Don’t go looking in places you don’t belong. I think I’ll stick to letter-writing, and family hatchbacks.