Long term test: Ford Focus goes on holiday

The Focus has been on its summer holidays: an 1,800 mile jaunt to the Italian Alps, which gave plenty of opportunity to draw some firmer conclusions about the car: there is nothing like doing 700 miles in a day to find any hidden irritations.

The first surprise was when we filled up with luggage. The boot is just about average for its class (316 litres with the rear seats up), but the floor itself is very high, the reason being a full-sized spare wheel under the floor. However, we were to discover on our return that the spare wheel was not all it seemed, of which more later.