In an early test of the new Focus in the mountains of New Hampshire a couple of years ago, the difference in the two engines was readily evident. On the other hand, the bigger engine works well with the automatic, sending the Focus away from a stoplight smartly and providing enough reserve power to ease into 60 mile per hour traffic. A note to the fuel conscious, gas mileage is rated at a very stingy 25 miles per gallon city and 31 highway with the bigger engine mated to the automatic. The driver's seating position is excellent. And the seat can be manually elevated using a hand crank giving shorter drivers an advantage they normally don't have behind the wheel of a sub-compact.
Rear seats are firm and supportive and a shoulder belt is offered afforded a third person.
But three across in back would make things a bit too intimate. The only thing I would add to that package is cruise control. This is the same system found in the Lincoln LS and an extremely rare feature for an economy car. It incorporates antilock brakes and traction control to detect and prevent skids by applying brakes at one or more wheels to correct oversteer or understeer. This is a beneficial system for wet, snowy or icy roads and can also aid the driver during emergency maneuvers.