The Focus is a nasty little piece of engineering. It's no good if you're tall, has horrible visibility out the back, and the 16V Zetec I drove had the world's notchiest gearbox and a clutch that was clearly designed to be used by faery maidens with a feather touch, rather than a six foot three engineer in a pair of size 13 steelies.

While I haven't driven the Civic, a co-worker had one for a long time and said it was one of the best cars he ever owned.

The Corolla has a bit of a reputation over here as an old man's car. Make of that what you will.