‘Son’, as my dear old Mom used to say, ‘There are plenty more fish in the sea’.
She reserved this piece of sagacity for those occasions when some flame-haired jezebel had once again made mincemeat of my heart. What she was trying to say is that no-one is indispensable and that today’s heartbreaker becomes yesterday’s memory. These thoughts had gone through my mind when I learnt that Ford no longer makes the Focus.
Oddly enough I recalled her words while motoring along in the new £29,105 Scala Monte Carlo 5 door hatchback. I realised that previous cars I had driven were now, as it were, put behind me and confined to memory like a receding plume of road dust. ‘Surely’ I thought, ‘This Scala is all any motorist needs’. Not only that but it exudes the essence of excellence in such a way as to seduce the most resistant motoring hack – compelling him to sigh in rapture, overcome by the symphonic perfection of finely tuned precision engineering.
‘What on earth is he on about?’ I hear you ask in desperation. Well readers, it means that it’s a jolly good car. Only the ignorant would dismiss a car like this – a medium sized hatchback of excellent design and tight build quality – that pound for pound gives a super abundance of real worth: much more so, indeed, than the lamented Focus, the Vauxhall Astra or offerings from Peugeot, Renault, Mazda et al. (And you must also ask yourself…’why buy a Golf’).
There’s plenty of room inside and it is attractively appointed with the best of modern cabin furniture. Everything has a durable feel yet at the same time it presents a feeling of quality.
I venture to suggest that it is best with the updated 1.5, 4 cylinder engine (Other engine options are available) – with an active cylinder deactivation system. Smooth and remarkably quiet; and developing 150PS, it drives through a 6 speed manual gearbox that is so slick and easy to use, that it had me questioning my commitment to automatic. Similarly I was won over by the good ‘old fashioned’ mechanical handbrake lever. You can reach about 125 mph should you want to be a criminal – yet it is so frugal with a claimed fuel consumption of around 54mpg (I got nearer 59mpg) when driving gently in eco mode – but such are the dynamic delights of the excellent chassis and powertrain that even the vicar would lend his ear to the whisperings of Beelzebub when the open road beckons and you begin to enjoy the reassuring road manners….confidence inspiring yet very safe.
Cruise quietly and effortlessly at motorway speeds and you’ll wonder why the driver in the next lane in the big fat ‘executive mobile’ chose it over one of these. It certainly squares the circle of performance versus economy, delivering more than enough of each: poke without perturbation, parsimony without pain. And, of course, very comfy too.
Here is a medium-sized car offering maximum amount of space and a new ‘sharper’ look. Clad in a sleek shell of success it radiates confidence. It does you good just to look at it. And when you drive it you learn for sure that it delivers on the promise that the appearance suggests.
Frankly we all need the goldilocks car that’s neither too big nor too small, too fast nor too slow, too aggressive nor too tame. The Scala is a surefire candidate to fit the bill. From passengers you’ll hear no complaint because spacious comfort allied to a smooth ride amounts to the perfect recipe for relaxation. Don’t be surprised to hear strange buzzing sounds when carrying family and friends. No – nothing mechanical to worry about, just their gentle snoring.
In these dark days of electrification we so desperately need cars like this Scala to bring people together in a combined appreciation of non-egregious displays of quality machinery of the traditional kind.
One dissenter from this sunny view was encountered at the fuel station. He was wrestling with a power cable to attach to his outrageously expensive electromobile. He came across to share his wisdom. There were no pleasantries.
“You’re a dinosaur mate. The future of motoring is electric” He said
I raised a Roger Moore eyebrow.
Before I could respond, my passenger, an eminent professor of thermodynamics, interjected.
“I couldn’t help overhearing,” he said. “In my view the internal combustion engine is the most efficient means of automotive propulsion. The future lies not with electric cars but with internal combustion engines powered by hydrogen. In the meantime this Scala represents the very best solution to the pressing problems of diminishing resources and environmental contaminants.”
Before you could say HINDENBURG, I drove away with dignity, leaving the puce-faced example of sanctimonious humanity trying to avoid strangling himself on a tangled cable. Quickly, smooth progress calmed us both. I was rewarded with a total absence of worry, knowing that the Scala is as reliable mechanically as it is dynamically. This Skoda demonstrated to me through a host of tactile subtleties as transmitted through steering wheel and chassis, that it truly did represent – to paraphrase the professor – the best solution for all round practicality when it comes to medium-sized modern motoring.
