For more than a decade, the Ford Focus was an also-ran among small cars, unable to keep up with far-superior compacts like the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic and even the Hyundai Elantra. Distracted by its success with trucks and SUVs, Ford Motor didn’t invest what was needed to keep passenger cars like the Focus in the game. Now, however, Ford has gotten serious about fixing the car side of its business, and the Focus, redesigned for 2012, is vastly improved. How much better is it? The Focus went from middle of the pack to the segment leader, according to Total Car Score, a new online resource that aggregates car reviews from multiple sources. The 2012 model scored 80.68, tops among compact sedans and wagons, up from 72.73 for the 2011 model it replaced, according to Karl Brauer, editor-in-chief of Total Car Score. (The average score for 2012 compacts was 74.68.) The Focus’ leap from one model year to the next was the highest of any new vehicle, said Brauer, making it the most imp...