Anyone owned a Ford Focus ?

[vijilants]

Folks,

Was wandering if anyone here has owned a 1.6 Ford Focus in their motoring lives ?

I was looking to buy an autmatic 2002 - 2003 model as a runabout and was wondering how they are as a car.

Im used to mainly driving Jap cars as my runabouts so I am used to mega reliability but the Focus seems to be quite a good car on paper, but I have no experience of them.

Any advice from previous Foucu owners ?

 

[developer]

We have a 2003 1.6 Zetec.

Since owning it (about 4/5 years) we've had the following list of problems:











































































Yup, nothing outside of service items.

Start, drive, stop - that's it .

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

Much the same as your Merc then?

 

[developer]

Much the same as your Merc then?

Faultless so far, apart from the chip issue.

 

[martyz]

Don't know about the petrol models,but the tdci diesels are brilliant,cracking little car very
economical.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I had an early one for a while.

Around 2001 I think, 1.6 petrol auto saloon - very unfashionable.

Was a no problem car, service items only.

 

[grober]

Focus 1998 | Ford | Car Reviews | Honest John

Cam belt engines-- rear blade suspension can be expensive to repair but a very good car- better drivers car than its successor IMHO

 

[Dryce]

I was looking to buy an autmatic 2002 - 2003 model as a runabout and was wondering how they are as a car.

I had a 2005 2.0 Ghia auto and a 2006 Fiesta 1.6 auto supplied for work for a while.

The Fiesta was simply horrible. The 2.0 Auto was a miserable concoction of engine and gearbox that felt as if ithad been rummaged from the bottom of the Ford parts skip though the rest of the package was OK. Economy on both was poor.

Nissan Note 1.6 auto, Astra 1.8 auto, Civic 1.6 Auto, Clio 1.6 auto, and Corolla 1.6 auto were better engine/transmission packages IMO.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Folks,

Was wandering if anyone here has owned a 1.6 Ford Focus in their motoring lives ?

I was looking to buy an autmatic 2002 - 2003 model as a runabout and was wondering how they are as a car.

Im used to mainly driving Jap cars as my runabouts so I am used to mega reliability but the Focus seems to be quite a good car on paper, but I have no experience of them.

Any advice from previous Foucu owners ?

Is it a 1.6 diesel you're looking at?

 

[w124nut]

I've had for a year a petrol fuelled 2005 Ford Focus 1.6 LX. Apart from a set of tyres, there has been no expenditure on items other than fuel, tax and insurance.

The ride is a bit choppy when compared to my W124 but the body is tight and there are no rattles or rust.

I am the third owner.

 

[malluboy77]

My wife had a Focus C-max about 2 yrs back, not really focus though. But just to highlight that injector leaks are very common on the 1.6 diesels. We had one and was fixed by the dealer. We were told to change the injector then which pushed the bill up to £650. The injector next to the replaced one started leaking soon and I just got the seals changed by a Bosch garage which seemed to fix the problem. Good car otherwise. Perhaps a bit noisy especially on the motorways.

 

[wemorgan]

A 2002 generation 1.6 will be a petrol.

 

[John]

I've never owned one but I once drove a 54 plate Focus C-Max 1.6 TDCI as a loaner in 2005.

I really loved it overall as a car but that was a manual.

We looked at a facelift (2002 onwards I think - front indicators are in the headlights after the facelift) Focus 1.6 petrol auto to replace a 1.25 Ghia manual Fiesta but the economy was dreadful on the Crocus considering...

I'd certainly have a good read of the Honest John link posted...

 

[fatdazza]

Wife has a 2009 1.6 Focus Auto since new.

Only a 4 speed auto box so not great on fuel efficiency

Also only puts out 96 horses so quite underpowered.

Wife loves it though and very reliable so far

 

[G.P]

Any advice from previous Foucu owners ?

Had two at work, both 1.8 zetec petrol's, both mk.1's.

The 2000 owned from new and sold last year on 125000miles, had it serviced.

The 2003 owned from new, on 50k at present, its been serviced.

For me the seat's are not that great for anything over a hour or so. . .

 

[horgantrevor]

Have had a few the only problem I can say is

Heavy on fuel I think
They get through tires

The only other fault is water can drop down from the windscreen washer jets and the way the spark plugs are fitted across the top very deep in the rocker the spark plugs fill with water and short out the coil pack
Main dealer coil pack over a hundred quid but motor factors 50 quid and a easy repair

I fit a rubber cover to prevent this happening I have fixed a few

Other then that a good car great to drive but I find boring myself

 

[vijilants]

Is it a 1.6 diesel you're looking at?

Petrol

 

[vijilants]

Thanks for the responses. The Honest John site appears to rate them as a better car than the Golf of the same era.

Im basically looking for something econmical, cheap on insurance and reliable and (apart from the Japs) this appeared on paper at least to fit the bill.

 

[WesLangdon]

My neighbour who now has a Merc C class coupe had both mk 1 and mk 2 Focus STs he reckons that the 1st generation was a better drive but both were brilliant to drive but relativly thirsty and hard on front tyres, bother utterly reliable.

 

[vijilants]

Anyone have any experience on real life mpg on the 1.6 auto Focus ?