Focus mk 1 1.8

[scruff]

Not really shite but shite money... Fatha in law has offered us a 1800 Ford Focus 5 door petrol that he's had as a trade-in, it's a V reg with 83,000 miles and taxed and tested. It's £500 which sounds OK to me, what's likely to explode or fall off it?

[dollywobbler]

Nice motor. The engine to have by all accounts. Not sure what goes wrong with them other than wheelarch rot, but they do drive nicely.

[Albert Ross]

Gearbox speed sensor for the ABS and ECU. If they go tits up, it would stall sometimes, and the speedo might flicker. Can be a pricey fix sometimes.

In-tank fuel pumps pack up. The hole in the floor is too small to extract them that way, and you cannot use tinsnips to open the floor up like a metal bullet hole. No, not at all, especially NOT black estates.... cough.

[Cavcraft]

Bottom of doors rot along with arches, interior an acquired taste, terrible boot space for a family car. For £500 though it's hard to go wrong, the mileage sounds right and if cambelt etc had been changed and regular oil services it should be fine.

[Mike D]

I'd go for it at that money, I bought a mk1 2.0 ghia off my mate for £400 a few months back, and it's flippin' GR9. They drive superbly, and seem really well screwed together too

[scruff]

Great! Thanks folks!

[solid61]

Just to add,ive retailed loads of foci over the years and apart from small rust issues on early ones and the clutches seem to be a bit weak on 1.4 and 1.6s they really are a tough old bus.Much more reliable than most other cheapies and the electrics are good,you cant really go wrong.

[scruff]

Well I think we will have it then, I can use the 106 as my winter hack and keep the LR for days when I'm feeling stupid.

[205 gti]

I had a focus 1.8 Zetec mk1, it was brilliant. Nothing went wrong with it at all, even though I was a bit lax servicing it and I thrashed it from cold every day of its hard life.

 

Wouldn't worry about it not having regular servicing, mine hadn't and it was faultless. Changed a filter that had rusted through on a mates (!!!) as he'd had it seven years and never serviced it and twenty odd thousand miles later it is still running ok too.

 

Only thing I would mention is that the 1.6 is better on fuel and the performance is almost exactly the same, but by the sounds of it the car in question is a bargain. Go for it is my advice!

[Split_Pin]

Re the performance of the 1.6 and 1.8, my mate had the latter first and then went down to a 1.6, he didnt notice any difference in performance. Both were quick!

[stuboy]

i had 1.8 mondeo and its dam fine....

[scruff]

Well we got it, Mrs Scruff is dead chuffed with it after the drive back from the island, seems like a nice car

 

 

 

Has anyone on here access to radio codes, as this one is missing?

[Pillock]

Whack the head unit out and there should be a serial number beginning with "M".

Then get one of the billion or so code generators, such as http://freefordradiocode.co.uk/fordm.html

 

In general, the Mk1 Focii are pretty nice - handle well, put together alright and don't seem to rot. The 1.8 is a bit odd, no real performance gains over the 1.6 but has the economy of the 2.0. But it's still a nice engine, I ran a 1.8 Mondeo for ages without any love, care or attention and it was fine. Closest it came to breaking down was it putting a pinhole in a coolant pipe that runs across the front of the block, but a julbilee clip and a bit of old inner tube sorted that.

[scruff]

Brill cheers Pillock!

[Lacquer Peel]

 

They do rot a bit, that's my aunt's old one. I could stick my fingers through the door bottoms and wings, every bolt on panel was shot.

[ProgRocker]

Nice focus. That shade of green really suits it.

[dollywobbler]

This'll sound pathetic, but I really do like these pre-facelift Focuseseses with clear front indicators...

 

Saw an early Focus in bright, retina-burning yellow today. You didn't see that colour option very often!

 

Lacquerpeel, is your aunt a mermaid? I ask because it looks like she parks in the sea!

[trigger]

Saw an early Focus in bright, retina-burning yellow today. You didn't see that colour option very often!

 

That would be the Millenium edition from 2000 (Funny enough), yellow with black leather interior and a 1.8 engine IIRC, they also made a Puma in the same spec, Quite a smart looking car i think.

[Morgan84]

Also the Ka Millenuim

 

Never seen a really rough Focus rust wise,but they certainly do better in keeping their looks than the faithful old Escort's did

 

Good cars

[Guest]

We just scrapped a 'W Focus the other day due to sub frame rot. Just 1 owner, FSH.

[Morgan84]

Must have lived in a salty area then;still,if the person servicing it had done a little corrosion treatment,it would still be ok

[Lacquer Peel]

I've seen lots of rough, hanging ones in the 'salt belt' of Scotland, most other cars don't suffer so badly.

[Morgan84]

Here in Norfolk the cars aren't subjected to 'proper' winter conditions,but I'm guessing up north where you get it pretty rough the terrain can be less car friendly