mk1 Focusesses. Are they nice?

[mat_the_cat]

/\And a belt to drive the pump! Worth mentioning the best feature IMO - the heated windscreen (if still working)...

[Danblez]

Having owned one for 8 years and 100k miles (now on175k) I think I am qualified to say they are a bloody good car. They drive we'll have a great ride and if you have the 115bhp model are pokey enough to be fun. Ours hasnt had a single ftp and only one wheel bearing!

 

I dont understand the haters, it is a fantastic car and even after looking for a replacement for the last year can't bring myself to replace it. I have never even had to top up oil or water between services and still doesn't drop oil on my drive. Bloody fantastic!

[twosmoke300]

Tddi and tdci both have belts to drive the cam

[twosmoke300]

Having owned one for 8 years and 100k miles (now on175k) I think I am qualified to say they are a bloody good car. They drive we'll have a great ride and if you have the 115bhp model are pokey enough to be fun. Ours hasnt had a single ftp and only one wheel bearing!

 

I dont understand the haters, it is a fantastic car and even after looking for a replacement for the last year can't bring myself to replace it. I have never even had to top up oil or water between services and still doesn't drop oil on my drive. Bloody fantastic!

Just wait til you need to do a trailing arm bush !

[sierraman]

If you want something with 5 doors that's cheap to run, reasonably economical and drives fairly well you can't go wrong. If your after something to rival an S Class then no, you'll be disappointed. In summary.

[mat_the_cat]

/\And a belt to drive the pump!

 

Tddi and tdci both have belts to drive the cam

 

Sorry, mis-remembering (I didn't have to change mine as only did 20k miles in it). It's a chain from the crank to the pump, then a belt driving the cam from the pump.

[dollywobbler]

I like to drive these cars, but they have annoying windscreen wipers.

[Richard]

Does the passenger wiper stop a bit too short? That would be a deal breaker for me too.

[dugong]

You lot are strange.

[wuvvum]

My pal is getting a BRAND NEW Ford Kuga

D701SWL

[sierraman]

This is what you ought to hope to see at the back of the sills. No holes, evidence of Waxoyl and a recent trailing arm...

[sierraman]

This is what you ought to hope to see at the back of the sills. No holes, evidence of Waxoyl and a recent trailing arm...

[Snipes]

They also have a tiny boot (for a hatchback) and consume wheel bearings like there's no tomorrow. Not impressed with the way they drive and the interior is only midly less likely to make you mentally type out an email to Dignitas than that of a Ford Escort.

Talking of which the Focus is NOT a good car, it's just better than Escort, and it was probably impossible for a car to be worse. That's why people rave about them imho.

I had a late 1.6 16v LX Escort. Ran it for a few years with negligible servicing and spinning the cambelt roulette and it was fine as simple comfy transport. Never needed front bushes or brakes in that time so it probably wasn't like the "usual Escort".

I'd rather another Escort (or Astra) than a Focus.

[Lankytim]

Hey everyone, it's a TDCI!

[SiC]

I've not a lot of love for the Astra G. It looked awful, the steering was far too light and the engines all felt lifeless. Interior wasn't inviting at all. Anyone that says they are easy to work on obviously hasn't done the thermostat on one.

1.6 16v has thermostat on top. Literally 5 minute job to change. More powerful than the 8v and reasonably lively for a 1.6 of this era.

 

I actually thought our astra g handles alright too for what it was. But then it's only done 65k & was garaged for 10yrs, so the rubbery bits aren't shagged.

 

Mechanics love them as pretty much every bit is easy to get to - on the common engines at least.

 

Interior is a dull hateful place though. Only slightly forgiven by its surprisingly good stock stereo!

 

Exterior is ... well as Jeremy Clarkson put it ... if you got a A4 piece of paper, coloured it in and put it next to an Astra mk4 you wouldn't be able to tell the difference

[dieselassist]

My brother has a 2004 Focus 'Steel' 1.4, with about 315,000 km on the clock - hes had it for the last two years; very little seems to go wrong or 'bang' with it - he just services it occasionally n puts new tyres on it when needed, tho he did replace the rear bumper n tailgate _ €70 for both parts - to make it look more 'aesthetically pleasing'  - its a cheap 'throwaway motor' for him...its never had any welding at all...

 

I get a lend of it very occasionally, off him, when we either swop cars (ive a landrover disco) or im fettling/replairing etc etc the disco... its just a 1.4 but has a great gearbox; excellently spaced gears n the 1.4 never struggles to dish out the power - I have to say I do enjoy driving it; very responsive for a 1.4, comfortable n you can chuck it about without any stains on the underpants... he reckons, as per all Fords, near the last of the production run, ford had a sorted 'model; by then n also were just clearing their inventory of bits so he reckons its probably really a 1.6 or 1.8 gearbox on it from the factory...

 

They can be very 'hit n miss' quality wise, tho Focus's - my mate's son - a student has a 1.4 - a 03; rusty sills, n a struggle to pass the yearly restest here - only 150 k miles on it; he recently acquired a 00 1.4 as a spares car - has about 160k miles on it - all doors, sills, brake lines etc have a lotta rust, but he bought it for its rims n tyres which were new...

 

I don't know a lot about the TDCI ones, but they can appear here with a test for cheaper than the similar capaxcity/CC petrol models, which majorly bucks the usual market trends here....

 

Like every car out there, it will repay you several times over if you get a good one - a good one vs a shagged out isn't hard to spot...

[Lankytim]

Only real horrors in the MOT history, the others don't mention corriosion so hopefully it was all repaired at time.

[twosmoke300]

I would walk away from that one !

By the time a focus goes rusty at the front end there won't be much left under the felt trims at the back

[sierraman]

How much are they asking for it though? Might have had the welding done. I wouldn't give much for it. I'd base my offer around it lasting the duration of the MOT then facing the likely hood of scrapping it.

[Lankytim]

It was back in 2012, nothing rust wise since.

[sierraman]

If it was that bad or unrepaired it would have cropped up since. After all if you are looking for a banger to run for a year or so, your main concerns are does it start easily and run smooth enough and is it likely to want major expense in the near future? It's not like your spending £5k and expecting 5 years trouble free motoring out of it. Anything can be trouble under a couple of grand or so, even stuff with a supposedly good reputation.

[Mr A Lawrence]

We had an X reg mk1 2.0l zetec esp 3dr in 2001 when it was about 8months old.

 

Very competent drive and with the 2ltr engine and esp it was quite fast and chuckable down the lanes.

 

We were very impressed with it until one day I used a Toyota avensis to stop instead of using the brakes.

 

Once we got it back from Howard & basfords it was never really the same car.

 

Chopped it in for a pez freelander on a T reg.

 

Last I saw of it was at a garage at knutsford in a sorry state.

 

Now it's gone to the great big scrapyard in the sky.

[tooSavvy]

Just wait til you need to do a trailing arm bush !

??.. I was following an early burgundy Focci, in Workington, and noted a spangly black new rear sussy arm o/s. Blinkingly obvious against the 'mature' patina of the rest [err, Rust] of it.

 

TS

[John F]

I had a 1.8 petrol as a hire car in 1998, one of the very first ones.

 

It had a willing engine and a very good chassis.

 

BUT:

 

- it was pig-ugly

- rear visibility was so poor due to the ludicrously high boot line that I couldn't reverse it without hanging out of the driver's door.

- the dashboard styling made me feel sick

 

This, coupled with the fact that I've known two or three people that had Mk 1 Foci and they have all rusted badly, guzzled fuel like a tank due to ECU problems and gone expensively wrong on multiple occasions in new & inventive ways, means that it'd be a cold day in hell* before I'd give one driveway space.

 

* Other imaginary locations of never-ending torture are available.

[Pete-M]

Mk1 Focus is about the best sensible family car out there. Diesels are rough old things and they don't handle as sweetly.

[Jazoli]

Mk1 Focus is about the best sensible family car out there. Diesels are rough old things and they don't handle as sweetly.

It used to be but most are too old knackered and rusty by now, I've had a few mk1s and they have been great, I now have a mk2 and it's a great car and drives a million times better than an Astra/Golf/Corolla, it's not the most exciting thing and is definitely more grown up than the Mk1 but it's a better car.

 

They are well under a grand for a reasonable one now too.

[Bren]

Still good ones out there if you look.

[Guest Burger1]

I had a mk1 foccy tdci, gid wee thing it was and to be honest god knows why I sold it as it did what used it for, then again both back sills were badly rusted and badly bodged from the dealer I got it from, that kinda put me off it. I've now got a mk3 mondy tdci est (ghia x) ....not great but does what it says on the tin..

 

Having said that, the chassis at the back underneath really quite rusty and a hole in a corner but that's another debate..

 

But as for the mk1 focus, would I have another...dam right great wee cars

[angle]

I'm constantly amazed by my girlfriend's dad's TDDi. He bought it at three years old, it's now 14 and he's put 200k on it. It's had a grand total of one FTP (a hose of some description), has only ever failed an MOT on tyres, bulbs and a ball joint and has just gone straight through another one with no advisories. The best thing is, in all that time its been serviced twice - it's had more windscreens than oil changes. It got to 185k before he asked me whether he should think about getting the cambelt done...

[Slartibartfast]

I bought one shortly after passing my test. A 1.8 TDDI. It looked like this:

 

 

I found it very capable. Enjoyable handling. Pretty rapid. I also quite liked that it sounded like a truck.

Less than a month later I did this to it:

 

 

RIP Focus.

Edit: I forgot. I hated the cupholders. I have one of those thermos cup things, and it would inevitably and without fail tip itself out of the cupholder and spill all my coffee all over the passenger footwell.