Whose a Focus fan?

[ProgRocker]

A work colleague of mine has a 52 reg 1.6 Zetec...or maybe an LX? Sort of a stone grey colour. I think he paid £800 for it a couple of years ago. Before that he had his dad's burgandy T reg Mondeo 2.0 GLX that went to the scrappers

[greengartside]

I had a 51-plate one about three years ago, I bought it from the side of the road for £325 and promptly shat it's thermostat approximately a mile later. It was probably one of the worst cars I ever bought, the fact that it seemed to have been redlined to fuck by the previous 12 owners before I acquired it might not have helped things. I massively de-barried it, went to Manchester and back in it and genuinely thought it would blow up - it didn't. I scrapped it a few weeks later.

 

However I do have a soft spot for them and I probably would buy another, maybe a TDCi Ghia estate in Black or a ST170 estate.

[cpjitservices]

I had a 51-plate one about three years ago, I bought it from the side of the road for £325 and promptly shat it's thermostat approximately a mile later. It was probably one of the worst cars I ever bought, the fact that it seemed to have been redlined to fuck by the previous 12 owners before I acquired it might not have helped things. I massively de-barried it, went to Manchester and back in it and genuinely thought it would blow up - it didn't. I scrapped it a few weeks later.

 

However I do have a soft spot for them and I probably would buy another, maybe a TDCi Ghia estate in Black or a ST170 estate.

Theres one on ebay right now with MOT till feb, little rust if any and is a Ghia. 1.8TDCi - it's at £115 - that may tempt you.

[Pillock]

Mrs Pillock had a 2001 TDDI LX when I met her. It was scruffy but went alright and put up with the daily abuse of being family transport for her and two kids.

 

Tellingly, when her and Previous_Husband split, she demanded he take the '05 Pug 307 as the Focus was a much better car.

 

It was still rusty though, with a missing wheel trim. I stand by my comments. Also the exhaust heat shield dropped and made a horrendous racket until I frisbee'd it into a hedge.

 

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[PiperCub]

I like them, never owned one but driven lots as company or as hire cars. First drove one in about 98, could not believe how much better it was than the then outgoing Escort (OK, you could reasonably reply that isn't difficult!).

 

The bargain now is the ST170. This will be megabucks in a few years - just look at pretty much every 'Fast Ford' that preceded it, we'll all say "I can't believe it was ever that cheap".

[RayMK]

My son in law bought a 1.4 3 door several years ago to replace an increasingly unreliable Polo.  His Focus is comfortable, competent, reliable and not rusty, unlike the 1.6 that my son had briefly.  Nevertheless, I don't like them.  They are devoid of any character and, as a previous poster commented, pigs to reverse because of poor rearward visibility, a trend which nearly all modern cars have followed.

[Doctormop]

www.driverskills.com  based at Elvington Airfield have a fleet of mk1 Focus's err Foci' err Focusues, anyway, more than one of this Ford hatchback to enable inexperienced motor drivers to learn how to control a skid (BMW compacts are also available for RWD drifting innit merchants) and having undergone 45 minutes of skidding about in a Focus with 'lo grip tyres' I was impressed, they must stand up to harsh driving under these conditions quite well I may of course be biased as I had a jolly good time skidding about in someone else's car but there you go, a massive thumbs up from the recently qualified skid pan expert!!

[twosmoke300]

Not a great fan of them to be honest , they do drive well and mechanically not bad but rust , my good god do they rust .

Fuel filler necks , front and rear subframes ( anti roll bars actually come adrift ) . Sills look lovely under the 5mm of factory sealer then suddenly you have no sill at all . Rear inner arches and seat belt mounts disappear and can be tricky to repair properly .

Every single bolt on the rear suspension WILL be seized into its bush so changing trailing arm bushes turns into an expensive mission with lots of gas , grinding and new parts .

Typical ford wanky locks .

Fuel pumps fail and its officially a tank down / new filler neck / lower subframe job . Or cut a hole under the rear seat .

 

They were nice enough cars until they turned 5 then a diet of neglect and fords penny pinching build makes most of the remaining ones scrap fodder

[Felly Magic]

I loved driving ours, shame it was arse ended and written off. The saloons seem to be looked after better as they were mainly bought by giffers, as most were Ghia spec, our old one must have been garaged most of it's life, as only had the odd small blister. It handled bloody well on the twisty stuff, and had ultra comfy seats with power adjust. It could clip on as well, rock steady at *cough* mph. The problem is finding good ones, I looked at some real sheds before finding that on Scumtree. Would have another, but not a diesel.

[BorniteIdentity]

I'm the context of 1998, they were an absolute revolution. Sharp styling, sharper handling and the face of what mass motoring would look like in the 21st Century.

 

Mum had a MK1 pre-facelift 2.0 pez and it went very well indeed. She sold it without my consent and I was a bit cross!

 

I've said before I'd like to find a millennium example that's not been abused and keep it proper nice. They will be oggled at car shows in 20 years time.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

We have a 2002, so a facelift model. I like them, handle really well, comfy, solid and well made. Underside of ours is solid and clean.

Bit of rust starting to show on arches and bootlid.

Doing a few wee jobs at the minute to bring it up to standard so might start a thread for it.

 

Our suffers from the same problem most cars of this value have - previous owners treating them as disposable so it needs a fair few wee jobs doing that have been ignored for a while like suspension, belts etc. Parts are cheap and plentiful though

 

 

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[mrbenn]

I'm a big fan. Had my 03 plate 1.6 Zetec for nearly 5 years, taken it from 61k to 104k miles with one engine issue (valve) and not much else. No wheel bearings, not even discs and pads. Gets 50mpg on a run, a/c that would kill an eskimo, parts prices measured in pence and I really like driving it.

Trick here is to get on that has been looked after, and carry that on. I got mine from its third owner that had bought it when only three years old. Full service history and money spent where needed. At the age I bought it, most people would just run it on a shoe string until it broke then get rid. Not me, it gets what it needs. Plus, minimal use in salty weather as I don't often use it to commute, which I think has helped with the rust. Still needed a bit of welding in the n/s/r inner wheel arch, but was caught early so not a huge job.

Was on the brink of changing it for a mk2 Focus but I just don't want to part with this one.

 

[meshking]

We've had this one for three years now. I bought it at Blackbushe auctions for £1200, it's done around 60k now but had a change of clocks due to the standard fault.

 

 

Immediately after buying it I was put on a three month project with a 120 mile round trip each day. So after one month my mileage claim covered the cost.

 

It's time to change now, so this will be up for sale to make way for a Nissan leaf.

 

It's totally solid, no rust as far as I can see. I think they resolved a lot of the rust issues by the face-lift.

[sierraman]

I'd quite like a Mk1 ST170 Estate. Very rare though so chances are slim to none. Even an ST170 would do, these are silly cheap at the moment. Even though they aren't too quick still a fine handling car.

 

Fuel pump not too bad a job I don't think, so long as you know where to cut with the snips, make an access panel then changing the pump is fairly simple. Good job as they go quite frequently.

[Honey Badger]

We paid 10 grand for an 03 plated TDCi Ghia in 2004 and while it was compitent the it never really gave a feeling of reliability or quality while we had it, trim felt cheap as dId the switchgear . The ride was fucking awful and I found it tiring to drive over any distance, though it did have the 18" alloys with rubber bands round the outside. It went well when the engine worked properly and it was fun to chuck round some back roads as well, which didn't make up for the shit ride the rest of the time.

 

Can't deny that when they came out in 98 they were an amazing looking car.

 

On the plus side Central Motors for in Irthlingborough were the best main dealers I've ever dealt with, great people in every department, shame they only sell fords....

 

We kept it for 2 years and it was on its 3rd fuel pump/card (£1500 a pop, thank god it was covered by the warranty) by the time we chopped it in for a Honda S2000, the Honda Civic type S we owned before the Focus was a better car in every way and is probably why even now the Hondas are worth 3 times what the Focus is.

[djimbob]

Plenty of driving schools used these, the AA certainly did, and Our Lass and Grown up Daughter both took lessons and passed in Focii - so at some point there will be a lot of nostalgia felt for these buggers

 

Daughter had a 1.8 pezzer not so long ago - was fine, aside from poor MPG - I thought it drove well for what it was, wouldn't have one myself, but I can see why other people did think they were a revelation when they first came out.

 

As usual, sporty and rare versions will inevitably go up in value

[cort16]

I like them but I prefer the facelift one's in Sierramans post.  Definitely much better than the Escort it replaced.

 

 

The RS one's are already making big Ford Scene tax even though by all accounts they're a bit rubbish.

[egg]

St170 estate you say...

 

https://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/2003-ford-focus-st170-estate/1249053179

[Hendry]

I prefer the mk1 prefacelift and I think with every new Focus they get less and less cutting edge and interesting, however I'm one of these strange people who likes Escorts and would prefer a late Finesse spec Escort to a Focus.

 

Whoever it was that said Focii lack character, I totally agree.

[sierraman]

Few things... he talks in txt and the EML is on but he fails to mention this in the ad.

[Pillock]

I was going to call bollocks on the ST170 estate (I know a few that have been built from crashed hatchbacks and a shagged estate) but I've just run it through ETIS and it was indeed built with a 170hp VVT engine and an "ST170" equipment marker.

[sierraman]

Dont worry bout the milage m8.

[D Spares & Tyres]

Quite like this one

[egg]

Indeed, I guess a good estate will be a rare beast.

[alcyonecorporation]

Since this is in the open forums I thought you were asking about the 70s Dutch prog rock band.

 

It can be if you want it to be. 

[Timewaster]

I had an S plate hire car when they first came out.

I was delivering parts to the motor trade in it (they had run out of hire vans) and it was the first time most people had seen one.

I couldn't have got more attention if I was in a Ferrari.

 

Within 6 months they were everywhere.

 

Along with Pumas, a sound investment if you happen to have a selection of barns to stash them in for a decade or two.

[Felly Magic]

The local pub landlord has an immaculate neptune green 02 plate Ghia saloon, it's fully loaded, with leather trim and is a 2.0 badermatic, so that had every box on the options list ticked by the looks when brand new and must have been a bloody expensive car, locally reg'd and has John Grose plates, I really like the look of it, and would. People often don't like the saloon shape, but the boot on em is mahoosive for the size of the car

[Bren]

I liked ours enough to have another. Diesels are like any other - pump/ clutch/dmf mean the end.

[overrun]

I quite like the ST170. They are pretty cheap at the moment too, not attracting scene tax yet.

A mate has a lovely one. He has owned it for years.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

On paper I would love an st170. However I've been told many of them never made near 170bhp from the factory, closer to 150 which is what the 2.0si (I think?) Makes without all the st specific expensive bits

 

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