I would concur, a teenager could burn a clutch out in less than 20k, many of mine have done over 200k. My mother managed to burn one out in about 5 minutes going up a steep hill behind a heard of cows. The less you slip the clutch the longer it will last.

Thanks for your replies guys - much appreciated.

We are in a state of impass car-wise as we are both looking to retire in the next couple of months and we were looking at the 'run into the ground' scenario with the Focus while I was going to treat myself to a 320 Diesel touring !

Depends how well you look after it. Our 126,000m X reg Focus (2000) has original exhaust, requiring only a tenner's worth welding to one of its supporting lugs a couple of years ago. It gets an occasional wire brush of rusty-looking bits and squirt of high temperature aluminium paint. The build quality of this basic Ford continues to amaze me - it even has sound-proofing carpet in the wheel arches!