Mum in law has decided she wants to buy a car and very much likes the Ford Focus. I have done some digging (incl. HJ's renowned the CBCB) and found the reports to be generally very good but has anyone here got any additional thoughts on spec, target price, things to watch out for etc. She's looking at £7-8k max, manual, 1.4 or 1.6, 5 door. The car will won't be doing much mileage - mainly around town and the occasional day trip with us and the grandkids. Are there any servicing/maintenance or other issues she should be aware of?
Cheers!
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 11/02/2008 at 13:50
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I bought a new Focus 2 1.6 a couple of months ago. I am appalled by the poor fuel consumption - around 34mpg even when driven fairly gently, and the unnacceptable tyre noise particularly at motorway speeds. Both of these are far worse than on the Focus 1 1.6.
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Ref Pete M, the economy will surely improve with mileage, it will still be very tight.
Re the OP, Focus I 1.6 is a good choice, crisp engine, fine handlng, good reputation for reliability.
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Interesting - so you think a Foucs I 1.6 would be a better choice? BTW Not too worried about economy as mileage will be low. More concerned about reliability etc.
Thanks.
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Has to be the best car in its class when you take cost and reliability into consideration.
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I bought a new Focus 2 1.6 a couple of months ago. I am appalled by the poor fuel consumption - around 34mpg even when driven fairly gently and the unnacceptable tyre noise particularly at motorway speeds. Both of these are far worse than on the Focus 1 1.6.
Interesting post, as I was thinking of getting the wife a new Focus as we have a 53 plate 1.6 Focus now. Our current car is brilliant, fuel consumption always in the low 40's, never had any problems other than a failed wiper relay when car was 9 months old, so I'm dismayed to see that they may have mucked up the fuel cons on the new model.
Its strange that this fuel consumption issue is becoming a trend on newer cars. I went from a 1.9 TDI Audi to a new 2.0 TDI Audi and this has the same problem, ie struggling with MPG.
It seems that all of the emissions crud they are putting on the latest engines is ruining economy ???
So we may have less NoX and other things, but far more Co2 as we are burning/wasting significantly more fuel.
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Fuel cons on a new engine will (obviously) be much much lower than one which has been run in for a few thousand miles
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Fancy selling it to us at a great price? ;)
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I had a 2005 1.6 Lx for a little while:
Pros:
Very driveable.Good controls etc
Nippy enough for most daily use
Felt pretty well built in a hard wearing kind of way
Cons.
Tyre noise at motorway speeds
Fuel Consumption. best I ever managed was 36mpg and that was being careful
Seats - the LX seats I found really uncomfortable. Obviously a personal thing but worth checking.
The centre console - I always seemed to have my left leg squashed against it! I'm 6 foot and it felt rather like I was leaning against it all the time.
Stupid left hand drive handbrake!
I would buy another, but would go for diesel and Zetec trim or above.
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Have driven a Focus II 1.6 (115PS) Ghia Petrol a lot and find it good on petrol - about 38 mpg on average. Its my fathers car and he has never complained (and trust me he would!). His only fault has been an intermittant problem with the heated fron windscreen and Bluetooth that the dealer can't seem to fix. Make sure if she is buying that it is the 115 PS model and not the 100 PS 1.6. The 100 PS is an older engine AFAIK from the Focus I. Def avoid the 1.4. I had one until recently and it was fine for around town but out of its depth anywhere else.
Edited by EoinM on 12/02/2008 at 13:33
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It seems that all of the emissions crud they are putting on the latest engines is ruining economy ???
That plus cars piling on the pounds (to perform better in Euro NCAP tests?).
According to one site a 2004 Focus 1.6 weighs 180kg more than a 1998 Focus 1.6. Its like having two 14 stone blokes sitting in the car all the time. If the performance is roughly the same they may have changed the gearing to cope with the added weight?
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Hired a 1.6 Zetec Focus recently. With approx. 11000 on the clock, and air con on constantly, it used 7/8 tank to cover 300 miles, which didn't strike me as excessive.
I found it comfy, seat adjustment on the Zetec was fine, and powerful enough with three aboard (I think it was the 115ps engine). The only complaint I'd have is the large-slab-of-black-plastic dashboard, but choosing any colour scheme other than coalface black should sort that.
I can also vouch for the Focus 1 LX, having driven one loaded to the hilt with holiday gear and dogs from Cork to Donegal. This one had 90,000 up, and drove like new. The sole complaint I had was that the seat back and swab separate as you adjust the seat for height.
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Glad I came across this thread before I went shouting at my Ford dealership. I bought a 9 month old Focus 1.6 Zetec Climate in November and have been disappointed with the MPG - according to the computer it has never been better that 35-36 since I got it. Car had done 14K when I bought it and is on approx. 17K now so a tight engine isn't an excuse in my case. My mileage is mainly made up of twisty B roads and suburban driving for weekday commuting (about 24 miles per day total) which I suppose might explain the figures I'm getting, with the odd 25 mile dash along the motorway to visit my parents. I have yet to go on a really long run in the car. My previous two cars have been Mk1 Focus - a 1.6 Zetec and a 1.8 Edge - and I am sure the MPG on both were superior to my Mk2. The extra weight of course would be a major factor.
To convince myself that either the on board computer is wrong or the car does have poor consumption I think I need to go back to the old fashioned method of filling up, noting mileage completed and filling up again taking note of fuel used and getting the old calculator out!
Edited by Franco50 on 12/02/2008 at 14:03
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Definitely go with a 115PS 1.6. I test drove both the standard 1.6 and this one and the difference is substantial. I bought a new Zetec Climate model and have to say I'm very impressed. True, MPG is not great as yet-I've done 2.5K so far and average about 37MPG. Ignore the computer-it lies! (It constantly tells me my average is 31.7MPG and average speed is 27MPH whatever!). Comfort, noise (apart from some tyre noise which I can happily live with since everything else is so quiet), and overall build quality well up to the mark for what is essentially a mass produced euro tub. £7-£8K should see you in a nicely driven in example, particularly now the mk3 (2.5?) model is about(ish).
Edited by Everest Pete on 12/02/2008 at 14:59
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the 1.6 engine is fine but i found the interior below ghia spec rather drab and dismally dark
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Echo Snakey's comments above, I recently traded my Mk 2 Focus 1.6 LX. Having said that, I found the seats OK. Road noise and indifferent fuel consumption(35 to 40 mpg) were my major gripes, along with a useless boot. It seems Ford have raised the boot floor to fit a full size spare in, reducing effective space.
Only problem I had in 15000 miles was that the spark plug wells kept filling with rain water, so that the plugs were often sitting in an inch of water!
Overall, I think it's an outstanding drivers car, but average in all other respects.
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It seems Ford have raised the boot floor to fit a full size spare in reducing effective space.
I think the full-size spare is an option, or maybe specified by some fleet/hire users.
You will see both specs on nearly nrew sites.
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We were offered a choice of either full size or spacesaver by all garages we contacted. We opted for the full size but it does make a substantial dent in the available boot space.
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Don`t know much about the 1.6l but I bought a 2005 1.6 diesel LX estate last summer - the sort with the 110 PS Euro IV engine.
Most of the comment on this thread seems to be about the appalling tyre noise of the Focus II (which is TRUE!) - and disappointment with fuel consumption. My model has a theoretical "out-of-town" figure of 70 mpg, which seemed like a good thing at the time.
After 8000 miles, I actually get 38 - 42 mpg on mainly rural roads; which is not good. Reasons? The Peugeot 1.6 diesel is pretty much state of the art, with "variable vane" turbo, 16 valves, "overboost" etc etc. It`s a lot more sophisticated than Ford`s own diesels. And, it GOES - I could find little difference against the 2.0 litre Focus diesel - back to back testing; except the latter showed 32 mpg on the computer.
The Focus II is a heavy brute at 1.4 tonnes - that`s the same as my Rover V8 Vitesse from 1983. This Focus is geared the same (31 mph/1000 rpm in 5th.) - and it pulls the same - 230 lb feet @ 1800 rpm on "over boost"? In 4th gear it takes 7 secs to get from 50 to 70 - which is the same as the V8. That`s why it`s so "heavy" on fuel. (A Rover V8 owner getting even 30 mpg would be well pleased)
Advice: stay away from the heavy specs. she does not need a diesel, and a low spec 5 door is much lighter. Stay away from the odious 16" and 17" wheels and associated low profile tyres. (Or go for the Goodyear "Softies" on 15" x 195). Go for the simplest and lightest petrol engine spec, `cos her annual mileage does not justify a diesel (Does mine? Hmm - Thinks!)
Go for the lowest possible CO2 - `cos in a year or two, anything over 120 is gonna be expensive - not just road tax, boys, but that "congestion charge" is gonna spread!
In fact, she might be better off getting a Focus 1 pro tem - and then what about a Renault Twingo? I know - I hate Renaults too - but my hireling last year did 50 mpg in mountains, cruised at 80 mph quieter than my Focus - and that was with the air-con blasting away, PAS, electric everything etc etc.
Might even get one myself. But rather fancy the new Subaru diesel.
AS
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I'm led to believe (I think I read it on here) the 100hp 1.6 petrol engine is not the same as the Zetec unit in the mk 1 focus. Its now a Duratec engine that owes its heritage to Mazda, I have one in a Mazda 3.
The fuel consumption in the mazda is also dissappointing in normal driving - however I once managed 430 miles at 45 mpg - motorway and about 60mph - faster than the lorries at least.
I'm not sure about the focus but the mazda has quite short gearing. Getting the engine over about 3200 rpm - indicated 64mph in 5th ruins the economy, so 70 on the motorway is a no-no unless you want well below 40 mpg. And of course in lower gears, using the loud pedal doesn't help :-D
I hope that some of that helps a little.
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I purchased a 06 plate 1.6 LX (100 BHP) last year. It had 9K on the clock and was I believe an ex hire car, i.e. well run in !!.
As previously mentioned I found the fuel economy poor at 28 mpg around town and never better than 35 mpg on A/B roads. I bought the car without a test drive on the basis of the generally excellent reviews which seem to abound for the Focus II but found the tyre noise at 60 mph+ so intolerable that I sold the car within 6 months. The car was fitted with OEM Pirelli P7's.
Incidentally I've driven several mark 1 Focus's and have never found them excessively noisy.
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Cabs: good advice, and an amusing finale about the Subaru thoughts, despite all you say about sticking below 120 emissions-wise!
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I am hiring a Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec Climate from Hertz in august to drive from Scotland down to england and am trying to figure out how much it will cost me in petrol but i cant figure out the tank size or miles it gets? Any help Please!!!!
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Fuel tank is 55 liters, only 50 usable. Cant help with consumption, mine is a 2.0 TDCI.
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Thanks
If the tank is 55 liters and it gets roughly 32 mpg, how much would that be for 1 tank of petrol??
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If the tank is 55 liters and it gets roughly 32 mpg how much would that be for 1 tank of petrol??
50 litres = 11 gallons so 11x32=352 miles per tank (approx of course).
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BTW I'd hope to get at least 32mpg (assuming mostly motorways) out of my 2.0 petrol Focus mk1 estate, so I would hope that your 1.6 might do a bit better than that.
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so I would hope that your 1.6 might do a bit better than that.
Ok I've read the rest of the posts in this thread now :-)
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Thanks alot for your help. I used 32mpg as an estimate so if i do get better mileage, Yay for my wallet!
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Fuel tank is 55 liters only 50 usable.
Just out of curiosity, why is only 50 out of the 55 usable?
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>> Fuel tank is 55 liters only 50 usable. Just out of curiosity why is only 50 out of the 55 usable?
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I was refering to my TDCI, the engine goes into limp mode, and soon after stops, before the fuel runs out, to protect the injection system.
I cant find any reference to this in the users manual, and the 5L cushion may not be accurate, but I have read somewhere that this is how it works. EDIT - The diesels are quoted at 53L petrol at 55L. Maybe a 2L cushion?
Edited by Old Navy on 25/06/2009 at 09:34
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Just wondering, what's the most fuel anyone has been able to put into a Focus fuel tank without their car actually cutting out ?
Similarly if it cut out how much fuel was it possible to put into the tank to fill it ?
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