Why would anyone in their right mind expect any sort of half-decent audio reproduction in a tin box that's likely to be doing 70MPH whilst surrounded by other, noisy, tin boxes? ;>)

Just drill the rivets out, a £19.99 drill from Aldi will do this !

I dont think its fair to say the Focus is carp. Its probably still the best car to drive in its class, and for the money probably one of the most reliable. Okay the Focus isn't an S-Class Merc, the fact as you,ve said yourself, is that this is an ordinary family hatchback designed to do this job well which it does.

Dont be taken in by the Japanese cars never have any problems brigade cus they do. I had a Lexus IS200 as a company car and in over 15 years of company car driving, it spent the most time off the road of any car I have ever had to date.

If you compare like with like the Focus will hold its own with any other car in its class.

Well stone me! I read your post and felt like I'd written it myself.

I too can't stand the sound of the Focus (2008) stereo. It's worse than any other car stereo (or any other audio system) I've ever heard. Even if you weren't fussy about sound you'd hate it. I changed the HU but found that the speakers are nasty too. I spoke to another focus owner and he 'upgraded' to Titanium speakers and then told me that they sound slightly better...but still light years away from anything 'good'. Amstrad? They were never this bad.

I also have many gripes about the Focus, It won't start in cold weather (my previous Nissan never failed to start once in 10 yrs) The interior has cheap upholstery and plastic that easily marks.

I bought the car because I liked it's driving position but I can't say that much else impresses me. I thought Ford's were supposed to represent good value but at 17k (new) I think they're a overpriced somewhat.

Did you manage to change your speakers? I decided I wanted to do mine but then thought that its too much hassle. I'm not use at DIY and it will cost too much for a set of 4 good speakers plus fitting. I'll just have to put up with the horrible thing until I decide to change cars. I am really annoyed at Ford for fitting such a dire piece of equipment in a mid range car.

Edited by FocusDriver72 on 18/03/2011 at 21:27

Primeradriver and Focusdriver72 - if anyone should be looking at a Golf or Octavia it's both of you.

The Focus is lauded by the press exactly as said above - for its ability to be punted at high speeds on B-roads: for the same reason the testers always prefer BMWs to Audis. There are a lot of people who are quite happy not to drive like that, and don't find VWs, Audis etc lacking in that rather ill-defined quality of 'drivability'.

The real advantage of a Focus, or any Ford, is that they are very good value secondhand: there are so many around that they lose their value quickly, so that for a given budget one can buy a newer Ford than one can a VW or Audi.