Ford Focus are good on fuel even the diesels build quality is good, but they do intend to rust from the wheel arches. they are comfortable and the handling is good to reliability they are good as long as they are serviced properly as with all cars.
I bought my Focus MP3 from new. I loved the look of it; outside with the large stylish alloy wheels, the brushed steel exhaust and coloured panels. The inside has the nicest and most stylish interior than any of the cars in its class. I had the car for 8 years and I felt exactly the same about it now as I did when I saw it in the showroom! The Focus won awards for a very good reason – great build quality, reliable (it never let me down, failed to start, or broke down), and a great car to drive. The MP3 special addition offers some extra nice touches. The CD radio will also play MP3 files, so you can burn around 7 albums onto one CD – great if you don’t want to carry around your MP3 player or don’t want your CD collection in your car.... The alloys are unique to this model and there’s a nice chunky section on the exhaust to give that extra sporty look. Alongside a more “standard” 03 Focus, the MP3 still looks a class act. Highly recommended!
My Focus ST-3 has been nothing but a joy to drive since I picked her up a few years ago. It was always a car that I liked to look at, but didn't know I'd grow to love it as much as I do. It's not just a good looking hot hatch, but also a bloody nice one to drive!
Inside, there's lots of switches and lots of nice touches. Ford has obviously wanted to keep the ST street related, so there's leather but two-tone colours - it's a nice place to sit!
The engine is a 2.5-litre five pot and it's just cushy. It's got torque in any gear and any revs, so you can drive it as relaxed as you want, but still rag it when the mood takes you.
The tax and insurance are a bit steep, so you might want to consider that before buying one. It's not that it's an expensive car to run day-to-day, but it's no hybrid.
I'll be keeping it for at least another year and then maybe upgrade to an RS
The only real down side with the ST version of the Ford Focus is that it gets through petrol like nobody's business. I probably get about 20 miles a gallon, but I'm often driving it a bit hard so fair enough really. My mum drives it sometimes round town and it feels like a regular car, must be my driving style lol :p
Mine was second hand. I think the dealer was having trouble shifting it, so I got a really decent price on it. The ST3 Ford Focus is the shiz, everything is tuned and tweaked to perfection. Steering is really responsive, not at all gooey, nice tight gear changes, suspension good and stiff, not a bone rattler but tuned just right, and the handling is really firmed up cos of all that. Excellent grip round corners and fast away from the lights.
All that does mean that it gets a bit too much 'attention' from chavs sometimes, which just gets annoying sometimes.
The engine is the best bit of course. The ST3 rips away from standstill, but has loads of power left when you get it up to 5k and beyond. That roar also gets a lot of looks.
Couple of fixes needed, quite possibly due to driving like a plum. There's a bit of a leak in the left headlamp, collecting a bit of water, but I might have got a stone in there at high speed. It had a couple of elec faults done under warranty. Can't see any problems with that now so it must be fixed, but maybe something to look out for if you're looking second hand.
It's a bit too easy to kerb the wheels, that's all I'd say. Get parking sensors at the back and jobs a goodun, otherwise it's not so easy to see out the back on account of the high windows.
I can't exactly say I chose this as my dad got it for me as a present for passing my test, woohoo!
I don't know much about cars, and I can't really compare it to anything else apart from the Mini I learnt in, which I think was a bit more powerful but also a lower driving position and overall a bit smaller.
The Ford Focus seemed a bit too big for me at first if anything. I kinda thought my dad was plotting to buy something, but I thought it would be a 3 door Corsa or something. A car with five doors seemed a bit much at first, but it's got parking sensors on the back which help you park. I think those are a bit of a must actually, because the back windows are a bit small and also high up, so it would probably be a bit tricky to see properly. That also makes the blind spots a bit big, which is not helped by the parking sensors!
I've had my Ford Focus now for about two years, it came second hand. It's just passed its second MoT with me, and I paid for a full service. A few things needed repairing... well afterwards my dad said he wasn't sure they 'needed' repairing but I'm new at this. One thing that's annoying me most is that there's a bit of rattling here and there as I drive, which I mentioned at the service but Ford didn't seem all that fussed about it.
Apart from the little complaints, it's really a good little runner for me. I don't have passengers that often but when I do they easily fit inside, no problems. The gears and clutch are very forgiving, which was really important to me when I first has it, as a new driver. As I've got more confident I've been chuffed at how much power it's got to spare when you want it.
Can't really blame a Ford Focus for being a bit average, but a bit average it is. Nothing really wrong with that, but look elsewhere if you want anything at all exciting. For the most part though, that's not really what I'm after. I was more interested in the decent petrol usage, and the general reliability and cheap parts that come with a popular car.
I've been a little disappointed on the reliability front. A few repairs needed. There was a small oil leak detected at the last service, which came just inside the warranty thankfully. The battery also failed once for a mysterious reason, but the dealer seemed to do something to sort that. Apart from that, the only thing on our Ford Focus is a bit of a weird problem with the clutch where it seems to be chucking out some dark exhaust, even though I'm not driving erratically. I may get that looked at soon.
Overall the size inside is pretty good, I was most impressed by the boot, and I'm still chuffed about it. I slipped a five drawer chest into it once, and only had to lean the backs of the back seats forward.
My Ford Focus doesn't have the parking thingy at the back that helps you into your space, which I might get fitted actually as the rear pillars are pretty thick and awkwardly positioned, so I struggle to see back there sometimes, dodgy blind spots etc.
Apart from that... erm, 3 door might have been a mistake. We decided on that because we seldom have people in the back, but when we do it's turned out to be mostly older relatives, who can really struggle to get back there. It has meant other people using their cars on a couple of occasions. I don't think that's Ford's fault though, can't really do that much with a 3 door car.
Last thing: the engine seems a little under powered, tricky to overtake, often needs quite a swift gear change to get it moving. Like I said, if you want something sporty look elsewhere, but the Ford Focus does ok as a fairly reliable runaround.
We got our Ford Focus new, which I'm not sure was a great idea really, seems quite a big outlay for such a depreciation longer term. I'm a bit of a nerd with our accounts and it's not really stacking up against buying second hand. Mind you there's a lot of piece of mind attached to the warranty, which we have had to use for the cat converter and driveshaft. Actually those two happened quite early on, I think within the first year, but since then we haven't had much go wrong.
On the plus side, excellent fuel consumption in the Ford Focus TDCi, in the mid 50s MPG on average I think, according to a few runs where we filled up each end. That was motorways mainly though, might be less in stop start town driving.
It's a pretty practical car, good sized boot for a small car which is important to us with two kids. We get both of them plus a friend in the back easily enough, although they are quite tightly packed so they can fidget and fight a bit. Not much you can do about that though, short of partitions between the seats. Not sure I've seen a car with that yet, hmmm.
The TDCi engine in our Ford Focus isn't exactly 'nippy', takes quite a bit of revving to get away from a standstill. I suppose that comes with the territory, although I think I've heard of other diesels that get high fuel economy and have some oomph to them, might shop around for that next time.
I had this car for 3 years and never really had any major probs. With the auto version to get appalling mpg and was very sluggish to drive. Essentially it is a ford focus- bland but reliable.
ive had a ford focus for 3 years now, passed its last 2 mot's, repairs to keep in mind are your headlight bulbs sometimes corrode and rewires are £30 and keep tabs on your brakes and discs, otherwise this is a fantastic car and well recommended.
Hi, my name's Lucy and I own a Ford Focus Sport. It's just your basic hatchback - nothing more, nothing less. That's not to say that it's boring, but it's just generic and mediocre. No excitement, no soul, it's just a hatch. It's a bit like RonSeal - it does exactly what it says on the tin.
I don't 'love' cars but I can appreciate them, and the Focus 1.6 Sport is a car that has been reliable, trust worthy and helpful ever since I bought it. The servicing costs are ok, the tax is cheap and the petrol - well, it's rubbish but that's the same for everyone at the moment!
I'd reommend a standard Focus, as the higher powered ones are a bit garish and chavy - hence the 1.6 for me. I'd only really swap it for the Honda Civic, as I like the interior and driving position better. But unfortunately for me, I can't afford one.