1.6 Petrol Focus from around 2003, £4000 opinions please...

1.6 Petrol Focus from around 2003, £4000 opinions please...

Author
Discussion

sparks87

Original Poster:

12,738 posts

214 months

Wednesday 13th February 2008
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I plan on buying one of these in a few months, it would be helpful to me for owners to comment on them

paul38

194 posts

199 months

Friday 15th February 2008
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Hi mate,

Wife has a 2000 1.6 zetec, as far as i know (providing the later ones are the same) they are pretty bullet proof cars, ive taken a few family members focus through MOT and each time the examiner comments these cars never fail.

To date the only things i can comment on that ive experienced are -

Spring in gearstick (return to netural position) goes. Went on ours, havent got around to doing it but relatively simple.

I had to change the thermostat & inlet water gasket, again simple enough and a few pence of parts.

The most common problem seems to be the drop links on the front suspension, ours makes a creeking sound / knocking when cornering. Was going to get it sorted for last years MOT but thought i'd let it fail so i know what exactly the problem was but passed, so still the same. This was the only thing the MOT guys mentioned that goes wrong with them - £50 would sort it in a non dealer mechanics so not really worth worrying about.

Only other thing to watch out for is as always rust, especially around the metal work flanges around the back dampers and the wing mirrors, although i think the later ones were galvanised wheras the earlier ones wearn't

As i said, ours is 2000 with about 80K miles and still drives as smooth and well as a much newer car.

Paul

BigMansZetec

1,193 posts

208 months

Friday 15th February 2008
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I have a 2002 1.6 Zetec, and its's pretty much faultless. Handles well and the engine isn't is fairly strong for its size.

Its done about 75,000 miles and the only thing thats went wrong with it was the clutch pedal linkage, which required a new master cyclinder. But that was covered on warranty so no problem there.

I get an average of about 400 miles off a tank, and its very economical on the motorways but not so good for stop/start town driving.

I would imagine £4000 is at the upper end of the price for a 2003 model, depending on mileage, exact age etc.

Overall, reccomended.

sparks87

Original Poster:

12,738 posts

214 months

Thursday 21st February 2008
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Does anyone have opinions on the 1.8 Focus from 2002 onwards? Is it nicer to drive than the 1.6, how different is the fuel economy compared to the 1.6, i.e miles to tank?