Discussion
100K is cambelt (on the 1.8 atleast), but if its 10 years old its worth having done
rust isnt too much of an issue, they go behind the wingmirrors and where the boot glass goes pointy in the middle, neither structural but show if the cars been loved.
check the passenger carpet, if its wet then youve got a leaky pollen filter, not a problem, but a good bargaining chip, and can be fixed for about £10
if its got it, check to see the heated screen works, its a really useful feature, so be worth working.
humm cant rememeber what else i checked with mine before buying, but there are good buyers guides about so have a google.
ive been very pleased with mine, had a speedo sensor fault which meant it cut out, but that got sorted, and would have only cost me about £50, although i got it done under warrenty.
mines done 6.5k miles since april, and hasnt missed a beat, did 800 odd miles in a day, and apart from abit of arse ache was fine the whole way down at 80 in france, and 70 here.
rust isnt too much of an issue, they go behind the wingmirrors and where the boot glass goes pointy in the middle, neither structural but show if the cars been loved.
check the passenger carpet, if its wet then youve got a leaky pollen filter, not a problem, but a good bargaining chip, and can be fixed for about £10
if its got it, check to see the heated screen works, its a really useful feature, so be worth working.
humm cant rememeber what else i checked with mine before buying, but there are good buyers guides about so have a google.
ive been very pleased with mine, had a speedo sensor fault which meant it cut out, but that got sorted, and would have only cost me about £50, although i got it done under warrenty.
mines done 6.5k miles since april, and hasnt missed a beat, did 800 odd miles in a day, and apart from abit of arse ache was fine the whole way down at 80 in france, and 70 here.
I had a '99 T reg Focus 1.6 Zetec 5dr as my 1st car. Bough it in Jan 2004 whenI was 18 & sold in Dec 2006 when I bought a new car (Focus 1.8 Collection) for my 21st.
I loved it. For only 100bhp, the engine loved to rev as its developed with Yamaha.
It did have rust. This was on the bottom of the door & bottom where the 2 parts of the door are sealed. This was fixed under the corrosion warrenty but this would hae elapsed. Another common area is under the door mirrors & around the boot handle if its a Ghia model with the chrome boot strip. It did have a few other common issues like the coil pack went but thats not expensive.
This was mine.
Standard when I bought it.
Modded
I added 17" alloys, lowered 30mm on Ford approved Eibach sprins, Piper ca-back exhaust, ST170 headlights, various colour-coding, Focus RS clear indicators & a few other bits.
I loved it. For only 100bhp, the engine loved to rev as its developed with Yamaha.
It did have rust. This was on the bottom of the door & bottom where the 2 parts of the door are sealed. This was fixed under the corrosion warrenty but this would hae elapsed. Another common area is under the door mirrors & around the boot handle if its a Ghia model with the chrome boot strip. It did have a few other common issues like the coil pack went but thats not expensive.
This was mine.
Standard when I bought it.
Modded
I added 17" alloys, lowered 30mm on Ford approved Eibach sprins, Piper ca-back exhaust, ST170 headlights, various colour-coding, Focus RS clear indicators & a few other bits.
Edited by thebigmacmoomin on Friday 21st September 19:48
Edited by thebigmacmoomin on Friday 21st September 19:50
I had a 1.8 Mk1 Focus - great car.
Definitely look out for the speedo issue, mine had that but was out of warranty at that point and quite expensive to fix from what I remember.
Water entering the passenger footwell was a real problem, and made the air conditioning a bit stinky when you first turned it on - something to do with the scuttle panel / pollen filter as I recall.
It's a brilliant handling car, I have a Mk2 Focus ST now and I still think the Mk1 Focus is just as good around the twisties (possibly rose tinted glasses, but it really does handle well).
Definitely look out for the speedo issue, mine had that but was out of warranty at that point and quite expensive to fix from what I remember.
Water entering the passenger footwell was a real problem, and made the air conditioning a bit stinky when you first turned it on - something to do with the scuttle panel / pollen filter as I recall.
It's a brilliant handling car, I have a Mk2 Focus ST now and I still think the Mk1 Focus is just as good around the twisties (possibly rose tinted glasses, but it really does handle well).
I've got one now on 107k and going strong. Bottom of the doors are getting a little rusty, and around the chrome strip on the bootlid, but otherwise fine.
Cars with aircon and heated screen are worth searching out. Obviously it goes without saying that there are so many Focus's (Foci?) around that you can afford to be choosy about the colour, spec and condition of the car you want to buy.
Common problems are:
Rear wheel bearings - you'll hear a droning/whirring sound from the rear that gets louder the faster you go
Speed sensor - Speedo needle may jump around / fail to work
Gear lever return spring - Gear lever will not spring back to centre
Coil packs - no worse than any other car of the same age, but they do occasionally go. You'll notice a misfire that gets worse the more you put your foot down.
Heater fan resistor - You may find that the heater fan only works on position 4. This is due to the resistor pack failing. £20 from a Ford dealer for a replacement.
None of the above are major issues, and can be sorted easily.
Cars with aircon and heated screen are worth searching out. Obviously it goes without saying that there are so many Focus's (Foci?) around that you can afford to be choosy about the colour, spec and condition of the car you want to buy.
Common problems are:
Rear wheel bearings - you'll hear a droning/whirring sound from the rear that gets louder the faster you go
Speed sensor - Speedo needle may jump around / fail to work
Gear lever return spring - Gear lever will not spring back to centre
Coil packs - no worse than any other car of the same age, but they do occasionally go. You'll notice a misfire that gets worse the more you put your foot down.
Heater fan resistor - You may find that the heater fan only works on position 4. This is due to the resistor pack failing. £20 from a Ford dealer for a replacement.
None of the above are major issues, and can be sorted easily.
The HT leads were failing on my 2.0 (not ST170) this was causing hesitation and a very lumpy power delivery.
My old 1.8 had a split vacuum hose, this caused it to idle poorly and constantly hunt.
Be warned, I didn't know this until a PH'er told me, the A/C comes on automatically when the heater is set to the windscreen demist position, despite the switch not illuminating!
My old 1.8 had a split vacuum hose, this caused it to idle poorly and constantly hunt.
Be warned, I didn't know this until a PH'er told me, the A/C comes on automatically when the heater is set to the windscreen demist position, despite the switch not illuminating!
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