My new shed Focus 1.6 Ghia

[lesstatt]

After years using a company car and not caring about supermarket dents and scratches, putting the dog in the back, going to the tip etc I have changed jobs and no longer have the use of one. I have a nice car in the garage and don't fancy using that for the day to day task. So I have bought this, 2 owners from new, 54K miles and its pretty much immaculate. Couple of scratches etc and the steering wheel leather has become discoloured but apart from that it looks pretty good for what I paid for it.

[ALBA MELV]

Outside pics look good. Interiour is..... erm...... different!

Decent shed, cheap servicing and pretty solid up front in a bump. The banger races up our way seem to love a focus!

[lesstatt]

Yeah it's rather Terry and June austin maxi type colours, trying to convince myself it's retro cool. Everything seems to work as well. Air con blows cold, heated screen light comes on then goes off after a while. 12 months mot as well

[Rangeroverover]

I've recently been given one of these, a 1.6 but not Ghia, when I press the ac switch the light only stays on if the fan is in position 1, does yours do the same or is it the car trying to tell me something?

[lesstatt]

I think it's on whatever the fan speed is at, gf is out in it getting it dented at asda at the mo, but no big deal as it didn't cost a lot anyway, quite liberating

[AWG]

I rather like it!

[_Nathan_]

Strange that it is a pre-facelift on on 02' plate

[SteBrown91]

_Nathan_ said:

Strange that it is a pre-facelift on on 02' plate

Not really due to the colour/interior scheme it probably a stock car a dealer ended up with which sat around for a long time. Either it got bought silly cheap or the original dealer punted it on to some unsuspecting old couple at market value.

I suspect the latter.

Ford and VX have a habit of overstocking lots of generic stuff or certain quotas of all specs. I have seen a 51 reg mk4 fiesta which was replaced in 99. Also saw alot of brand new prefacelift insignias at the time when the facelift had been around for a good 9-10 months

[lesstatt]

Plan is to run it for as little as possible apart from essentials and see what breaks if anything

[lesstatt]

AWG said:

I rather like it!

Beige is the new black

[MC Bodge]

They were good to drive at the time. I still see quite a few about and often wonder what they would seem like now -given fresh suspension, decent tyres etc.

I had a 2.0 Zetec ESP, the chassis was great, the ESP intrusive and engine wasn't anything special. Thirsty too. The 1.6 was nicer, but less powerful and very high geared, IIRC.

Edited by MC Bodge on Friday 17th July 20:50

[ruggedscotty]

great cars - had a 1.6 silver a while back - Yamaha 16 valve engine. and an amazing car - handling was superb and a class leader.

torque was good for a twincam and it could hold its own. ford were on a winner with that car back then.... [url]

|http://thumbsnap.com/yZiDbIIx[/url][url]

|http://thumbsnap.com/DeDtKD08[/url]

[so roll me further bitch]

We have purchased a mk 1 focus also, my Tuscan is a toy and my wifes golf gti is just to nice to leave parked anywhere. It is true what you say, it is very liberating being able to park in a normal car park spot without fear of dents. I think the mk1 focus is a cracking car

[StuntmanMike]

I owned one as a second car for 7 years, bought it with 15k on, put about 60k on it, it was completely trouble free motoring, most reliable car I ever owned.
I replaced it with a Honda Jazz Sport, a sack of st in comparison.

[Rensko]

I wonder how many plastic trees they had to cut down in order to produce luxurious interior!

The 1.6 is a decent enough motor. Had one in our Mk5 Fiesta - nice and fizzy and had a decent amount of power for what was a fairly light car. I've only ever driven a 1.8 or a 2.0 Focus as they were never sold in AU with the smaller engines...

[Ste1987]

Love these cars, interesting colour on that one. If I had to resort to shedding, my first choice would definitely be a Mk1 Focus or Mk5 Fiesta

[Dave200]

ruggedscotty said:

great cars - had a 1.6 silver a while back - Yamaha 16 valve engine. and an amazing car - handling was superb and a class leader.

I'm all for enjoyment and realistic praise of cars, but some of the revisionist pseudo-journalism that gets posted on these threads is hilarious.

I've driven a Focus (along with most of the other cars in the class), and it's nothing more than a white good of a car.
It's certainly not bad, although it's anything but "amazing". The engine is adequate, the interior horrid and the chassis average. Nothing more. Let's hold back on the praise for some cars that really deserve to be called "amazing"...

[Ghost91]

Dave200 said:

I'm all for enjoyment and realistic praise of cars, but some of the revisionist pseudo-journalism that gets posted on these threads is hilarious.

I've driven a Focus (along with most of the other cars in the class), and it's nothing more than a white good of a car.
It's certainly not bad, although it's anything but "amazing". The engine is adequate, the interior horrid and the chassis average. Nothing more. Let's hold back on the praise for some cars that really deserve to be called "amazing"...

Alright but it's fairly impressive that you can pick up a car for 500 quid and it still feels tight as a drum, keeps up with traffic, works perfectly and still ultra reliable even 10-15 years later. Cheap to run, cheap to fix.... I can think of a mk1 focus but nothing else when it comes to all of this.

[pstruck]

IMO you can't go far wrong with a Mk1 Focus 1.6 for cheap motoring.

We had an 03 1.6 Zetec for five or six years, from 40k on the clock up to about 115k. The wife ran it for the first few years, then I took it on. It never put a foot wrong in that time. The 1.6 is hardly powerful, but likes to rev and if you keep the revs high it can be encouraged to cover ground at a fairly respectable pace. Coupled with the excellent ride and handling I used to really enjoy driving it quickly on my rural A and B road commute. My sister has now been running it for the past two years and as far as I know it gets used and abused but still soldiers on.

[IanCress]

I'm my fourth MK1 Focus. I've had a 2.0 Zetec ESP, ST170, 1.6 Ghia and currently have a 2.0 Ghia. I've never had any major failures over the combined 7 years and 150k miles I've driven them. One collapsed wheel bearing and a dead starter motor the only times I've been left stranded.
They're good solid cars that drive well. The larger engined cars don't offer much more performance over the 1.6, but do cost more to run.

Having said all that I'm swapping the Focus for a Volvo at the end of the week, so this will probably be my last Mk1 Focus - unless I find a good condition RS in a few years.