MK2 Focus 1.8 - Talk to me.

[CHIEF]

Due to a imminent house move my cuurent mileage will be more than halved and we have been looking at buying a family runaround and subequently have been looking at a Mk2 Focus, Has anyone had any experience of the Mk2 and preferbly the 1.8 petrol.

Are these pretty reliable?

What do they go like?
My only concern with this is I once drove admittedley a low mileage 1.6 and It was gutless and had a terrible throttle response.

Mpg etc?

Anything else?

Cheers

[CHIEF]

Anyone?

[thinkofaname]

My advice would be don't get a Mk 2 Zetec (2005-07) unless you absolutely value handling over road noise and ride comfort. They have what is described as "handling" suspension. IMO it's too firm and too noisy for an everyday car. I hear that the Mk 2.5 facelift has better soundproofing.
Very reliable - in six years, the only fault has been the AC compressor, possibly caused by a stone hitting it.

Edited by thinkofaname on Thursday 23 May 14:06

[Elderly]

This /\ . My wife's 2008 1.6 Zetec seemed gutless and noisy but handled really well
and had seats that we thought were great.

However it suffered from loads of electrical gremlins .

[93Jay]

We have a 2005 55 MK2, lots of road noise, very, very unreliable (TDCI engine) my MK1 is a better car.

[The_Burg]

Got a 1.6 Zetec estate, not a fun car.
Watch out for missfiring, water runs into the plug wells and then causes it.
A cheap generic map improved it a lot, no faster but much nicer to drive.
MPG not great mid to high 30s mostly. Actually MPG is better at higher speed on motorway runs where it gets mid 40s.
Does the job.
I do quite like the looks of the estate and in the turquoise ish blue it does stand out.

[rasto]

We have a 2009 1.8 Focus as the family run about. It's been very reliable and has done well on some long journeys, mpg is nothing to shout about though as we struggle to get more than 30 on anything but a long journey.

[thinkofaname]

WeirdNeville said:

I'm surprised that the 2006 1.6 hasn't gone down well.
I had exclusive use of one for a year as a response car. It wasn't fast, you had to use the gears to get it going, but it handled nicely and was very reliable under duress. Can't say I noticed road noise - but then I didn't do long motorway stints in it.

It is bad when you get much above 60mph. This is in my 1.6 Zetec. Maybe not so bad in other trims like LX/Ghia?
The engine also gets noisy as you get much above 3500 rpm which, given the low gearing, is only about 75 mph indicated, 70 mph real. Again, this may not apply to the 1.8, which may have higher gearing.
All in all, it's not the most relaxed motorway cruiser. And the ride's too harsh for around town, so that car's really at its best on A- and B-roads.