2006 Ford Focus Saloon
Discussion
Have a great time reading the Readers' Cars threads so figured I'd start one of my own!
Have come from a 2008 1.3CDTi Astra which had gotten horrible enough to the point where it was knackered and needed the better part of £2k work done on it (DMF, turbo, gearbox and more), safe to say I was fed up of a 22 second 0-60!
Decided I want to stay in the realms of cheaper motoring for now- at least until I'm comfortable with going for something more expensive.
So I hereby introduce my new shed (fitting nicely in the new budget at £1295)... A lovely 2006 Ford Focus Saloon, with Titanium trim and a 2 litre 4 pot engine!
Comes with an advisory-free MOT circa May 2018, a good service history and a recent service.
Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures when I picked it up so will steal a few from the dealer's listing (albeit with the wrong number plate on, which was of course fine by the time I viewed it)-
Had an absolute mare when it came to actually picking this up. Went down to view the weekend prior, was happy enough for £1295 and agreed that I would put down a deposit and come down to purchase in full. Ownership, tax and insurance organised and all went well with no nasties on the HPI check and such. Train was booked and pickup from destination station organised and I made my way down to catch the train, when upon arriving I saw this-
Naturally, I was straight on the phone to inform the dealer that his lovely missus needn't come down and pick me up after all as I wasn't going to make it that day and neither of us were particularly keen on the idea of trying again in two hours time so we decided to try again Monday evening after I finished work.
Monday evening arrives, I get out of work a little later than expected, end up sprinting for the train (still in my work garb no less) and manage to miss the bugger by literally seconds. Of course, another call to the dealer (albeit apologetic this time) and re-arranged for the Tuesday evening.
Tuesday evening arrives, I get out of work with plenty of time and manage to get to the train station 10 minutes early. Train arrives, I'm on it and I arrive unscathed at the other end. Picked up by his missus (in the Focus no less!) and go to the garage to sign and pay the remainder (on card- which would turn out to be a bit of an error). Amount is entered on card machine, card is entered and PIN typed in. No connection from the card machine to the network. Oh dear...
Rinse and repeat a few times until we decide that the best course of action at this point is to drive around in an attempt to find some better signal (signal was quite badly affected in this area over the then-past few days). Go as far as the phone mast itself, where it would appear we have full GPRS signal, but still, nothing. The missus calls the fella and just suggests we go back to the garage and go from there...
About 50 metres from the garage, suddenly the card machines kicks into life and other things come up on the screen- T-Mobile, 3G and such. We park up, try the transaction again and it goes through! Car is paid for and only one tree was killed in the process (transaction failed receipts). 40 minute drive down the A1 home and all is well- have a little play with the accelerator pedal and surprise myself with how quickly (theoretically...) the car would make progress from 70-110 (I didn't consider how much it would go past this but there was definitely plenty of breathing room left).
Car and driver home nicely and comfortably, brain whirring away with the possibility that I might be able to spend money on a car because I *want* to, and not because I *need* to.
To be continued!
Have come from a 2008 1.3CDTi Astra which had gotten horrible enough to the point where it was knackered and needed the better part of £2k work done on it (DMF, turbo, gearbox and more), safe to say I was fed up of a 22 second 0-60!
Decided I want to stay in the realms of cheaper motoring for now- at least until I'm comfortable with going for something more expensive.
So I hereby introduce my new shed (fitting nicely in the new budget at £1295)... A lovely 2006 Ford Focus Saloon, with Titanium trim and a 2 litre 4 pot engine!
Comes with an advisory-free MOT circa May 2018, a good service history and a recent service.
Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures when I picked it up so will steal a few from the dealer's listing (albeit with the wrong number plate on, which was of course fine by the time I viewed it)-
Had an absolute mare when it came to actually picking this up. Went down to view the weekend prior, was happy enough for £1295 and agreed that I would put down a deposit and come down to purchase in full. Ownership, tax and insurance organised and all went well with no nasties on the HPI check and such. Train was booked and pickup from destination station organised and I made my way down to catch the train, when upon arriving I saw this-
Naturally, I was straight on the phone to inform the dealer that his lovely missus needn't come down and pick me up after all as I wasn't going to make it that day and neither of us were particularly keen on the idea of trying again in two hours time so we decided to try again Monday evening after I finished work.
Monday evening arrives, I get out of work a little later than expected, end up sprinting for the train (still in my work garb no less) and manage to miss the bugger by literally seconds. Of course, another call to the dealer (albeit apologetic this time) and re-arranged for the Tuesday evening.
Tuesday evening arrives, I get out of work with plenty of time and manage to get to the train station 10 minutes early. Train arrives, I'm on it and I arrive unscathed at the other end. Picked up by his missus (in the Focus no less!) and go to the garage to sign and pay the remainder (on card- which would turn out to be a bit of an error). Amount is entered on card machine, card is entered and PIN typed in. No connection from the card machine to the network. Oh dear...
Rinse and repeat a few times until we decide that the best course of action at this point is to drive around in an attempt to find some better signal (signal was quite badly affected in this area over the then-past few days). Go as far as the phone mast itself, where it would appear we have full GPRS signal, but still, nothing. The missus calls the fella and just suggests we go back to the garage and go from there...
About 50 metres from the garage, suddenly the card machines kicks into life and other things come up on the screen- T-Mobile, 3G and such. We park up, try the transaction again and it goes through! Car is paid for and only one tree was killed in the process (transaction failed receipts). 40 minute drive down the A1 home and all is well- have a little play with the accelerator pedal and surprise myself with how quickly (theoretically...) the car would make progress from 70-110 (I didn't consider how much it would go past this but there was definitely plenty of breathing room left).
Car and driver home nicely and comfortably, brain whirring away with the possibility that I might be able to spend money on a car because I *want* to, and not because I *need* to.
To be continued!
Car now residing with me (minus the horrible dealer stickers on the boot, or rather 20 as all the letters were individual stickers)
Note the parking sensor
So, there's a £900 difference between the list price and what I paid.
Like any cheaper car, there's a couple of issues. When I went to look at the car, the bodywork turned out to be just a bit of a state (inclusive of some surface rust), the windscreen washer fluid reservoir contained water instead of windscreen washer fluid, the air-con wasn't particularly cold (hoping it's just a re-gas needed) and the boot lock doesn't release first time. These coupled with the dealer only having limited permissible space on his premises and having nicer things he wanted to move in made it so that the car ended up coming to me for £1295 + 3% credit charge fee!
Please excuse the focus...
Now, as it's a shed, the bodywork doesn't *totally* bother me, nor does the boot release as it usually goes after a couple of presses anyway. Not looking like the air con will be too much of an issue in the short term as the days aren't really getting hot enough for it, though I will chance a re-gas and hope for the best as it does at least have some temperature variation when changing the temp control.
All windows and doors work, stereo works very nicely and the car drives rather nicely. Tyres all look alright (even if they are mismatched with a ditchfinder or two) and braking performance is as expected.
However, and this only started occurring a couple of days into ownership, sometimes the car can have a bit of a problem with starting first time (it's certainly less often than the car starts first time) which I'm a little concerned about! The car starts turning over but doesn't actually start until I take the key out, give it a few secs and try again (and sometimes once again after that). Having the car at my cousin's garage this week hopefully for a more thorough inspection and to get it up on the ramp to see if any underneath rust requires attention. Bit worried it could be a more expensive issue but there's still around £700 budget left if needed.
So current plans are:
- More thorough inspection
- Air con re-gas
- Deal with surface rust
- A good wax/polish/interior glass clean
- Remove the dash wiring for the DAB unit provided (if anyone wants it, they're welcome to it!)
- Replace broken vent
- Remove rest of stickers
- New gear stick gaiter
- Cap for cigarette lighter
Note the parking sensor
So, there's a £900 difference between the list price and what I paid.
Like any cheaper car, there's a couple of issues. When I went to look at the car, the bodywork turned out to be just a bit of a state (inclusive of some surface rust), the windscreen washer fluid reservoir contained water instead of windscreen washer fluid, the air-con wasn't particularly cold (hoping it's just a re-gas needed) and the boot lock doesn't release first time. These coupled with the dealer only having limited permissible space on his premises and having nicer things he wanted to move in made it so that the car ended up coming to me for £1295 + 3% credit charge fee!
Please excuse the focus...
Now, as it's a shed, the bodywork doesn't *totally* bother me, nor does the boot release as it usually goes after a couple of presses anyway. Not looking like the air con will be too much of an issue in the short term as the days aren't really getting hot enough for it, though I will chance a re-gas and hope for the best as it does at least have some temperature variation when changing the temp control.
All windows and doors work, stereo works very nicely and the car drives rather nicely. Tyres all look alright (even if they are mismatched with a ditchfinder or two) and braking performance is as expected.
However, and this only started occurring a couple of days into ownership, sometimes the car can have a bit of a problem with starting first time (it's certainly less often than the car starts first time) which I'm a little concerned about! The car starts turning over but doesn't actually start until I take the key out, give it a few secs and try again (and sometimes once again after that). Having the car at my cousin's garage this week hopefully for a more thorough inspection and to get it up on the ramp to see if any underneath rust requires attention. Bit worried it could be a more expensive issue but there's still around £700 budget left if needed.
So current plans are:
- More thorough inspection
- Air con re-gas
- Deal with surface rust
- A good wax/polish/interior glass clean
- Remove the dash wiring for the DAB unit provided (if anyone wants it, they're welcome to it!)
- Replace broken vent
- Remove rest of stickers
- New gear stick gaiter
- Cap for cigarette lighter
Jimmy Recard said:
Looks great OP, enjoy it!
I've never driven a 2008 Astra 1.3CDTi and doubt I'll go out of my way to try one. I hope the Focus turns out to be decent.
Don't! Was a nice alternative first car though to the usual fare- £860 for my first year!I've never driven a 2008 Astra 1.3CDTi and doubt I'll go out of my way to try one. I hope the Focus turns out to be decent.
Update time!
Car looking rather nice (paintwork issues aside) after a good clean inside and out
Replacing the worn out armrest has found it's way onto my to-do list!
Spent a few pennies on the bay and at the scrappers this week...
Cigarette lighter cap (50p!)
Gearstick gaiter
Dash vent (realised after the fact that it doesn't have the chrome bit that the other's do so it got moved to the far left, swapped with centre left)
"OK" stickers removed
Not sure what this is- it doesn't want to come out particularly easily. I'm thinking either something related to the DAB unit or the parking sensors.
Had my mechanic take a look earlier on and said the starting issue may be related to the camshaft sensor- one ordered and will fit it Monday/Tuesday. Otherwise the car got the thumbs up! No fault codes or anything!
That means the job list is now as follows:
Air con re-gas
Surface rust/scratch treatment
Replacement parking sensor
Remove DAB unit and associated wiring
Replace the water in the washer fluid reservoir with screenwash
Replace armrest
Car looking rather nice (paintwork issues aside) after a good clean inside and out
Replacing the worn out armrest has found it's way onto my to-do list!
Spent a few pennies on the bay and at the scrappers this week...
Cigarette lighter cap (50p!)
Gearstick gaiter
Dash vent (realised after the fact that it doesn't have the chrome bit that the other's do so it got moved to the far left, swapped with centre left)
"OK" stickers removed
Not sure what this is- it doesn't want to come out particularly easily. I'm thinking either something related to the DAB unit or the parking sensors.
Had my mechanic take a look earlier on and said the starting issue may be related to the camshaft sensor- one ordered and will fit it Monday/Tuesday. Otherwise the car got the thumbs up! No fault codes or anything!
That means the job list is now as follows:
Air con re-gas
Surface rust/scratch treatment
Replacement parking sensor
Remove DAB unit and associated wiring
Replace the water in the washer fluid reservoir with screenwash
Replace armrest
I always liked the saloon Focus. You seem to have got it at a decent price - definitely never happening @ the optimistic £2195 asking price!
The surface rust is fairly typical. If you're doing nothing else with it i'd scrape it back, put a rust eater on it then a good coat of touch up paint.
RE: the aircon. You may be lucky and get away with a regas, but its likely theres a small leak. I'd try Kwikfit. They only charge if they can get it cooler than it was and if they cant they can often see / hear where the leak is (so maybe a free diagnostic!)
The surface rust is fairly typical. If you're doing nothing else with it i'd scrape it back, put a rust eater on it then a good coat of touch up paint.
RE: the aircon. You may be lucky and get away with a regas, but its likely theres a small leak. I'd try Kwikfit. They only charge if they can get it cooler than it was and if they cant they can often see / hear where the leak is (so maybe a free diagnostic!
)daemon said:
I always liked the saloon Focus. You seem to have got it at a decent price - definitely never happening @ the optimistic £2195 asking price!
The surface rust is fairly typical. If you're doing nothing else with it i'd scrape it back, put a rust eater on it then a good coat of touch up paint.
RE: the aircon. You may be lucky and get away with a regas, but its likely theres a small leak. I'd try Kwikfit. They only charge if they can get it cooler than it was and if they cant they can often see / hear where the leak is (so maybe a free diagnostic!)
Amazing how much stick I've gotten for going for it! Old man car etc. It's quite nice being in something a bit different versus, say, a silver Focus hatch.The surface rust is fairly typical. If you're doing nothing else with it i'd scrape it back, put a rust eater on it then a good coat of touch up paint.
RE: the aircon. You may be lucky and get away with a regas, but its likely theres a small leak. I'd try Kwikfit. They only charge if they can get it cooler than it was and if they cant they can often see / hear where the leak is (so maybe a free diagnostic!
)Rust wise- what sort of products are good for this? Bit of a novice at the whole "actually taking a bit of pride in your car" thing it must be said!
Kwik Fit sounds like a good shout for the air-con, will try my luck tomorrow...
mholt1995 said:
daemon said:
I always liked the saloon Focus. You seem to have got it at a decent price - definitely never happening @ the optimistic £2195 asking price!
The surface rust is fairly typical. If you're doing nothing else with it i'd scrape it back, put a rust eater on it then a good coat of touch up paint.
RE: the aircon. You may be lucky and get away with a regas, but its likely theres a small leak. I'd try Kwikfit. They only charge if they can get it cooler than it was and if they cant they can often see / hear where the leak is (so maybe a free diagnostic!)
Amazing how much stick I've gotten for going for it! Old man car etc. It's quite nice being in something a bit different versus, say, a silver Focus hatch.The surface rust is fairly typical. If you're doing nothing else with it i'd scrape it back, put a rust eater on it then a good coat of touch up paint.
RE: the aircon. You may be lucky and get away with a regas, but its likely theres a small leak. I'd try Kwikfit. They only charge if they can get it cooler than it was and if they cant they can often see / hear where the leak is (so maybe a free diagnostic!
)Rust wise- what sort of products are good for this? Bit of a novice at the whole "actually taking a bit of pride in your car" thing it must be said!
Kwik Fit sounds like a good shout for the air-con, will try my luck tomorrow...
You could start attempting to "fix" it with rattle cans etc, you could end up with a much bigger area (badly) painted. Likewise getting it done by a bodyman would be prohibitive i would have thought.
Another update!
Took the car to Kwik-Fit as advised on Sunday for the aircon. £50 later and it's much colder (guaranteed for a year also).
Popped over to ECP on my lunch break today to pick up the camshaft sensor (change from £20) and then proceeded to remove the old one and fit the new one.
Mucky engine bay shot
After I got the old one out it looked a little apparent as to possibly why the sensor wasn't always sensing...
Has since started flawlessly three times and counting. Not signing it off yet but cautiously optimistic (and ready to have a little cry if it has issues starting again).
Current to-do's
Surface rust
Scratch treatment (bottle of T-cut bought, will give it a shot after next wash)
Replacement parking sensor (looks like this one could end up being a PITA- bumper will need to be removed and I'll need to determine the brand of the sensors to arrange a replacement)
Remove DAB unit and associated wiring (think I will leave this until a new head unit is sourced)
Double DIN touchscreen head unit (with Bluetooth, Sat Nav/Android Auto and DAB)
Replace the water in the washer fluid reservoir with Prestone screenwash (will probably end up just 'flushing' it by keeping the washer button pressed for however long it takes as the bottle looks like a hassle to get out, wheel arch liner needs to come off)
Replace armrest
Replacement Ford rear badge
Remove the bee from my indicator
Took the car to Kwik-Fit as advised on Sunday for the aircon. £50 later and it's much colder
(guaranteed for a year also).Popped over to ECP on my lunch break today to pick up the camshaft sensor (change from £20) and then proceeded to remove the old one and fit the new one.
Mucky engine bay shot
After I got the old one out it looked a little apparent as to possibly why the sensor wasn't always sensing...
Has since started flawlessly three times and counting. Not signing it off yet but cautiously optimistic (and ready to have a little cry if it has issues starting again).
Current to-do's
Surface rust
Scratch treatment (bottle of T-cut bought, will give it a shot after next wash)
Replacement parking sensor (looks like this one could end up being a PITA- bumper will need to be removed and I'll need to determine the brand of the sensors to arrange a replacement)
Remove DAB unit and associated wiring (think I will leave this until a new head unit is sourced)
Double DIN touchscreen head unit (with Bluetooth, Sat Nav/Android Auto and DAB)
Replace the water in the washer fluid reservoir with Prestone screenwash (will probably end up just 'flushing' it by keeping the washer button pressed for however long it takes as the bottle looks like a hassle to get out, wheel arch liner needs to come off)
Replace armrest
Replacement Ford rear badge
Remove the bee from my indicator
bangerturner said:
Next time it won't start, try tapping the top of the dash above the clocks
There is a common problem on focus's of this vintage of dry solder joints in the dash pack, it's an easy fix if you're handy with a soldering iron
Issue is still happening so reading into this now- when you say above the clocks do you mean above the instrument cluster? If it ends up being this I may well end up doing this and removing the DAB wiring at the same time if it means ripping open the dash There is a common problem on focus's of this vintage of dry solder joints in the dash pack, it's an easy fix if you're handy with a soldering iron
Thanks,
Michael
Whats the immobiliser light doing when the cars not starting?
If it starts when you take the key out and put it back in, it sounds like its key / immobiliser related?
Also, polish out scratches - get a dark blue polish for that car (if thats not the T Cut one you've got already) as if its a white polish it just highlights any marks by filling them full of white polish.
If it starts when you take the key out and put it back in, it sounds like its key / immobiliser related?
Also, polish out scratches - get a dark blue polish for that car (if thats not the T Cut one you've got already) as if its a white polish it just highlights any marks by filling them full of white polish.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff