Opinions: Ford Focus

Calabrio

Calabrio

Dedicated LVC Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Messages
8,793
Reaction score
3
Location
Sarasota
Has anyone here owned a 2000-2007 Ford Focus?
What was your opinion of it?
 
My sister has an "Arizona Beige" 2003. It's on par with that type of car. If I had to choose between a Cavalier, Neon or Focus I would definately get the Focus. But don't expect surefooted handling at highway speeds or anything like that.
 
my sister has one 2005, 180k miles,solid car but needed struts and shocks and tie rods early (in fords defense this car is used twice a week to deliver newspapers) only drawback to the car is it does not go in the snow at all!!!!!! !! overall a good value with a little bit of style in my opinion
 
if your 6 feet tall you wont fit lol tons of torque steer, bad gas mileage, kinda ugly, cheap interior, for a teenage girl its a good car, for a man in his 30's 40's go with a ford five hundred.
 
The 2.5T isn't or wasn't available in the American Focus, that was only in Europe. The Euro-Focus is similar to the Mazda 3 and the Volvo C30 (also with the 2.5 T engine).

I'm looking to pick up a cheap, fuel efficient, commuter, that is still fun to drive and has room for dogs. The focus caught my attention and the reviews I get are very polar.
The SVT model looks great, but it gets about the same gas mileage as our V8 Mark VIIIs. I can't accept that from a 2 liter engine.
 
The SVT Focus is quite excellent. Every time I drove one it put a smile on my face. I drove one for two weeks as a company demo car and on the first tank I averaged 24 MPG and was just beating the hell out of it. Second week I just drove normal with the occasional blast and averaged 33mpg.
I wouldnt get a full base model as their suspension sucks, the ZX is much better. Also the cars last for freakin ever! I dont think I have ever seen one broke down on the side of the road.
Be aware of timing belts though. My buddy got one for $50 cause it snapped the belt. He rebuilt the head and left the scars on the pistons. He prolly has 40K on it now and its still going strong.
His shop has gotten some others in with the same engine and a broken bely but no dammage, maybe his was high in the RPMs when it let go, dont really know.


In any case at least get the ZX and you will have a nice nimble reliable car that should kick back low 30's MPG. The SVT will only run you a 1-2 mpg drop over the ZX but its just so much more fun.
 
Look into the escape also. Their cheap and well built. Excellent gas mileage, ride nice. We also had a 500 limited (black and chrome) I like the escape better but the 500 got excellent gas mileage and rode good. Both went well in Michigan snow.

Just my 2 cents for a cheap dependable DD.
 
mespock said:
I'd take one for a daily driver ... would rather have the Fusion .... but the Focus is a great car.
Click to expand...
:iconcur: x eleventy billion!!

I just drove a Fusion Sport AWD with the 3.5 a couple days ago! OMFG I really loved the little car. I was within a gnats ass of trading my Mark in. The interior was so nice and well layed out, the seats were uber comfy, the way the dash started up was just too freakin cool, the magic TV in the rear view mirror, the blind spot radar, the nice sounding stereo...... but the freakin power! It could definatly take my car 0-60. :(
It dont handle as well as my car but it was too damn close for a box stock car.

It had every option except NAV and with rebate it would have ran $27,500. A lot of money for a mid size but damn its alot of car. Oh yeah, I got it to 70 and set the cruise controll just out of curiosity. It averaged 27.9mpg which is killer considering it only has 21 miles on it so you know it will go up a little after it breaks in.

I really want one and would have never thought that about a little 4-door car before.
 
Lincoln Luebbe said:
My sister has an "Arizona Beige" 2003. It's on par with that type of car. If I had to choose between a Cavalier, Neon or Focus I would definately get the Focus. But don't expect surefooted handling at highway speeds or anything like that.
Click to expand...

I have no idea what's wrong with the one the handling comment is based on in the above statement, cheese tires? Poor maintenance, worn out suspension maybe? I've had two, a 2000 ZX3 and my current 2002 SVT. The cars are excellent in the handling department, especially the SVT.

The pre-2005 cars had better basic materials in the interior, it was pretty obvious they went cheaper on some things with the face lifted cars after 2004.
 
fastmark1993 said:
if your 6 feet tall you wont fit lol tons of torque steer, bad gas mileage, kinda ugly, cheap interior, for a teenage girl its a good car, for a man in his 30's 40's go with a ford five hundred.
Click to expand...

False. I'm 6'3" and I had PLENTY of room. I had a ZX3 and it had a really tall roof so I fit perfectly, and I was able to fit my legs good too.

Interior is cheap only on the 4 door. For whatever reason they cheaped out on that version. The ZX3 interior was really nice.

Transmission wise the shift linkage is a major weak point. It broke 3 times on me by 45,000 miles. I bought the car brand new. I sold it back in 04 and just recently checked up on it via autocheck and supposedly the shifter linkage broke 3 more times.

Performance wise I had: Superchips chip, Steeda cai, fidanza adj cam gears (dyno tuned), focus sport orp, Ford racing underdrive pulley, 4.06 gears, centerforce dual friction clutch, Steeda short throw shifter, Steeda chrome-moly strut tower bar, Polyurethane transmission mount and 17" SVT rims.

The 4.06 gears although they made a difference, defeated the purpose of having a 4cyl because the RPM's were WAY to high on the thruway. That is a mod I wouldn't do again to that car if I had another one.

The shifter was a must because the stock one sucks at life, however make sure to see if anyone has an aftermarket update to the shifter linkage problem.

The strut bar and poly trans mount made a GIGANTIC difference in standing starts. It used to have massive wheel hop when I would dump on it. After adding those it had virtually zero hop, and would connect and go. It also was much stronger into the turns.

Honestly the car was very, very easy to mod, was quite dependable minus the linkage issue, and was the best handling car I've ever owned (it even out handled my 03 GT vert). I was able to take an on ramp at 90mph with out thinking twice. Speedwise they are much more fun once you start modding them, but are not fast stock.

The SVT is nice but has less available for it, and its more expensive to mode. The SVT however has a 6spd as opposed to a 5spd so changing the gears would be a possibility on it.

Honestly I would love to buy another someday as an auto-x car. It was a really fun car to own and I miss it sometimes. Just don't buy the 4 door Focus because for whatever reason those cars sucked at life...the majority didn't have the Zetec engine either...also the 03 ZX3 had the duratec engine that was hard to mod and easily blew so avoid that one. I'd stick with an 02 if possible.

btw, don't get a true CAI for that car. I had an AEM cold air intake that went under the car and the car was faster with the steeda. When I worked at Steeda I got to test the difference between the two. The short ram worked better because it had a more direct, shorter and straighter airflow.

Hope all this info helps. If you have any other questions feel free to ask me :)
 
Rodewaryer said:
I have no idea what's wrong with the one the handling comment is based on in the above statement, cheese tires? Poor maintenance, worn out suspension maybe? I've had two, a 2000 ZX3 and my current 2002 SVT. The cars are excellent in the handling department, especially the SVT.

The pre-2005 cars had better basic materials in the interior, it was pretty obvious they went cheaper on some things with the face lifted cars after 2004.
Click to expand...

I agree, definitely must have been cheap tires. Ford cheaped out even in the earlier models with the 4 door Focus. The ZX3 and SVT had way better interior's and engines.
 
PetesSweets86 said:
I hate the new ones. THe sport adition sucks more balls than Jenny Jameson
Click to expand...
.:slam: jennA........:slam:
ground_zero298 said:
Look into the escape also. Their cheap and well built. Excellent gas mileage, ride nice
Click to expand...


escapes millage sux that was the biggest complaint we got about them

as for the focus questions
get the 2.0 DOHC (zetec)
rotate your tires EVERY oil change or you will chop the piss out of the rear
and be careful in the snow tap the brakes and the rear comes around real quick

they are known for breaking ft coil springs, loose ft sway bar links, ft wheel bearings, pass side axle shaft support bearing, the tab breaking off the clockspring (so it wont cancel the turn sig's after a turn) the thermostat housing leaking cam cover leaking and wipers stopping as soon as you let off the switch

over all its a decent car for what it is and most of those fixes are easy
 
chicken said:
.:slam: jennA........:slam:



escapes millage sux that was the biggest complaint we got about them

as for the focus questions
get the 2.0 DOHC (zetec)
rotate your tires EVERY oil change or you will chop the piss out of the rear
and be careful in the snow tap the brakes and the rear comes around real quick

they are known for breaking ft coil springs, loose ft sway bar links, ft wheel bearings, pass side axle shaft support bearing, the tab breaking off the clockspring (so it wont cancel the turn sig's after a turn) the thermostat housing leaking cam cover leaking and wipers stopping as soon as you let off the switch

over all its a decent car for what it is and most of those fixes are easy
Click to expand...

I didn't have any of those problems and I literally beat the snot out of that car. I also drove it in Buffalo, NY winters which are MUCH worse than the rest of the country due to lake effect snow. I had zero issues with the rear end coming out...matter of fact I would try to get it to kick out in the snow for fun and the only way it would is if I yanked the e-brake and cut the wheel.

There's a reason they use the Focus for rally racing ;)
 
ripped camel said:
I didn't have any of those problems and I literally beat the snot out of that car. I also drove it in Buffalo, NY winters which are MUCH worse than the rest of the country due to lake effect snow. I had zero issues with the rear end coming out...matter of fact I would try to get it to kick out in the snow for fun and the only way it would is if I yanked the e-brake and cut the wheel.

There's a reason they use the Focus for rally racing ;)
Click to expand...

ok well then your 1 car is a freak, in all the time i worked at ford EVERY single one (at least 4 a day) that i pulled around in winter all you would have to do is tap the brake and counter steer and you could drift it all the way around the back half of the building to the door
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 77 (members: 0, guests: 77)
Back
Top