I have a 2004 Focus Ghia 2.0, it doesn't have heaps of power (~130hp), but is quite nippy.
It doesn't seem over powered, occasionally you get the odd bit of torque steer. I don't know if there's any differences in suspension and setup to other focus'. The suspension isn't very soft, but isn't too firm. Occasionally you'll hit a bump and you'll feel it. But going down country roads it feels great, amazing fun. I've read and heard that the Focus is one of the best handling cars for it's class and price.
One problem I find is with fuel consumption, I'm reckoning this is more to do with location and maybe something with the car. But I only seem to average around 22mpg, it's not just my driving my dad can only manage that, manufactorors quote it at around 30-35 MPG, I'm guessing they don't factor in stopping every 30 seconds, like I have to where I live.
Should you make a claim they will do anything to stop it, working out how you obviously have been lying with back tracking previous polices and old MOTs and the millage listed on the V5 isn't hard and will be found out. Whilst they probably won't bother if you're a few miles over if you have been blatantly lying and vastly exceeding it you may as well not bother insuring it, you'll probably get less trouble than should they try and chase you up.
Ah yes we thinking about the Mk1 ST, which IIRC had about 170bhp and no LSD. A 1.8 or the less powerful 2 litre are probably quite nice cars, although I don't really see a lot of advantage in having more power.
You said it would 'barely' raise the premium, I say it would go through the roof and be very hard, if not impossible, for a 17 year old to find a company willing to take them.
Is that on a provisional? I got a quote of £1k on my provisional, but when I passed my test they wanted an EXTRA £1k because I was a "high risk driver".
My quotes went up for the license too, but I assume that's because you go from havnig a qualified driver with you to being solo. Silly, since you have no more or less control, but I guess they take into account having someone to warn you about acting the maggot
I used moneysuperket.com and confused.com (which I believe together cover something like 94% of all online insurers) but my cheapest quote by far was still from a small local company. Remember, the bigger the company the less person the quote is. Smaller companies are more willing to find out abou you and try to get the extra business by undercutting the big guns.
Depending on the car you're looking at next, try the insurers I mentioned in my last post. It saved me £200.
I've heard good things about the Rallye 106's, but seriously £1500 for a 10-year-old tiny toy? Sounds well overpriced to me.
Could get this V6 and still have a few hundred left to put towards insurance
I've heard bad things as well. If you crash into a hedge in a Proton you won't be able to handle the snappy 106 chassis for long.
Those look in nice condition though, I'd personally go for the one that's slightly modified as it's pretty nicely done, so long as the condition is good.
Mmm yer but I wouldn't be buying a little car with a revvy engine that's probably been driven pretty hard with that many miles on the clock, personally.
Yeah probably not far away from a potential rebuild, but AFAIK as long as the cambelt has been done at the correct intervals it shouldn't be much of an issue.
There's a couple around me, come renewal time I'll check em out. 
