Quote from mr_x :

I add to the Focus vote.

I have a 2003 (03 plate) 1.6l LX Focus, just hit 76,000 and only thing that's gone wrong in my 5 years of having it was an exhaust manifold and the speed sensor.

Next year my girlfriend will be getting my Focus and I shall be replacing it with a slightly newer Focus.

People give Ford a hard time, and I have no idea why - my dad had many Mondeos from early 90s to mid 00s as company cars, all of them over 100,000 miles over 3 years and none of them ever had a major problem that I can remember.

The biggest killer of all of the Fords I've worked on has been rust. But in recent years they've got on top of it. Ford now has a 13 year corrosion guarantee on their vehicles.

The only mechanical problems I've come across was due to not servicing them. The turbo on a turbo diesel Focus failing because the oil was 40k old.

Although the Mk3 Mondeo has a rear subframe bush problem, it is no uncommon for them to fail and until recently (about 3 years ago) you couldn't get the bush on its own, it had to come with a new subframe. At about £1,200 a pop you can see why many people chose to bin their cars. But the bush is available for about £25 (not genuine Ford though, they still only sell it as a subframe last time I looked into it), bit of a shit to fit, but otherwise a better option.

Quote from Matrixi :

Got one as a daily driver right now, and it's awesome for driving around in the city.

the only redeeming feature that thing has is that sitting on the inside youre not the one who has to look at it

Quote from Shotglass :

the only redeeming feature that thing has is that sitting on the inside youre not the one who has to look at it

In terms of interior space it's pretty clever though. Shame about the way the rear door opens, that's a bit silly. And that's what has put me off - I'm always having to park in tight spots and not being able to open the rear door would make it a pointless car to own.

If it was a normal rear hatch I might have bought one. As it stands I think I'm still looking for a 1.6 Focus.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

In terms of interior space it's pretty clever though. Shame about the way the rear door opens, that's a bit silly. And that's what has put me off - I'm always having to park in tight spots and not being able to open the rear door would make it a pointless car to own.

If it was a normal rear hatch I might have bought one. As it stands I think I'm still looking for a 1.6 Focus.

Can't that be an optional feature? Like it is in VW Caddy for example? I personally like these doors more than standart, because I always bang my head against open hatch door. I'm a bit clumsy. But yeah, it's a bitch in tight spots.


Edit: Nope, only the newer version has normal door.

Quote from Shotglass :

the only redeeming feature that thing has is that sitting on the inside youre not the one who has to look at it

Like I said, it's only a good choice IF you don't care about the looks.

After driving stuff like RX-7's and GT-R it's actually refreshing to blend in with the traffic and not cause a huge racket everywhere you drive. Insurance and taxes cost next to nothing with the Yaris either, which is nice.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

An estate would be a pain for me because I have to park on the street and I live in the centre of York, and all the other people with permits for the same street as me park like arseholes so I'm always having to squeeze into gaps that are unnecessarily small.

Get a french car they are built to park in spots smaller than the car (*bump* *bump*), most other arguments talk against a french car though.

A very common uncomplicated car is usually cheap to repair (cheap spare parts and the village blacksmith can fix most problems even if he is not skilled on that particular model, and he will probably charge half of what the brand garage do) in UK this would argue for a vauxhall I guess.

An old toyota is a safe bet if you like to patch up some rust on the fenders. But it is mostly cosmetic. The mechanics are usually bullet proof.

Quote from Matrixi :

Like I said, it's only a good choice IF you don't care about the looks.

while its not an immutable rule nor a perfect analogy i still believe its a good yardstick to replace the word car with girlfriend in any sentence you say about a car and based on that decide whether or not youd like to own it
"shes only good to be with if you dont care about her looks" is a definite no-fly
as is not liking the way the rear door opens

Sod a focus. Go old school. Get an E30 Touring. For 2k you'll get a really nice and clean 325i for that money. Plenty of space, plenty of poke, plenty of potential.

Rust is always something to look for, but do your research, know what your looking for and you'll easily get a few years trouble free motoring. Get an old enough one and it's tax free too!

Sod modern cars. They rip you off selling it too you, they rip you off servicing it for you, and they'll rip you off re-selling it to you. And then you can't do any of the damn work on them yourself, because you need to plug it into something so the mechanic can scratch his head whilst muttering under his breath 'We used to just hit that bit with a hammer!'.

Quote from Shotglass :

as is not liking the way the rear door opens

You owe me half of my drink

"The back could do with being a bit bigger, I don't think I'll be able to fit everything I've got in there. Then there's the dog and all my bandmates' stuff too"

Quote from Shotglass :

while its not an immutable rule nor a perfect analogy i still believe its a good yardstick to replace the word car with girlfriend in any sentence you say about a car and based on that decide whether or not youd like to own it

I don't think I view cars in the same way that sad men do. To me it's a box on wheels to transport things in. I want one that can do that comfortably and cheaply. I am not interested in attempting to decorate my car to try to make myself more attractive to other men, like - say - Jakg does. It's probably because I have an adequately proportioned penis.

Quote from Shotglass :

"shes only good to be with if you dont care about her looks" is a definite no-fly
as is not liking the way the rear door opens

Quote from Funnybear :

Sod a focus. Go old school. Get an E30 Touring. For 2k you'll get a really nice and clean 325i for that money. Plenty of space, plenty of poke, plenty of potential.

As I understand it an 'E30' is a type of BMW? I'm not buying a BMW. Ever. I often do an 80 mile round trip to work, it would not be at all practical to do that in a 2.5L BMW at 140p a litre.

Also a friend of mine went through a series of BMWs and I know how expensive they are when they go wrong. He had to pay something like £300 to replace a part which was basically a short plastic tube at one point. Then there was the injector that failed, I think that was another three or four hundred quid. No thanks!

Quote from thisnameistaken :

As I understand it an 'E30' is a type of BMW? I'm not buying a BMW. Ever. I often do an 80 mile round trip to work, it would not be at all practical to do that in a 2.5L BMW at 140p a litre.

not want to get into any huge argument but depending were you live then a car with a larger engine might be better on fuel. maybe for you doing motorway miles then it wouldn't matter as unless the car has a huge turbo then you should get good mpg but in the country were i live a larger engine doesn't need to work as hard going up steep hills so generally thats that way it goes.

end of that rant..... i think you shouldn't have much trouble finding a half decent car for £2000 you could drive your band/dog around in luxury

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volv ... K&hash=item3cc379182f

oh and it's not a estate so don't worry

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I am not interested in attempting to decorate my car to try to make myself more attractive to other men, like - say - Jakg does.

i think the prioblem is that youre aproaching this positively ie people do this to get something out of it which might be true for people who tart up cars that are horrible to begin with like jack in the vain hope it might give them recognition from others
however i think a far more important thing is the negative where the car will actively stop you from doing things as james may put it a car that you like the looks of might just make you think to yourself "no im not going to kill myself today" when you climb into it in the morning to go to work
unfortunately through girls associating you with people like jack it also blocks you from ever having sex
well if nothing else at least your sports car will significantly lower your chances of contacting hiv

Quote from tbofram :

end of that rant..... i think you shouldn't have much trouble finding a half decent car for £2000 you could drive your band/dog around in luxury

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volv ... K&hash=item3cc379182f

oh and it's not a estate so don't worry

People seem keen for me to buy an estate despite me saying that I don't want an estate.

The only BMW that would fit my criteria is a 1-series but they apparently aren't very good.

Cappuccino FTW!!

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I am not interested in attempting to decorate my car to try to make myself more attractive to other men, like - say - Jakg does.

Harsh, yet mostly amusing.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

It's probably because I have an adequately proportioned penis.

Wish I knew what that was like. Why do you think I own a Range Rover? I've got a cock like a horsefly.

If the fiesta could be repaired with reasonable amount of money then why not fix it? Brakes and tires should not be that expensive. With the rest 1500£ you could get a nice sized rear spoiler and a fresh wunderbaum. And the best thing is you are already familiar with how the rear door opens.

Quote from Hyperactive :

If the fiesta could be repaired with reasonable amount of money then why not fix it? Brakes and tires should not be that expensive. With the rest 1500£ you could get a nice sized rear spoiler and a fresh wunderbaum. And the best thing is you are already familiar with how the rear door opens.

and then he could lower the car, slap on some unpainted 80's wheels and put some stance nation and '' low n slow '' stickers on his winshield... and maybe some LED's...

Quote from Hyperactive :

If the fiesta could be repaired with reasonable amount of money then why not fix it? Brakes and tires should not be that expensive. With the rest 1500£ you could get a nice sized rear spoiler and a fresh wunderbaum. And the best thing is you are already familiar with how the rear door opens.

It's a 1996 Fiesta, I paid £400 for it back in January and had another £200 of work done on it, and actually in the rail fares it's saved me it has more than paid for itself, but I think it's a waste of time to test it and frankly I don't want to drive it for another year and nor does my girlfriend.

As I said there's the brakes and tyres to replace, also one rear door won't open (part of the mechanism is loose inside the door somewhere), it's got no power steering (and I've currently got a shoulder problem which I think the car is causing), no air con, no central locking, it has to be double-clutched to get into reverse and sometimes it sticks in first or reverse and I have to turn the engine off (or stall it) to get it back into neutral, it drinks a quart of oil each month, the fans make a loud grinding noise for a minute after starting the car, It's got bends and scrapes in every panel, it loses power to the stereo sometimes when I turn it off, the rear seat no longer latches in the seat position - it slides around, there's just loads of reasons to scrap it.

It has started every time though, so I feel a bit bad.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

It's a 1996 Fiesta, I paid £400 for it back in January and had another £200 of work done on it, and actually in the rail fares it's saved me it has more than paid for itself, but I think it's a waste of time to test it and frankly I don't want to drive it for another year and nor does my girlfriend.

As I said there's the brakes and tyres to replace, also one rear door won't open (part of the mechanism is loose inside the door somewhere), it's got no power steering (and I've currently got a shoulder problem which I think the car is causing), no air con, no central locking, it has to be double-clutched to get into reverse and sometimes it sticks in first or reverse and I have to turn the engine off (or stall it) to get it back into neutral, it drinks a quart of oil each month, the fans make a loud grinding noise for a minute after starting the car, It's got bends and scrapes in every panel, it loses power to the stereo sometimes when I turn it off, the rear seat no longer latches in the seat position - it slides around, there's just loads of reasons to scrap it.

It has started every time though, so I feel a bit bad.

post on local ford club site... you should get just over scrap price & someone gets a parts car... everyone wins no ?

I never thought of that, might do.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

It has started every time though, so I feel a bit bad.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

sometimes it sticks in first or reverse and I have to turn the engine off (or stall it) to get it back into neutral

So, whenever you're not around you're stuck in some automotive loop.

Quote from xaotik :

So, whenever you're not around you're stuck in some automotive loop.

To some extent, yes!

Off to see a Focus that looks just the job this evening. 2001, 70k on it, full service history, one owner. Then I've got two weeks before the MOT date to thoroughly destroy this Fiesta.

When you test it, try pulling up to a junction but instead of changing down just leave it in 5th and hold down the clutch until you stop.

Mine (plus a few others I've asked people about) seems to go mad with the revs when you put the clutch in sometimes (with my foot completely off the accelerator I mean), often revving up to 3000 rpm and then suddenly back down again when I'm waiting at a junction. It's more embarrassing than anything else, the only way to stop it is to let off the clutch a little so the engine bites and brings the rpm down.

It doesn't happen all the time, often it's fine. From what I've read it seems to be an issue with early Focuses.

Too late I bought it already. It doesn't seem to have any issues though, it was owned from new by an old couple who've babied it and done about 5000 miles a year, it feels like a new car tbh.

There's a rust spot under one wing mirror and another in a wheel arch but that's it, rest of the bodywork is spotless and so are the alloys. And the remote key unlock button doesn't work very well, but that's probably just a dirty contact. And for a 1.6 it's quicker than I expected too so that's a bonus. I reckon it'll do me for three or four years if I want to keep it that long, not bad for just over a grand.

Hmm fob is annoying. Lock button works but unlock and boot release don't. Can't really get a look at the PCB either it seems to be moulded in there.