10 months in-thoughts on my car (long).

[dtulip8]

10 months ago I became the proud owner of my first car, a 2006 56 plate Focus Zetec Climate. Having now owned it for 10 months, I thought I'd summarise what I like and dislike about it, as well as problems that I've had. 

LIKES:

I like it's looks. Whilst many criticised it when it came out for not looking as good as the MK1, I think that its aged very well. I think its still a handsome looking thing, especially looking at some more modern cars.

 Handling. I see what people mean when they talk about the Focus' handling, often I've outrun much faster cars on the twisties because the handling inspires so much confidence. The steering is weighty and precise which was a revelation coming from the numb crapness that was the 1.2 Punto I used to drive.

Practicality. I've had the entire contents of a flat in the boot, which was swallowed up easily. I've taken my entire family to the Lakes and back in it, and nobody felt uncomfortable which is good. 

 I like how easy it is to drive. Its easy to see out of to manouvre it about, and good to park as well.

Fifth, the engine is better than i was expecting. Its only the 99bhp 1.6, but it rarely feels underpowered and can cruise comfortably on the motorway and despite doing 3k rpm @ 70mph its not too loud either. It revs nicely, and isn't thrashy. I'm rarely left wishing I'd got a 1.8 instead.

Finally, the AC. Now that it works, it works brilliantly. Its ice cold, and even in this weather quickly gets uncomfortable if left on max cold for too long. 

DISLIKES:

MPG. Its only a 1.6, but I only average 30-31mpg which isn't really good enough even around town. In winter, it dropped to 24mpg at one point. Its hardly an ST for heavens sake!

Commonality. They're everywhere! You certainly don't feel exclusive when you drive one lol!

The paint. As good as it looks, the Ocean blue is a nightmare for scratches, its been vandalised while in a car park and its been driven into once as well. 

The radio. The stock square radio is hideous, and I thought the reception was very poor on it. I'll forgive its lack of bluetooth capability as its from 2006.Upgraded now.

 Speaker squeak. This may be just my car, but the Speakers next to the door mirrors squeak constantly over bumps which are everywhere here in the UK and is very irritating. 

RELIABILITY:

Touch wood, its been very reliable. Its had a fair bit of work done to it by me, but that's just for consumables like cam belt, suspension bushes and brake pads and discs and new spark plugs. The only irritating thing, is its had to have 4 alignments now as it keeps going out of whack although its most recent one seems to have solved this. Parts are mostly cheap, and the AC compressor which was ceased was going to be £500, but a £40 one from the scrappy fixed it.

If you got to the end of this spiel, then congratulations. Do you agree or disagree with any of the points, or have your own to make (keen to hear about diesels or other engines). Cheers! 

[Albert27]

23 minutes ago, dtulip8 said:

10 months ago I became the proud owner of my first car, a 2006 56 plate Focus Zetec Climate. Having now owned it for 10 months, I thought I'd summarise what I like and dislike about it, as well as problems that I've had. 

LIKES:

I like it's looks. Whilst many criticised it when it came out for not looking as good as the MK1, I think that its aged very well. I think its still a handsome looking thing, especially looking at some more modern cars.

 Handling. I see what people mean when they talk about the Focus' handling, often I've outrun much faster cars on the twisties because the handling inspires so much confidence. The steering is weighty and precise which was a revelation coming from the numb crapness that was the 1.2 Punto I used to drive.

Practicality. I've had the entire contents of a flat in the boot, which was swallowed up easily. I've taken my entire family to the Lakes and back in it, and nobody felt uncomfortable which is good. 

 I like how easy it is to drive. Its easy to see out of to manouvre it about, and good to park as well.

Fifth, the engine is better than i was expecting. Its only the 99bhp 1.6, but it rarely feels underpowered and can cruise comfortably on the motorway and despite doing 3k rpm @ 70mph its not too loud either. It revs nicely, and isn't thrashy. I'm rarely left wishing I'd got a 1.8 instead.

Finally, the AC. Now that it works, it works brilliantly. Its ice cold, and even in this weather quickly gets uncomfortable if left on max cold for too long. 

DISLIKES:

MPG. Its only a 1.6, but I only average 30-31mpg which isn't really good enough even around town. In winter, it dropped to 24mpg at one point. Its hardly an ST for heavens sake!

Commonality. They're everywhere! You certainly don't feel exclusive when you drive one lol!

The paint. As good as it looks, the Ocean blue is a nightmare for scratches, its been vandalised while in a car park and its been driven into once as well. 

The radio. The stock square radio is hideous, and I thought the reception was very poor on it. I'll forgive its lack of bluetooth capability as its from 2006.Upgraded now.

 Speaker squeak. This may be just my car, but the speakers next to the door mirrors squeak constantly over bumps which are everywhere here in the UK and is very irritating. 

RELIABILITY:

Touch wood, its been very reliable. Its had a fair bit of work done to it by me, but that's just for consumables like cam belt, suspension bushes and brake pads and discs and new spark plugs. The only irritating thing, is its had to have 4 alignments now as it keeps going out of whack although its most recent one seems to have solved this. Parts are mostly cheap, and the AC compressor which was ceased was going to be £500, but a £40 one from the scrappy fixed it.

If you got to the end of this spiel, then congratulations. Do you agree or disagree with any of the points, or have your own to make (keen to hear about diesels or other engines). Cheers! 

I made it to the end lol!  Nice review.  How hard was the cambelt to do?  

[dtulip8]

Congrats! I had the work done by my garage, as I didn't want to mess it up with my limited mechanical skills so unfortunately I have no idea.

[Jollyandy]

As a former owner of one of these, I know what you mean regarding the fuel economy. I soon realised that the Mk2 is a heavy car, and will take some moving, and a 100 bhp engine is really under-powered for it; which is why I swapped it in for a 1.8, which again was quite thirsty too!

 

 

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[JONATHAN_11_80]

Can't say my 1.8 is excessively thirsty get around 35mpg around town and mid 40s on a run.

[dtulip8]

The 1.6 does need working hard, but I mostly do town driving where 0-30 is more important and it isn't too bad.

[south_bound]

II could write mostly similar for my Mk2 which I have had 10 years now, except the part on fuel consumption as mine is a diesel.   It seems to get better with age, especially now that the DPF and EGR have been sorted and at 136,000 miles it feels it can go on for ever (touch wood).  I could do with fixing the AC which needs a replacement condenser but just never got around to it - maybe I should call into a scrappy for one, worth a try.  

[TomsFocus]

Didn't realise you'd owned yours that long @south_bound !!  You're unlikely to get a decent condenser from a scrappy though, used ones are always falling apart even at a young age, removing them from the car usually finishes them off.  Don't leave it open too long though, rest of the system will get damaged by moisture in the air.  

[TomsFocus]

As for my thoughts on the Focus...  I liked my Mk2.5 1.6 TDCi Titanium...still looks good even now, though it did need a few parts to modernise it, getting rid of the horrible matt grey plastics on the front bumper and the mismatched rear fog for a clear Euro style one etc.  Mine did have xenons, privacy glass and the extra chrome trim on the boot though, all of which made it more interesting than the average Focus imo!  Felt really modern when I bought it in 2014, but I must admit it felt pretty dated after driving newer stuff like the Mk3 Focus or Mk6 Golf.  Practicality was great...I'm guessing you have less stuff than I do as it took me 3 trips to move the contents of my flat lol, but still fitted a recliner arm chair with ease...unlike the Mk3!!  I always found the AC a bit weak compared to German AC despite no issues with it...but it's probably hotter in Germany... MPG wasn't bad, but wasn't as good as I was expecting for a puny 1.6 diesel with only 110bhp (didn't change when mapped to 140bhp), with an overall average of 57mpg across the 3 years I owned it.  (PS, sorry for the lack of paragraphs, there's a forum glitch with the enter button!).  Overall, it's the car I owned for the longest, and was a car I was proud of tbh.   The main issue was the reliability, within a week of purchase I found out the DPF was blocked, and of course not covered under warranty because it's consumable.  Replaced it with an aftermarket that only lasted a year, and all the failed regens burnt out the glow plugs causing limp mode and kept putting the oil level well over.  I had to take the difficult decision to remove the DPF and have it mapped out, along with the EGR.  Tbh it kind of ruined the car for me, always worrying about VOSA checks or if the map would cause further issues...and knowing about the oil issues I was always worried about that as well, and doing 6k changes etc.  The fuel filter is also ridiculously expensive on them.  It also had a slight wheel wobble/judder that I never could solve, even after changing tyres, wheels, brakes, wishbones, and having Hunter alignment etc...wasn't horrendous but annoying enough!  ---------------------------------   Moving on to the Mk3 Focus1.6 TDCi Titanium, newest and lowest mileage car I've bought (well, almost lol), and easily the biggest mistake I've made this year!  Can't get on with it at all.  Drives like crap, jerky, jumpy, snatchy.  AC doesn't work despite replacing various parts so I've had to buy another car for summer lol.  Boot was full of water when I got it so had fun to sorting that out in the snow.  It looks absolutely awful, honestly not one decent angle on the whole car for me!  It's well specced inside on the Titanium, and I do like the keyless start etc, but the dash is too crowded and unintuitive, should've had a touch screen with fewer buttons considering it came out in 2011, would help if they weren't full of electrical bugs as well.  MPG is again a disappointment, barely any more than the old mk2 depite a 6 speed gearbox and a lot of aerodynamic improvements, my 2.0 TDi Bluemotion does better mpg with a huge chunk more torque as well, and it is soooo much smoother to drive than either of the Focus'.  The Mk3 does handle quite well though, better than the Mk2 I'd say, but then the Mk2 was 10 years old and 75k time I sold it so would've lost some finesse by then.  It also sounds nice for a diesel, think it's mostly down to the resonator in the intake piping tbf lol.  As I've got myself stuck in an awkward position with cars and can't even give away the Mk3, it's looking like I'll have to go back to it once the hot weather is over which I'm really not looking forward to!  I'm hoping to move straight to a Mk3.5 1.0EB.  Early EB issues sorted, no DPF obviously, Sync touchscreen to control climate, nav, stereo etc, heated screen which my golf obviously doesn't have...and looks much better than the PFL.

[dtulip8]

Tom, interesting to hear your thoughts on the MK2.5. I find the grey plastics on the  outside rather nasty as well, badly breaks up the looks of the car. Aren't the 1.6 diesels renowned for being unreliable though, especially with sensitivity to oil changes. Also interesting to hear your issues with the MK3, we've had no issues with my Mum's 63 plate C-Max which is a broadly similar car. Perhaps yours is a Friday car? 😂

[James]

Having owned a mk1 a mk2.5 and now a mk3.5 here are my thoughts:

The mk1 was the best genetation to drive and a well cared one still looks good in a late 90's retro kind of way. Was pretty practible also for it's time.

The mk2.5 was the most spacious of the three. The boot size was pretty big for a car of it's size. But it's weight ment it didn't handle quite aswell but the steering was decent. The ugly front grill slightly ruined the look for me as well Overall a decent looking car though. The 1.6 tdci was a disaster in terms of reliablility. I had to get rid.

My current mk3.5 in my opinion is the best looking Focus so far with the new up and coming mk4 the ugliest. Jesus the new car is ugly. I gave it the benefit of the doubt that it's looks would grow on me but it hasn't. The latest gen has no identify of it's own, no longer looks like Ford Focus should. I like the led headlights though.

The problem with the mk3/mk3.5 is room. The dash takes up to much space and the boot is supermini sized. It's good to drive though all though the steering is a bit off. The father's mk7.5  Fiesta's steering is so much better. Love the drink holder design in the mk3.5 it's well thought out. 

I hope you continue to get on with your mk2. Great car in petrol form (1.6 and up) I miss the space I had from my face lift version. 

 

[TomsFocus]

2 hours ago, dtulip8 said:

Tom, interesting to hear your thoughts on the MK2.5. I find the grey plastics on the  outside rather nasty as well, badly breaks up the looks of the car. Aren't the 1.6 diesels renowned for being unreliable though, especially with sensitivity to oil changes. Also interesting to hear your issues with the MK3, we've had no issues with my Mum's 63 plate C-Max which is a broadly similar car. Perhaps yours is a Friday car? 😂

Yeah, the 1.6TDCi in the mk2 is known for faults (it was changed in the mk3), but I couldn't afford the tax and fuel for a petrol model so went for a low mileage diesel one, knowing I can do my own servicing and hoping it would be reliable...of course the low mileage is the reason the DPF was blocked so can't win lol!  To be fair though, I never had any oil carbon issues or turbo/injector problems, and the engine is still going strong with the new owner.  

Your Mum may not be as picky as me tbf, I know most people won't notice the issues I do - but I've still never had definitive answers on which parts are normal and which aren't lol.  I've driven a lot of cars and am a perfectionist so probably expect too much from a car, never am fully satisfied!  

[ashmicro]

I've had my mk 2.5 1.8 Zetec petrol for a shade over 2 years now, and I'm very pleased with it. It is a bit thirsty, but I tend to use full throttle a fair bit 😕 That said, it is positively parsimonious compared to my other car which is a Jaguar S-Type 4.2 V8. I can only describe its appetite for fuel as "murderous".

I reckon the Focus is a good looking car too. As it happens, someone hit my car on Saturday, and drove off. I got the registration number and contacted the Police. When the cops came to my house to look at the damage, the officer said "That's a really nice car sir, I've never really looked at these before, cos they're everywhere." She even got in the driver's seat to get a bit of a feel for it! Someone's in the market for a new car I think.

 

 

[south_bound]

4 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Didn't realise you'd owned yours that long @south_bound !!  You're unlikely to get a decent condenser from a scrappy though, used ones are always falling apart even at a young age, removing them from the car usually finishes them off.  Don't leave it open too long though, rest of the system will get damaged by moisture in the air.  

Yeah, bought it in a hurry at 1 year old and 5000 miles without enough research into the 1.6 engine, but have to say I'm happy with it overall.  Had the engine management light on a couple of times but found a really good diagnostics/remap company who sorted it all out for me.  Doing my own routine servicing helps keep costs under control as well.  My wife is always onto me about getting a newer one but I just like this one too much and would hate to pay north of £20k for a new one and feel hard done by.  Just for interest I went into the Ford website and they would only offer less than £500 on trade in so I'm keeping it til it drops (hopefully not leaving me on the side of the motorway, maybe I should get breakdown cover!).  The AC will probably cost more than the value of the car to fix and if as you say the moisture has got in (its been a couple of years) then I won't bother.

[TomsFocus]

1 minute ago, south_bound said:

Yeah, bought it in a hurry at 1 year old and 5000 miles without enough research into the 1.6 engine, but have to say I'm happy with it overall.  Had the engine management light on a couple of times but found a really good diagnostics/remap company who sorted it all out for me.  Doing my own routine servicing helps keep costs under control as well.  My wife is always onto me about getting a newer one but I just like this one too much and would hate to pay north of £20k for a new one and feel hard done by.  Just for interest I went into the Ford website and they would only offer less than £500 on trade in so I'm keeping it til it drops (hopefully not leaving me on the side of the motorway, maybe I should get breakdown cover!).  The AC will probably cost more than the value of the car to fix and if as you say the moisture has got in (its been a couple of years) then I won't bother.

I think that's the way to buy long term cars tbh, 1-3 years old and low mileage.  Time I can afford them at 5/6 years old and 50-90k the damage has already been done by previous owners.

If you can afford brand new, the dealers were offering great prices on diesel 'scrappage' last year, I could have got £5k for my Mk2.5 which sold for less than £3k in the end.  It worked out very well but the catch is that you needed to buy brand new, they wouldn't do it against nearly new cars unfortunately.

I couldn't cope in this weather without AC tbh, I know some people don't mind the heat though so if that's you it will obviously be cheapest to leave it lol!  A new condenser shouldn't cost much, around £100, but you'll also need a new drier after 2 years out of action.  Trouble is there's no way of knowing if it'd need any other pipes or seals before you've replaced those parts. and pressure tested it.

[dtulip8]

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

  Your Mum may not be as picky as me tbf, I know most people won't notice the issues I do - but I've still never had definitive answers on which parts are normal and which aren't lol.  I've driven a lot of cars and am a perfectionist so probably expect too much from a car, never am fully satisfied!  

Haha, thats probably true. 

 

1 hour ago, ashmicro said:

I've had my mk 2.5 1.8 Zetec petrol for a shade over 2 years now, and I'm very pleased with it. It is a bit thirsty, but I tend to use full throttle a fair bit 😕 That said, it is positively parsimonious compared to my other car which is a Jaguar S-Type 4.2 V8. I can only describe its appetite for fuel as "murderous".

I reckon the Focus is a good looking car too. As it happens, someone hit my car on Saturday, and drove off. I got the registration number and contacted the Police. When the cops came to my house to look at the damage, the officer said "That's a really nice car sir, I've never really looked at these before, cos they're everywhere." She even got in the driver's seat to get a bit of a feel for it! Someone's in the market for a new car I think.

 

 

I do think the MK2.5 is much nicer looking, if I could've afforded one I would've had one. Unfortunately, they were commanding a 1.5-2k premium over the non facelifts at the time. My Aunt had a 2009 1.8TDCi Zetec which I was going to ask her for when she sold, but she got rid 6 months before I was ready to buy it which was irritating. When mine was run into, I was in an identical position to you. The officers round here used to use the MK2's as panda cars and he said they were so much nicer to drive than the Yeti's and Astra's they use now. I think most people who drive a Focus are pleasantly surprised by them considering they're so ubiquitous, my mates who have Punto's and Polo's etc think its a Dad's car, but I know better lol and my other Aunt also loves her 02 plate 2.0 Ghia which she's had since brand new and has done 168,000 miles in it.

[dtulip8]

Update! I've now had the car 13 months, and some pretty major work has been done to it recently. I replaced all the filters in the car, which seems to have improved the fuel economy no end. I now live in Leicester, and in town its now doing 40mpg which is nice. Had its MOT recently, and the tester commented how surprised he was with regards to how well the underside was holding up as there's not much rust which is nice for a 12 year old car! I've had 4 new Michelin tyres put on it, which has increased the handling and also eliminated the annoying wander the car used to have. Also, several other family members have purchased them, my aunt's 2.0 Mk1 blew up at the end of August which she replaced with a 2.0 57 reg Titanium which she loves as it has heated seats, auto lights etc. My cousin bought a 1.6 55 plate Ghia which he loves too, so it seems my reviews of the car to them have had an effect!