I have had an 06 plate Focus for quite a while but feel the rust is starting to get out of control. I was considering getting a late (pref 2010) low mileage good condition Focus model as a replacement, but are they significantly better for rust than the 2005-2007 model ?

I like to keep my cars as long as possible and a conversation with a body shop manager (when I told him my wife's 08 plate Yaris had no rust on it at all ! ) concerned me a bit, he said "Fords aren't that good for rust". Am I barking up the wrong tree in buying a 2010 Focus and hoping to keep it for, say, 8 years ? ! ?

It depends how it's been looked after. In theory, the rust should be 4 years behind yours as they're the same car underneath. My 09 focus is pretty much spotless underneath, and that's only 3 years newer than yours.

the chassis of the focus 2005-2011 is identical; the only change is to the body panels creating a facelift version of exactly the same vehicle in 2008 

There is certain changes to prevent rust for example the front wing has plastic pieces at bottom edge in front of the door which stops the rusting wing that would happen on the pre facelift and also at the back but the back is still subject to rust  but not major. If it's rust free it's best to take out the rear arch liner and clean all of the inside of there and paint on some water proof protection as the rear arches soak up water and stay wet for a long time which eventually starts to rust. The front arch liner is plastic so this does not happen. Also the rear bumper where it connects behind the wheel arch can rub and eventually bubbles the paint. Mines was 12 years old when it started showing these signs.

 

On 10/15/2021 at 4:12 PM, Luke4efc said:

It depends how it's been looked after. In theory, the rust should be 4 years behind yours as they're the same car underneath. My 09 focus is pretty much spotless underneath, and that's only 3 years newer than yours.

But how can how it's been looked after affect how quickly the rust appear on the wheel arches ? After all you cannot get to the back of the arches to clean them, and it's a bit much to expect people to actually remove the plastic liners to clean there. That said I don't actually understand how the rust takes hold there if the area has been adequately protected from manufacture because stones etc cannot chip off the anti corrosion finish there (due to the plastic liners).

I checked up and I had the arches first repaired in Oct 2018 when the car was about 12 years old.

I was under my car a few months ago and was shocked how much surface rust there is on almost all the underside (particularly compared to my wife's 08 plate Yaris), I thought the Focus was supposed to be galvanised !

I have been after a very late model (2010/11) low mileage Focus Estate for a few months now and may still buy one if a good example comes up, but I want to keep my next car at least 10 years so I am leaning towards spending a bit more and, sacrilege, getting a Toyota Auris Estate..... I have been very impressed buy the reliability and corrosion resistance of my wife's Yaris. It has literally never broken down, other than exhausts batteries tyres etc.

I do like the look of the Focus though, that's the previous model (to 2010), I find almost all modern cars have overly fussy styling and look the same !

Rust also depends on the cars location...  One from a coastal area is likely to be much worse than a city car.  Cars that are rarely used rust more quickly, as do those parked on damp grass rather than concrete.  It's not as simple as X amount of year creating Y amount of rust.

That said, I have found Fords worse than other cars of similar age & mileage.  But if you think the Mk2 is bad, don't buy a Mk3...they'll all have rusted from the inside out by 15 years old!   Also worth noting the amount of tech on newer cars means they'll likely be financially unviable to repair before the rust gets them.

24 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Rust also depends on the cars location...  One from a coastal area is likely to be much worse than a city car.  Cars that are rarely used rust more quickly, as do those parked on damp grass rather than concrete.  It's not as simple as X amount of year creating Y amount of rust.

That said, I have found Fords worse than other cars of similar age & mileage.  But if you think the Mk2 is bad, don't buy a Mk3...they'll all have rusted from the inside out by 15 years old!   Also worth noting the amount of tech on newer cars means they'll likely be financially unviable to repair before the rust gets them.

You are right about the tech (and lack of room round the components) on modern cars, they're so much more difficult to work, they're just not designed to be easy to repair.  Plus the fact people don't seem to bother doing much work on their cars any more, rust or otherwise. "When I were a lad" it was expected that ones first car was a rust bucket and you'd have to do work on it regularly to keep it respectable, now most people just wouldn't consider buying car with rust on it, other than classics obviously.

I think how much a car is used in the winter when salt is on the roads is  a big factor in how much rust it suffers from, a bit like, as you say, if it spends its life near the sea....