USED Ford Focus Estate (04 - 11)

My car

Being from Canada and previously owning three North American Focus vehicles, I am absolutely in shock how great this Euro Focus is in comparison.

I have owned my 2007 Focus Ghia 1.6 TI-VCT Estate for just over a month, and am so pleased with all aspects of this vehicle.

It is well put-together, heavy-duty high quality inside and out, has perfectly weighted steering, an excellent suspension set-up, and a strong, precise feel to everything, particularly the gearshift and brakes. I'm very impressed!

Initally I was concerned with the mere 115PS and 114lb ft torque of the 1.6 TI-VCT, but it is a super-sweet engine, perfectly matched to the ideal gear ratios and faultless gearbox.

The balance between front-end grip and oversteer is nearly perfect, especially for a front-wheel-drive family car. The Focus does exactly what I expect it to and shrugs off the mid-corner bumps which I found would throw my North American Focus off line.

Lastly, the content and features loaded in the Ghia trim are brillant, and well appreciated. Ghia trim level in the European Focus puts some luxury vehicles in Canada to shame.

I really like the Sony audio system with the eight speakers. The automatic climate control works as it should, and something not available in the Canadian market is the 'quick-clear' windscreen feature - this is a brillant feature.

I applaud Ford's stability and traction control set-up, which works without interfering or impeding in anyway. It doesn't stop t

My car

Diesel estate, not sure exact model. comes with A/C, CD player and cruise control. 600 mile range or so. Company car on 3 year contract. No major problems, but the car cut out a few weeks back, power steer failure, engine management failure and had a dead car. AA did not have a clue, so cleared the error codes and it all worked again, they and garage not know the reason. Otherwise excellent handling, luggage space and equipment

My car

Only had the car a short time but excellent to drive and good economy at present. Only quibble is lack of equipment on LX model. I have a 06 plate which does not have a trip computer or front fog lights, I wouldn't have thought it expensive to put these on the car. Some manufacturers have these on base models. Will report back when I have put more miles on the clock and have more to report.

My car

I took delivery of my company car in October 2005 since then it has been back to my local dealer on 10 occasions to attempt to trace and cure the intermittent poor running. It looses power, judders, jolts and hesitates and I have had to call out the AA on to occasions. It has had a replacement ERG valve and the entire euro 4 emission system has been replaced.It has also suffered from creaking doors.

On the plus side when it is running properly it is a good car with excellent road holding, steering, brakes and power with fuel consumption of 38 to 50 mpg.

However I am now totaly fed up with the dealers inability to cure the faults and their do not care attidude. I am now trying to get my employer to replace this car with an allowance so that I can return to driving BMW's which never gave me any problems.