USED Ford Focus Hatchback (04 - 11)

My car

01 2.0 ghia 75,000mls

Brilliant and practical car. Roomy for its class the seats are excellent. Equipment levels and high and the heated front screen is very useful. One front suspension spring went at 70,000 miles ( £100 to repair )and the tyres discs and pads have been changed periodically. Apart from that the car has the original exhaust, lights, battery etc. Excellent quality car which is a delight to drive. I would certainly own another. My neighbour who has a large Mercedes is going to exchange that for a focus.

My car

I switched from a 3.0 litre diesel 3 series beemer to the focus st2 2.5T for cost savings in the current climate. From £38k car to a 57 plate for £14k - the focus drives and sounds better ! the engie is superb, the recaros are better than beemer sports seats and the handling is as good as the beemer. I'd had 4 big engine bmw's but now I'm kicking myself as to how much I could've saved by buying an ST2 earlier. It puts a smile on my face and it shifts, awesome engine, sound and handling and get 25 mpg - and thats not dawdling either. A tremendous car. I went for a black 5 door rather than the ASBO Orange !! great car, well done Ford.

My car

I presently own a 2.0 Zetec MK1 and i am looking to downsize in the near future due to the high running costs.I went to have a look at a 1.6 Zetec in the new model needless to say i came away with the feeling of being impressed.One of the first things i noticed was a set of rear drum brakes that were present through the alloys i found that off putting before i even went and had a look at the inside,when i sat in the inside the story only got worse with a crampped and uncomfortable seating position and a below average equipment tally you don,t even get electric rear windows for goodness sake which you do on the Kia Ceed. With that car you also get Rear Disc,s and a whole lot of other things too,When i do go to change my car i will be visiting a Kia dealer or a Honda dealer because i,m sorry Ford they make better cars

My car

I've just taken delivery of this vehicle as a company car, having ordered it 'blind' based on it being the least costly to me in terms of tax - the emissions are very favourable compared with the competition - and on the experience of driving a mark 1 Focus 1.8 TDCI Zetec.

Overall it is a very smart car, handles & rides well, but is obviously aimed at the company car market, and intended for single occupancy most of the time. I was very surprised, for eg, to note that there was no courtesy lighting for rear seat passengers. The interior finishes whilst appearing to be very well put together are also built to budget - hard plastic internal door panels for example. The standard-fit stereo is pretty cheap too.

Externally, panel fit is OK (though the front wing not great), and both I and the delivery driver were surprised to note that the 'alloys' were actually steelies with plastic 'alloy-look' trims.

Overall, these items don't really bother me as I've not paid for it, and I'm sure I'll enjoy the next couple of years driving it, but at a list price at just over £16,500 including alarm and metallic paint, I would have expected better for the money. I think the What Car 'Target Price' of around £13500 is a much more realistic appraisal of the vehicle's value. £16500 could purchase far more exclusivity and better quality.

I've driven a mix of urban, rural A-roads, mountain passes and motorways and got an average mpg of just over 50mpg.