Going to have a look at a 04 plate Focus 1.6 Zetec this arvo. Want it as a cheap runaround. A daily runner.

Got my eye on one. 70,000 miles. FSH. MOT till next Aug. High equipment levels (incl. parking sensors!).

Only MOT advisories were corroded coil springs, which I know is a common problem on Fords. And I believe is a cheap fix.

What should I be aware of when having a look at the car? Known issues/faults? Common problems?

The car is £1400 which seems low for the mileage, but reasonable overall. Could it be too good to be true? Or is the average?

Any advice welcomed. Be gentle!

 

I actually have one of these as a daily! Cannot fault it one bit. Comfy and quiet enough. Handles well! Just about to roll over to 120k miles. Cannot go wrong for a cheap hack!

Cheers

Aaron

 

Oh, and the cambelt has not been done I dont think. And given that the car is 10 years old, that should probably get done soon.

However, it was serviced this month, and they apparently checked the belt and visually its fine.

 

Check for rust around the sills and lower doors, check the Cambelt is done and there's no funny noises from suspension or engine

Pretty bulletproof though and cheap fix if stuff breaks

 

Don't believe it, get it done

 

I will. But do you reckon that at 70000/10yrs that belt will not snap on the way home?!

 

U can't tell the condition of a timing belt just by lookin at it most of the time.

 

I have a 2001 as a daily and can't fault it as a cheap car really. Good on fuel and great to drive, the handling makes up for the lack of power although its ok for a moderate size 1600 motor. Mine has just clocked 223k today and still drives fine.

If it hasn't had a belt I'd get that done before doing anything else, its not a particularly difficult job.

Some focus seem to go scabby round the rear arches more that others so check there. Mine also has a little below the wing mirrors on the doors, been like it since I bought it 5 years ago

Other than that just general stuff you'd look for on any car really

 

Thanks. Did all that. The car was sound so I bought it. Knocked £150 off the price for the cost of getting a new belt fitted within the next month.

Test drove the car round town. No worries. But got it on the motorway, and it really lacks power delivery in 5th gear. I struggled to get it to accelerate at all.

No engine management lamp.

Could it be the coil pack? No sign of misfiring or stuttering at all. I will buy and fit one tomorrow if needs be.

Cheers for the advice. I'm sure i'll be on here a lot more in the coming months!!

 

I wouldn't have thought its got anything to do with the coil pack

When you say it lacks power in 5th at motorway speeds, what are you expecting it to go like / comparing it to? Its never going to be that quick really? Or is there clearly something holding it back?

Maybe the cat is a bit blocked? Try driving it nice and hard and see if that helps?

 

The 1.6 is a gutless engine so you're not going to get rocket-ship performance at motorway speeds. Keep the oil regularly changed and don't thrash it - the piston rings tend to disintegrate on these at 100k-plus miles if they are not looked after and the engines can't be (aren't designed to be) rebuilt.

If it's a 5-door model then check the bottoms of the rear doors and the rear arches, they seem to be more prone to rust on the 5-door models. The rear trailing arm bushes will need doing soon as well.

 

Check for rusty rear wheel arches and bottom of doors. We have a 53 reg 1.6 and its been spot on.

 

I'd forgotten about the piston ring issue, thought mine had a problem with this as the oil consumption was quite high. Apparently they also suffer from gummed up oil control rings? A good clear out seemed to sort this and its been fine for years now.

I never expected the car to go on so well for so long, if fact I am intrigued as to how many miles it will do?

 

Thanks for the advice.

Had the cambelt/tens./pulleys/pump done today. Picked it up and it already feels as if its driving better for some reason. Maybe my friend the mechanic thrashed it and cleaned the cat out or something!

Had some steering wheel shaking (and a light knocking sound coming from under the car over rough ground at low speed). Was the OS anti-roll bar drop link. That's been changed. No more shaking/knocking. Also, the seller had fitted brand new front arms (and only a new NS drop link rather than a pair!). Didn't mention it, but thanks!

Had the rear suspension checked out. Bushes were all done recently and in good nick. So no worries there for a while.

The mech. (one I trust) took the car for a test drive and said he could not feel the stuttering/hesitancy I had described at higher speeds. So unless it gets worse or I get warning lamps, I shouldn't worry about it.

I will be putting the motor in for a major ford service in about four to six months.

Hopefully it should be on the road for many thousands of miles to come!

HB.

 

good cars really, ford do say the engines cannot be rebuilt but they can parts are available and i have done a few myself

 

The focus is one of the best cars they have ever built imo.

The focus is the worlds best selling car too.

 

the lads covered this topic well, all in all they are a good car

 

I second that, all things considered I'd say the mk1 focus is the best model ford have ever made.

 

I'm currently on the hunt for one, there is some nice 1.6 engined ones about fitted with the xenon lights and leather seats. Cant beat that on a what is now a cheap runaround car.

 

The focus was 10 times better than the mk6 escort. I can remember when the focus first come out and I thought wtf have ford done. I thought it was a horrible looking car lol.

The same with the Mondeo compared to the old Sierra. The mondy was a miles better car.

 

I must be the odd one out lol, used to like them untill I owned one and hated it, bland and pretty slow, went and got a mk3 mondeo and much better now just my personal experiance

 

Are you referring to a 1600 focus?

Maybe you should have had a quick go in a 1600 mk4 golf if you wanted to know what bland, pretty slow was?

Mk3 mondeo's are decent motors, personally I dont think as good a model as the original focus but ok, they drive well for a large fwd car

 

All you had to do was drive a focus to realise the difference tho

Years ago I bought an L plate mondeo 1600 for £500 as a cheap run about, it must have only been 8 or 9 years old at the time. The difference between that and a 1600 sierra was like night and day!

 

Yeah I sold my mk4 1.6 golf to buy the mondeo lol. Yeah I've driven every focus ever made I think (work in a garage) and the 2.0 to be fair goes like fuck, wasn't impressed with the st170, thought the standard 2.0 was quicker, but that's just me, didn't like the seating position or the way they drove, do prefer the mundano (mondeo) lol but that's just me

 

My MK1 Focus was an absolute dog. My Mother had owned it from new and it had been abused every day of its life.

I still thought it was a hoot to drive though. It had no low down torque but 4k+ and it would pull quite well. Would do 45mpg on a run too and some say it would do 128mph on the speedo but I've never ever been that fast!

 

Another thing to look out for is the engine mounts. There are 3 mounts, driver side, passenger side, and rear of gearbox. They are easy to do with the right tools only a couple of minutes work on each when you have the access.

 

The st170 is a great looking motor, drives and handles fantastic and stops good too, but go wise it should have been so much better. I don't think its they are that bad, but because people just expect them to be alot more powerful than they actually are or are comparing them to cars with better N/A engines in like a civic type r which in all fairness is on another planet!

If they did 40mpg as they came, they would probably have a better reputation!

 

Yeah actually looking back at the 170 I drove a few when I worked at ford and loved the look of the imperial blue ones. Did go well right up the top of the rev range and was defo better to drive than the other ones I drove but that bad mpg for the power wasn't great I thought.