Planning to buy a Ford Focus.

"chimpygirl" wrote

None of which has anything to do with his post. First, He's in Europe. The Focuses are different there. Second he's looking for one a year or two old. That means 2002 or 2003. Even in North America these are much better cars than 2000 and 2001 (although I'm very happy with my 2000 wagon). So there's no reason why he shouldn't do that if he wants.

Ford motor company can no longer produce quality automobile. Whether he is in Europe shouldnt matter. does that mean that Ford makes cars better in Europe than in the US? if so, then maybe Ford should reimport cars from Europe to the US... Buyer beware.. go to

The Ford Focus in the UK at least has always had good colours, noone i spoke too had anything bad to say about the car. In fact alot of car places and magazines rate the car quite highly.

Like any brand if something you buy turns out for the worse ur obviously not going to go back to buying the brand, thats understnadable. You where just unlucky ang got unfit car.

In message , chimpygirl writes

Wrong.

Perhaps this is so.

I'm sure that would go down a storm in the US.

I wholeheartedly agree. Add to that this site:

Tidbit of facts: The average U.S. car is driven 10,000 miles per year. Average miles driven by European drivers is 22% less than that of U.S. drivers. Europeans own 30% fewer cars/person (my neighbor owns 7 vehicles for two people; other owns 4 for 2 people. U.S. population loves their cars I guess). European cars get 41% better miles per gallon (smaller vehicles than gas-guzzling, large-engine U.S. market), and subsequently, consume 61% fewer gallons. Unfortunately, their tax base is, in some areas (Italy), often 300% higher per gallon therefore their price per gallon is higher, although price per gallon of "actual gas" is lower than U.S. Supply/demand going on?

Anyway, I made my Ford mechanic a very rich man though with their bloody V6 engined contraption. Cars run. Contraptions maybe. :o(

Bent~

esp. given the current exchange rate ;-)

"chimpygirl" wrote

Wrong. Ford models generally, and the Focus in particular, have excellent quality ratings from all rating services the past two years. Look it up.

Spend your money where you want, but don't try to mislead others.

To make life easy, cars with climate pack also have body coloured wing mirrors. Looking around, most have it fitted.

On the early mk1 Foci yes, all the post 2000 cars, mk1 and mk2 have body coloured mirror shells whether they have the climate pack or not.

Tim..

I have a 99 Sable with 130,000 Kms on it. NEVER had a problem. I've owned all big three and most of the imports.(I'm an old guy :-) and the ford or Mercury have been best. The worst was a 1978 Mazda GLC. What a piece of crap. Got 35 MPG normal low speed highway driving. Not bad. It was 1.4 litre. One fast trip to Windsor 300 miles when I was in a hurry it averages

I had a wonderful 1973 German-made Mercury Capri, V-6 2600 cc.

I'd love to get another one.

Alex

In message , Alex Harrington wrote

And many UK drivers spend most of this 10,000 in traffic jams therefore the engine is probably running for the equivalent of 30,000 US miles.

Spoilt my fun ;-> used to go around spotting the cheapskates with black mirror cans!

If you ever come to the US we all have black side mirrors - guess it's Ford cheaping out over here. Plus they stick out too far so you scrape them going to drive-up windows... Linda (PS...I liked the idea of folding mirrors.)

I'm convinced it's all about attitude. I've never owned a crappy car. I've owned many that have presented "mechanical/electrical challenges" (my old Vauxhall comes to mind, oh, then there was the Toyota) but, treat them nice and they'll get you around. Treat them poorly and most of the time they'll still get you around. Some people whine while living on a tropical paradise because there is an occasional storm.

Pleased with my 03 ZTW.

Test driving the 1.8 and 1.6 Zetec's next Saturday. Sticking to manual/petrol with as much I can get for my money when it comes to optional extras.

Bit disappointed with their range of colours though, just 12 by the looks of it.

1. Deep Navy
2. Colorado Red
3. Diamond White
4. Vitro (metallic)
5. Deep Rosso Red (metallic)
6. Machine Silver (metallic)
7. Honour Green (metallic)
8. Panther Black (metallic)
9. Tonic (metallic)
10. Ink Blue (metallic)
11. Magnum Grey (metallic)
12. Moondust Silver (metallic)

Panther Black or Deep Rosso seem to be the only colours me and the significant other agree on.

more coloursadded: Metropolis Black (metallic), Neptune Green (metallic), Pepper Red (metallic) & Light Sapphire Black (metallic) [on automatic].

The Ford dealer has giving me the list of all the Zetecs they have with prices and at the moment looks like am gona burts my 8000grand budget coz the car I want is 9,500 - 2003 model.

I just have a question for those experienced of having owned a Focus.

From the following, what do u think I should definetely get as well.

In message , HbgpodLW writes

It tends to be a status thing over here with cars in general. Most cars have visible features which reveal (to those that are interested) if its bottom of the range, top of the range or somewhere in between. Base models have traditionally had black mirrors. The next model up may get colour coded mirrors. The next one up may get alloy wheels etc, etc.

I think this snobbery is worse with company car drivers as the model of the car he drives reflects his position in the company.