Looking at a ford focus

[Nova_Sean]

- For a mate. Car has two months MOT on it.

What should i be lookig out for on these cars?

It is a 2001 FORD FOCUS CL TD DI

[brainsnova]

my mate has an 04 plate and theres a metal pipe on the very front of the engine that goes down to the intercooler and it common for the metal pipe to split and ford is £90

[Stuart]

dead clusters

[comptoncj]

On a td the timing belts are prone to fail, they have dual mass flywheels in them so high milage ones need to be looked at carefully, other than that they are reasonably good cars, mind you its a ford so you will see signs of rust round the rear arches and bottoms of the cills.

[bmw156]

my brother - he had a problem with the heater fans, some water leaked in through the passenger side, rusted some item and it stopped the fans working.

and his central locking is knackered.

and the later focuses, my rents have one, and their power steering has gone 4 times, i think they are on their 4th PS pump!

[stevie78]

had a 2001 18 zetec for 7 years never missed a beat never failed a mot

[16v Nova Kev]

duel mass flywheel make sure thats ok.

[ste porter]

every focus that comes in for mot after its about 5 years old usualy ends up needing rear suspension rose bushes in the arms and there a pain in the backside
whole rear suspension subframe assembly needs to be removed to do them worth looking at as most garages charge about 170 per side or more

[Asa-James]

Rear springs, and they arnt fun to swap

[claire6069]

look out for the blue oval and dont go near it lol

[L14MNP]

On the upside though, TDDi is where it's at. Same engine as found in Escorts and Mondeo's. None of this TDCI common rail crap.

Get down to Costco and get the veggy oil in! :thumb:

[gazz]

Fix
Or
Repair
Daily

[L14MNP]

lmao cos that's so true(!) lol

Focus > Astra 4.

[claire6069]

ahhh its also Found On Roadside Daily lol

[L14MNP]

I prefer Fcucked On Race Day. Then at least you know you have a quick one. lol

[Stuart]

I'd rate the interior of the MK4 astra way above the MK1 focus (infact I'd put the mk1 focus and MK2 nova in the same ranking for interiors lol).

For handling, both the MK4 astra and MK1 focus are epic!
For good dervs, the TDCI is great, the GM dizzles are somewhat in the dark ages :(

[w_wall_2001]

my mother has had a 1.8 tddi 03 plate focus for 3 years with no real problems other than usual brakes/exhausts, i have borrowed it plenty and tbh they are not too bad at all

[Rysee]

Rust! Seen loads at the auctions rusty as hell

[Alex J]

- For a mate. Car has two months MOT on it.

What should i be lookig out for on these cars?

It is a 2001 FORD FOCUS CL TD DIlook and see if it has a ford badge, if so, turn and walk away quickley!!

[dc1984]

they rust like mad, sold my 05 focus zetec last year as it was rusting below the mirrors, tailgate, rear lights. all surface rust but once it starts ye never really get rid of it:(

on the plus side, get a cheap set of coilovers (£200ish) and they are very hard to beat on the twisty back roads:thumb:

[claire6069]

i had a cougar for a year before i got the astra and as a daily car, in all fairness, it wasnt a bad car, loads of boot space, air con, drove well, economical, it spent the entire summer trapsing to manchester and back and a trip to blackpool too, never let me down

[Sloth]

the tddi's liek eating fuel pumps at high miles. accident damage is a biggie too, lots get smacked and fixed...