A great all rounder (Ford Focus LX in general)

Member Name: ahenry

Product:	Ford Focus LX in general
Date:	16/01/01 (4175 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Handling and ride, comfort, gadgets

Disadvantages: Paint chipping, Rear tyre wear

I've had a new Ford Focus 1.6LX for almost 3 years and 49000 miles. I imported it from http://www.ford-delta.com for a bit under £10,000, including the Reflex and Climate options packs.

I went for the 1.6 instead of the 1.8 because it was about £250 cheaper. It's got an aluminium block which means it ends up being about 40kg lighter. This translates into better handling and fuel economy (1.5mpg or so). You lose about a second of the 0-60 time, but you gain in smoothness - the torque curve of the 1.8 has a flat spot about 3500rpm. The 1.6 engine was designed by Yamaha whilst the 1.8 is derived from the old Ford engines (from the Sierra?). The 1.6 revs to 6700rpm which means that third gear takes you to over 90mph, which is fine for overtaking.

It can feel a bit slow if you accelerate from 30mph in 4th gear, but at higher revs, its much better. Overtaking is no problem whatsoever.

I went for the LX model instead of the Zetec because

* I wanted the 5000 model stereo with the controls near the steering wheel (very convenient).

* I wanted air conditioning which was standard on the LX and an option on the Zetec.

* The LX has steel wheels and 185/65 tyres (which would have been good enough for a hot hatchback 10 years ago). These end up being lighter than the alloy wheels on the Zetec because the tyres are smaller. With the alloy wheels, you can't fit a full-sized spare tyre in the boot. I _hate_ spacesaver spare tyres, and it means you get £50 less tyre for your money.

Autocar tested a range of tyres in 1999 using a Focus 1.8 Zetec as the "family car". The Firestone Firehawk 700 tyres fitted to my car didn't do particularly well in the test (see
http://www.tyres-online.co.uk/tyretest/autocar .htm). They were rated well for dry handling but worst on test for aquaplaning in a straight line.

* The suspension is stiffer on the Zetec than the LX. Personally,
the L
X handles perfectly adequately, and stiff suspension just makes the car less comfortable without making it much more fun to drive. Once, on a country lane at night, I found that I had driven over a big hump in the road, which was immediately followed by a corner. The front wheels were still light from going over the bump, but they stayed in contact with the ground enough for me to steer around the bend. With low profile tyres and stiff suspension, I might well have taken off and landed in a ditch.

* In What Car, the Zetec and LX models have the same official fuel consumption figures, but the CO2 emissions are 168 for the Zetec instead of 165 for the LX. I suspect that the CO2 emissions like this are proportional to the amount of fuel they use, which means that the bigger Zetec tyres will cost you another £200 over 100,000 miles. On its own it isn't a lot, but overall it means the Zetec has running costs that are about £500 more than the equivalent LX over its lifetime.

* I can do without front fog lamps, a shiny dashboard and any of the other Zetec bits and pieces.

Some other comments

* Its reasonably quick, comfortable, fun and easy to drive. Initially I got about 38mpg, but now after 49,000 miles, the engine has loosened up. If I drive briskly then it still does 38mpg, but cruising at the speed limits on fast A roads and dual carriageways, I get 44mpg.

* The heated front windscreen is just _great_ on a frosty morning. It means you don't have to worry about scraping the ice off, or wiping mist off on the inside. Within about 90 seconds of idling, the screen is clear. Also with the heated screen, you get a sunroof, which isn't essential, but is still nice to have on a sunny morning.

* Personally, I think the Reflex option pack is well worth having. You get ABS, side air bags and traction control. Not many second hand Focuses have this and the climate pack as well.

* The Focus got
a 4* rating in the NCAP tests a couple of years ago. That test was without the side air bags that you get with t
he reflex pack, which would have improved the rating a little more.

* For extra security, I got a Barrier Deadlock fitted. This locks the gear lever into reverse when you are parked. It basically means that if someone wants to get away with the car, they will have to tow it away. Its unobstrusive, and really quick and convenient to use, unlike locks which fit over the steering wheel. At £220 it wasn't cheap, but I plan to keep the car for a while, and the convenience should pay for itself.

Barrier deadlocks are only available for a few vehicles as they have to make sure the bracket fits properly for each new vehicle. They are most common on the Subaru Impreza and Ford Transit Van. This is one big advantage of going for a car sold in large numbers in the UK like a Focus rather than a VW Golf, Skoda Octavia, etc.

* The boot isn't big, but it fits a MacLaren umbrella buggy or a big Graco tandem buggy with no problems. We also have a 2 in one buggy from Mamas and Papas which fits OK, although its quite snug with a Sherpa chassis. If you want more boot space, then I would go for the estate. IMHO, the saloon is unspeakably ugly.

* I've got a roof box for family holidays. I bought some Thule roof bars for £60. They were an older model which used to cost £120 a couple of years ago. They have the aerodynamic aluminium roof bars. The latest Thule bars have a rapid fit system which is a bit slicker, but they end up costing £90 for the basic set.

* Its nice to have 3 proper seat belts in the back seat.

* When the RDS traffic news came on the radio a bit loud until I (whisper it quietly) read the fine manual and found how to turn this down.

* If you want to upgrade the stereo, then you can plug a Kenwood CD multichanger under the passenger seat. www.incarexpress.co.uk sells th
ese for £180 including an adaptor plug. The standard Ford model is £250. You can also upgrade the front speakers for
£50 from In Car Express. See the uk.rec.cars.audio for more discussion about these.

* The paint (Radiant Red) is picking up a few stone chips.

* In the rear seat, there is headroom for two adults, but not for three - the ones on the edge have to crank their head towards the centre of the car.

* You can find out when and where your Ford was built from the VIN number at http://www.capri.lt/ford_vin.htm

* Halfords sell a plastic liner for the boot which fits quite neatly. For really dirty stuff I use a bag that I got with a ton of sand from a builders merchant.

* The price of some of the accessories came as a bit of a shock. A replacement remote control key is nearly £50. A key with just the immobiliser in it was £18. The car comes with one of each type of key. Some bits of sticky backed plastic for protecting the paint at the bottom of the door were £23.

* I got Rapid Fit Ford to do oil changes at 1500 and 5500 miles. The first one cost £14.95 including oil, filter and labour. The second one was £14.95 for oil but they then added some extras to bring the price up to £23. At £15 its a good deal but at £23 its not so hot. See if you can get them to agree to £15 first.

* I was told once that a 10,000 service at Rapid Fit costs £80. I then rang up to see if I could book this and was told that they wouldn't do a Rapid Fit service on a car this age. It has to be a £132 one at their normal rates. You get a courtesy car whilst they do this, but I'd still rather pay less money. They did say that the service intervals are now every 12,500 miles instead of 10,000 miles as it said in my handbook.

* The outside edge of the rear tyres wears rather quickly - faster than the front tyres. This is a problem that I've seen mentioned by a few people about their Focuses
. I had the tracking checked at a service but apparently its in spec.

If you're getting the tracking checked and particularly if you are interested in the alignment of the rear wheels, the places that do it for free don't do nearly so thorough a job as you can get from a place that deals with accident-damaged cars. These take a couple of hours and charge more, but are a lot more accurate.

The one reliability problem I've had was where a load of secondary electrical bits and pieces would all stop working at once. The heated windscreen seemed to start the problem. The heated front and rear screens, the rear wash wipe, the interior light and the intermittent wash wipe would all stop working. Sometimes switching the engine off and on again fixed things, but in the end I had to get a timing module replaced. This then fixed things. The earth strap for the heated windscreen was also corroding a bit which might not have helped.

Overall I'm pretty happy. I'd buy it again.

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