The best ford ever (Ford Focus Zetec in general)

Member Name: Bazza1603

Product:	Ford Focus Zetec in general
Date:	22/12/01 (3328 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellant car

Disadvantages: Didnot have it long enough, Second hand values are high

At the start of this review I am going to let everyone know why little old me has been missing from Dooyoo for a while. I am urgently trying to tidy my house up, as it?s gone up for sale since Monday just gone. Since I am now married I am looking to move to a newer house, and my time is required on painting everything in site ? This includes my pet Chinchillas is they would stay still long enough!!!. Hopefully I should be back to my normal crap opinions from the New Year!.
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Right, now for my opinion on the lovely Ford Focus I hired last weekend to go and see my Nana down in Stafford.

I picked up my car last Friday morning and the first thing I notice was the numberplate Y*** WEE. This would be my first drive in this model of car and wondered if the ability of the car would match the numberplate. From the start my experience of the motor car was anything else other than stale. I can honestly say that this was the best car in the class I have ever drive, by this I mean I wont rate it against prestige cars like a Mercedes E class or my current super deluxe Ford Sierra!

The car I hired was a 5 door 1800 Zetec Hatchback in burgundy with 8000 miles on the clock. The car had a fantastic ride quality and handled around corners in the wet like it had super glue on the tyres. One thing that really impressed me was the cars gear change. The clutch was very light and the change on the gearstick was very smooth and light, but still very positive.

The cars equipment levels were impressive with the following fitted to my model: -

Alloy wheels
Electric front windows
Power steering
Driver and passenger front Airbags
Air condition
Traction control
Remote Central locking which included automatic boot opener on the keyfob

The car was fitted with a standard ford car radio with a clip of front panel. The radio was very basic with only RDS being the on
ly toy. However the radio sound quality did impress me.If you want to upgrade the radio, it will be expensive as its a odd size than normal radios, therefore a expensive dealer upgrade would be the only option.

The interior of the car was impressive; with nice seats that cradled you well. You won?t slide about in them while corning hard. The dash did take a bit of getting use to because of two strong lines that run vertical above the radio, but not parallel with each other(Hard to Explain but it looks weird!!). But everything on the car dash is easy to reach and has a quality feel about it. In the dashboard you have a lovely little ashtray which should get 0a design award. You also get two can holders which are build into the centre console.

Security of the vehicle hopefully is better than previous Ford models. I was impressed with the bonnet lock which in hidden under the front Ford badge. You need to use your key and turn it clockwise and then anti clockwise. This took me ages to see what the engine looked like! This would cut down on a something I hate?. There is nothing worse than when you buy a car to find that the bonnet cable is stretched and you cannot open the bonnet no matter how hard you bull the realise handle. I normally get so upset I pull so hard I end up pulling the handle out and hurting my hands! This is a small point but shows again that small details can make a great car.

I only had the car 3 days but during that period drove 418 miles for which it cost me £35, which means I got approximately 38 mpg on mainly motorways. Considering I did the same trip last year in my X reg. 1.0 litre Vauxhall Corsa and managed 45-mpg I was impressed by the fuel consumption of the Focus.

This car was that good, when we come to change cars next Year I will be serious looking at the Focus range providing that this model is not going to be replaced by a new generation model in the next couple of years

Summary: