What to look out for a 2nd hand Focus

L

lissard

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I'm looking to pick up a 2nd hand run-around for commuting and thinking of a 1.6 Focus with > 60000 miles. Just want to find out of there are any major things that need to be done to this car with this sort of milage. I've seen a number of 1999/2000 models and they seem to average 60000-70000 miles which seems about right for an urban cycle. Any advice on the expected gremlins would be appreciated.
 
It's not that relevant to your query, but couldn't help notice a piece in this week's Autocar about a Focus running just fine with 250,000 miles on the clock.....
 
I bought a 03 1.4L Focus with 35K miles on it in January and it's been going great, no problems at all and I love it!
 
Thanks for the advice - the car check pack from Parkers looks useful for a non-mechanic such as myself.
 
1.6 Zetec is the most common model made, but there also some nasty ones starting to appear. No offence to moondance but the 1.4 is too underpowered, and the 1.8 is too heavy. 2.0 is thirsty and the TDi and TDDi diesels are best avoided.

If you are looking at a pre Nov01 (Indicator lights are on the front bumper) model then make sure the timing belt was changed and also the cambelt and pre-tensioner if you are keeping it a few years. ABS never really became available until Nov01 onwards too, but is not standard in this age range.

Check the steering wheel too for excessive wear in 1 spot if the car is under 50k miles. Could be clocked... I have had my focus for 3 years, put 50k on the clock and the wheel is only starting to show wear with 80k on it. Drives great too...

As with most cars in this class the suspension will be coming to the end of its life, exhaust could be prone to getting holy if it is pushed hard regularly, and also check the oil and coolant for evidence of cross contamination of the either oil or water, which would show evidence of a head gasket leak (again, only if the car has been pushed hard).
 
r0nn13

What is the problem with diesel focus? Wife is driving 2000 tdi with 135K miles on the clock. It has been in the family for 4 years no problems except had to replace spring in front suspension. Just passed NCT (had to replace rubber cover on brake pedal). It has had a hard life (farmer’s car) Don’t think the diesel is to be avoided.

On another point parents had a very bad accident in a previous focus and the little car took big impact from 5 series BMW very well. Have to say they seem to be a safe car.

I drove new model 1.6tdci yesterday from Northern Ireland to Bray with average fuel economy of 53.5mpg was amazed.
 
The TDi and TDDi diesels are only best avoided if you can get the newer 1.8 TDCi car. It is both nippy and economical.

I bought a 1.6 Zetec over a TDDi 3 years ago, and I get 40mpg from easy driving. Just my preference, I prefer to have a nippier car.

Oh and get good tyres for it too. I had the cheapest I could buy a few years back and what a difference when I got Continental contact tyres. Worth a drive north if you can as kwik fit were doing 25% off 4 Continental tyres…

Agreed that it is a safe car too and well built
 
The ignition coil went on my 1.6 2002 focus quite early on and it seems to be a general fault (according to the dealer) so it might be worthwhile checking to see it it was done at any stage. The clutch and cat. conv. went at approx. 90k miles and were expensive to replace so might be an issue. Otherwise 1.6 petrol focus was a great car to drive. I put 104k on mine before parting with it.
 
 
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