2000 Ford Focus Zetec review from UK and Ireland

What didn't??

Major electrical faults, led to me being locked out in a car park, and breaking down on the M6. Almost leading to severe overheating of the engine due to the fan not working.

Boot hinge rattles.

Noisy heater.

Squeaky rattly seats.

New shock absorbers.

New suspension struts.

Strange knocking noise from the wheel area on the driver's side (Ford says non existent? So I'm a liar!).

Air conditioning failure.

Boot release failure.

Faulty alarm.

Broken stereo.

This car drinks petrol for fun, seems like Ford have fitted the car with a Granada engine, simply too expensive to run in Britain, maybe OK to run in America where petrol is 20p a litre, but here at 76p a litre it's a no go.

The build quality of this car is appalling, so many things have gone wrong for me which maybe a one off, but the build quality is still tacky and very plastic orientated in the interior. For me it's summed up by the CD player, where half the buttons fell off, then the replacement won't work in the cold. Shocking.

The interior is dull, the exterior is nothing out of the ordinary, in fact once you get used to the car it looks pretty stupid. The seats appear to be made from the same materials as the ones in the Ford Transit (i.e incredibly uncomfortable, especially when travelling for long distance like I frequently do), and the plastic dash could have been lifted straight from an Escort van.

The reliability leaves a lot to be desired, I don't expect a lot from a cheap car, but I expect to visit the dealer only once every 4 months or so, not every week.

The dealers really do not care once you have left the showroom and they have their commission. Many dealers are poor, but Ford have to be the worst I have ever had to deal with.

It is a shame Ford have to make this car because with nicer seats, it would be a pleasure to drive when it is working properly.

I have dealt with many car companies over the past ten years, and I have owned 3 Fords, all of which leave a lot to be desired. I drive many miles each year due to my rep job, but this car has only done half of them this year, hire cars did the rest. I now will not use Ford Dealers again to service my car, I will use Vauxhall as they seem to have got the car working OK and are polite about it as well.

I will make sure I never use Ford again. My N-reg Cavalier did 178000 miles virtually trouble free and was still going when the cars were replaced, my advice - if you have to buy a cheap car, buy a Vauxhall not a Ford. Vauxhall are cheaper, more comfortable, soundly built, and so much more cheap to run with the Ecotec engines.