Faults:

You name it it's had it! The clutch barrel went in the car in the first frost of winter, so that had to be replaced entirely - cost £275. Full service and MOT - £150. Accident repairs £475. 3 new tyres £200. Electronic engine management system thingy failed - £500.

General Comments:

The above is excluding the tax and insurance on a car over an 18 mth period. I loathe it with an absolute passion and actually considered an 'insurance job' on it at one point.

I've finally managed to offload it (all being well) and it's started to play up again - on a serious level. I'm just praying it keeps going 'til I'm driving off down the road in another car...

It may be comfy and sit at 90 when it's actually running, but on the whole, this car has frequent engine failure and the cost and reliability far outweigh any negligible benefits such as the heated windscreen, air conditioning etc etc.

Faults:

Rear wheel bearing at 105,000 miles.

Other than that, consumables only.

General Comments:

Despite all this "new edge" stuff, and handling that belongs in the 21st century, the Focus is still an old school Ford workhorse. Namely tough, reliable, cheap to service and fix, and good to drive.

Used for carrying a mad border collie from A to B, lugging junk to the tip etc etc so the load area is a bit tatty and chewed, but the rest of the interior still cleans up pretty much like new. Everything still works, and the car drives beautifully.

Bad points are uncomfortable front seats, poor tank range (usually less than 300 miles) and hopeless dealers. The good thing is, most small independent garages won't hesitate to work on a Focus, and parts are cheap. I have it serviced every 10k as per the manufacturer's recommendations and she just keeps going. Out of curiosity I had the garage do compression and oil pressure tests at the last service and both are comfortably within spec.

Solid, well made and reliable all rounder that's pin sharp to drive.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

A Truly Amazingly Reliable car, that is very Economical and has a good turn of speed. Handling is really good and comfort excellent. Optional Air Conditioning pack well worth the money.

Faults:

Apart from squealing front brakes - nothing!

General Comments:

We bought the Focus 1.8 litre Ghia as a saloon model - not the best looking car, but equipped with a massive boot that swallowed loads of luggage.

We covered 75,000 miles in 3 years all over the UK and the car did not let us down once - no repairs were necessary and all that needed doing was done at the service intervals. The car had two sets of front tyres and one set of rear tyres during its time with us and that was all!

However, the front seats are very uncomfortable and during a long journey you would either get a sore back, a sore hip or a dead leg depending on how you sat.

If Ford did something about the seats (they may have already) it would have been a first rate car.

It would average around 35mpg during London stop/start traffic and could also do nearly 45mpg on motorway runs - not bad from a 1.8 litre car.