2003 Ford Focus Ghia 1.6

Summary:

A good, honest car that does what it says on the tin

Faults:

Faults on intermittent setting on front wipers and tailgate latch, both fixed under warranty with no argument. Paint bubble next to tailgate handle, 60% paid by Ford as goodwill gesture.

General Comments:

It's a smart looking medium hatchback and, whilst I think it looks better than it's replacement, I do think that it will eventually date.

Mine is the Ghia trim - alloys, chrome trim, electric windows all round, CD player, air con, heated front screen, driver's armrest, black ash trim on doors & dash.

The seats are quite comfortable even over long journeys. The car handles well, but I wish ABS was standard on all cars. Petrol consumption was OK - about 300 miles on 3/4 of a tank - considering I do 50 miles a day to and from work on the motorway and a fair bit of urban driving.

Performance isn't bad, but it struggles on some steep hills, especially heading into the wind.

The car has some nice touches, such as the locking bonnet, illuminated foot wells, theatre lights, global window closing.

Negatives : lack of ABS as mentioned above; the dash display isn't as bright as I'd like at night, even with the adjustment turned to maximum.

I'm changing the car this month (March 2006) but only because it's become too small for my needs now and I need the better economy offered by a diesel engine.

Would I recommend one? Yes. Never mind what anyone may say about the badge or the minor negatives I've mentioned, this is a good, honest car that does what it says on the tin.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 23rd March, 2006

2003 Ford Focus ST170 2.0

Summary:

Fails Often, Rust's Dreadfully. Period

Faults:

Nothing cosmetic.

Engine whines like a cat being strangled all the way through the range.

Brake discs warp.

Over-steers.

Camber had to be manually rectified.

General Comments:

I originally bought this car because I thought it would be fast, both off the line and up right through the range. Infact what I assumed would be a hot hatch turned out to be no more than tepid.

When first driving this car I did give it some respect, basically because I thought the engine demanded it. I was sorely mistaken. I could happily sit in this car with my foot to the floor, and watch most things go sailing right past. Maybe this is a car for an eco-warrior, or a priest, not anyone with any serious intent on having fun. I mean, I've seen hearses that go more than this and I'll probably be in one before I see anyone get this car to be rapid.

Steer clear, like you would with a parrot with the bird flu, this thing talks the talk, looks fine, but will seriously annoy you!

Period. Word. One.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 23rd November, 2005

24th Nov 2005, 11:16

It still staggers me in this day and age that someone will buy a car without test driving it!

Or more accurately post a review on a site of a car which they have never even driven, never mind owned.

2003 Ford Focus st170 2.0ltr

Summary:

Funky sexy machine

Faults:

Nothing went wrong with the car at all. If maintained properley, things shouldn't go wrong with the worst of cars.

General Comments:

Cars are like people, if you take care of the body, it will take care of you. As a Ford registered Master Technician, every module update and Octane ratings have been set and I have gone out of my way to set the trackings and learn about what makes this particular engine happy. I'm appalled to hear such bad reviews on this site. Come on Focus owners, give them some TLC and you will be a winner.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 15th November, 2005

2nd Jan 2006, 14:01

If you're a ford technician you should know how shoddy these cars are, as a trained technician myself in the years of workmanship I seen how these cars are built and testing and so on, and would never purchase.

7th May 2006, 15:18

Mine did 115,000 miles on routine services only. Never broke down, failed to start or had anything beyond a couple of blown bulbs go wrong with it. Still drove brilliantly at the end. All the stuff inside still worked. Used half a litre of oil between services, same as it did pretty much from new, sweet as a nut, no rattles inside. Shoddy? Mine wasn't. Much better built than the mk4 Golf GTI 1.8T that it replaced.

Needed more power, but boy did it handle.

16th May 2006, 06:43

I agree with Mastertechs point about looking after the car and it will look after you.

I am on my second Focus, the current one on 76k and both have been very reliable.

Ford have great build quality and reliability!

2nd Nov 2006, 22:38

I agree that the ST170 is a super handling car, but found the reliability and build quality to be very poor. I finally abandoned my 02 car at the dealers after they were unable to fix a string of problems which started to occur as soon as the car was delivered - maybe been a Friday afternoon car (Beware AU02WXO!)