Faults:

Ford Focus LX was fuel efficient, and handled well. Front wheel drive did not do well in snow. Interior space was too small for families. Back seat passengers lacked head and leg room. Good mileage for traveling. Offered ample trunk space. Stylish looks, great for teens / college students.

General Comments:

The car handles well and is very fuel efficient. Interior space is limited.

Faults:

This is the first car I ever had to replace the transmission on. Very expensive. Ford made 3 transmissions for this particular car. Well, they stopped making the transmissions for this car not too long ago. Very hard to find a replacement.

RPM's rev way up at slow speeds. Very odd.

The coil springs broke at about 90000 miles. Guess what. Ford knows that this is a problem in the car. It is not on recall, but if your coil springs break, Ford will repair them at no cost to you for up to 150000 miles. Just take the car into the dealership and have them look at it. I had my Focus back in less than a day.

Acceleration on the highway, car wants to stutter when you push the accelerator. Ford also has a silent recall on this fuel pump issue. But it will cost you approximately $90 to have it looked at to see if you "qualify" for the program.

General Comments:

I love the performance of the Focus and really like the after market parts list for this car.

I feel uncomfortable in the seats of the Focus, mainly because the lower lumbar support is too stiff. Ford did take some time on this car and did a fair job to produce a peppy and affordable car.

Faults:

Apart from regular maintenance and check-ups, and fixing the damage resulted from small accidents, we have never gone to service. Now in 90000 kilometers and nearly six years, a horrible sound is produced from the exhaust, but it is most probably due to the end-life of the exhaust.

General Comments:

- The quality of interior materials is considerably high.

- The cabin is quite roomy for 4 people. The fifth gets uncomfortable because of the shaft tunnel. But the interior noise level is I think exceptionally high.

- Handling is really very good in cornering. Moreover, the comfort is also good. A very careful suspension design I think; good handling and good comfort in the same car.

- The ABS braking is I think not very sensitive and causes the braking distance to be somewhat long. But it is very easy to set the braking force to apply. Even very unexperienced drivers would not have any difficulty for this.

- In regular city driving, the car has some problems with performance. The 1.6l 100 HP engine cannot accelerate the car very well at low RPM. At high RPM, acceleration really booms.

- When the car has a so good handling, I would expect a stability at high speeds that matches the handling. But this is not the case. This is not to say "the stability is very bad" but I would like a car that is less sensitive to side winds.

- The driver should be careful about torque steering in high-performance driving. The standard tires are of 185/65R14 size, but I think 195/60R15 is more suitable for that car.

Faults:

We had to replace the ignition lock cylinder after the key could not be removed. This was a $350 repair which Ford reimbursed us for (after we got far enough up the customer service chain) even though the car was long out of warranty.

Alternator went out at 133,000 miles. Not cheap at $750.

Upholstery on the seats is getting a little thin in spots.

General Comments:

My Focus has been a tremendous value. I've never owned a car that was this cheap to run. Even at 147,000 miles I'm still getting 32-35 mpg. I burn no oil. I've only had to do one brake job. The transmission shifts like it's brand new. It feels like it has lots of life left in it.

It's a fun (but not fast) car with lots of room for four people.

The only thing I haven't loved about my car is the absolutely dreadful AM radio reception. I get lots of ignition noise. The FM reception is great.