Faults:

Transaxle has eaten 2nd gear twice, despite replacement (1st time) and rebuilding (2nd time).

Car seems to eat pads and rotors every 15,000 miles.

Car also eats tires. You're lucky to get more than 20,000 miles out of a set of 40,000 mile tires.

General Comments:

After owning a Ford Contour, which was nearly flawless, I decided to trade in for a Focus while it was in for alternator replacement. I had a very good experience from the Contour, as it had been a Ford of Europe product that was adapted for the United States, and assumed that since the focus has the same pedigree, it would be the same experience. I was wrong.

The car is on it's third transmission. Despite being the same manual transaxle as used on the Contour (MTX-75), the focus seems to eat through them quicker than the Contour did. Both of the prior transaxle failures were due to 2nd gear wearing to nothing, and now the car is working on needing a third transmission. I never experienced this issue with the Contour, despite the same clutch/transaxle combo.

The car has excellent handling and braking, unfortunately the brakes wear out too quickly (15,000 miles).

The layout of controls and feel of said controls is great. Everything fits in my hand perfectly, and is in easy reach.

It's larger than it looks, which makes the 3 door hatchback the perfect delivery vehicle.

The seats, while great for short drives, are incredibly uncomfortable if you spend more than 2 hours in them, and the padding degrades quickly.

The car had the potential to be perfect, somehow something went really wrong in development. The brakes wear too quickly, it eats tires, and the seat cushion material degrades too quickly.

It's better for around town driving and short trips, the interior is not suited for any kind of distance driving.

One saving grace is that the car drives very well in snowy, winter climates. Sadly, the heater takes too long to produce any warm air.

Faults:

The gear linkage cable snapped after 2 weeks of ownership. Car taken to ford repair center, then I had to beg, and wait 3 hours for a courtesy car.

Inlet manifold module cable snapped (ford cables are weak!) waited 2 weeks for the part, got a loan car much easier this time.

At same time a light came on in the dash so they rebooted and upgraded the cars software. Runs like a dream now!

General Comments:

Forgetting the initial problems, this is a very nice car to own. It is comfortable on long journeys due to its supple ride quality, and down country lanes is impreza or evo quick due to its awesome handling and grip. The chassis balance is staggering.

The cars gearbox is an absolute joy, smooth, precise and well weighted with a mechanical feel. The ratios are wide for a 6 speed box, but that's never a problem.

One line for the steering. It's like a Porsche, what more can I say.

Ignore the 170 (actually 172bhp), it drives more like 185! I have timed 0-60 in just under 7 seconds, and 17 seconds to 100mph! very good indeed, power above 5000 rpm to the 7200 cut out is very good, a bit like a vtec!

The look of the car is understated, meaning it looks sporty, without shouting "I'm an idiot, and wanna race" it has the advantage of being a bit of a stealth machine.

The interior is comfy with all the kit I want, or even need, and is well screwed together with a very good sound system.

Consumption is about 330 miles to a mixed driving style tank full of unleaded, but super unleaded makes it a bit more nippy!

I recommend this car to anyone with a £10k budget for a fast yet practical car without being uncomfortable. I LOVE THIS CAR.