Nothing has gone wrong with the car. Surprisingly.
It's a decent car actually. I bought it because I needed a new car because my Maxima took premium gasoline and I just couldn't afford to fill it with these rising gas prices.
While I probably should have bought a Honda or Toyota, since they hold their value so much better, I don't really regret buying this car. I drive about 750 miles a week and it held up beautifully with no problem.
It could use a little more power; the inline 4 it has sometimes has a difficult time, but I'd say that's because it's the Focus wagon. Its gas mileage disappointed me as well. I expected more than 28 mpg out of that little 4-banger.
Throughout it's entire 140,000 mile life with me, I never had it tuned up and it never had a problem. It really surprised me actually, I didn't expect much of it being a Ford, especially since I've had some trouble with Fords in the past. But this is a great little car.
If you do get it tuned up your mileage may improve. Spark plugs and wires aren't that expensive. They are not designed to last 140 000 miles.
Actually, when I first bought the car brand new the best mileage I ever got was 30 mpg. While new plugs and wires could've made a difference it wouldn't have been much. I'm not a fast driver, the fastest I ever went in it was 70 mph, and my average was about 60. So the poor mileage was definitely not due to wasteful driving.
And besides I no longer own it.
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