2001 Ford Focus LX from North America - Comments

The day that I purchased the car, I was stopped by the police and told to park the car and given a citation, due to having absolutely no lights, head lights, rear lights, park lights, stop lights, all out. I took the car to the dealership the next day and I had no car for about 2-weeks because they could not figure out what was wrong, finally after asking for a loaner car, they fixed my car.

I started having trouble with my front brakes and rotors soon after the warranty ran out, and I have replaced both the front and back brakes several times along with the rotors problem still exists.

I have replaced the battery.

I have had to replace the EGR Tube which was very expensive.

I have had to replace the ignition coil which was very expensive.

The last, but not lease problem, I thought that my starter went out about 2-weeks ago and I had the car towed home and bought a starter for 169.00 none refundable, paid to have the starter put on and guess what, car still did not start, I had the car towed to the Company, put on diagnostic machine for 78.00 only to find out that my motor is gone and it will cost me 4,800 to replace the motor, so now I have two choices, I either replace that motor or I get a new car and start all over again with the same dealer and loose all of my previous payments.

I would not recommend this particular car to anyone, not even my worst enemy.

I really loved this car at first and would have recommended it to anyone, but after all the problems this car has given me I would never suggest to anyone to get this car.

I feel like Ford really need to compensate anyone who has had a car that has constantly given them problems.

I really feel that if a car only has 50,000 mile on it and the motor blows up for no apparent reason that even their technician can't figure out, They need to put the owner in another car and at lease let them continue paying for the point of their car going out.

Ford need to take the Ford Focus off the market until they can figure out why the motors dont last past 40,000 or 50,000 miles, because a car is a huge investment and should not be taken lightly

The earlier model Focuses did have their problems. The newer models * (2004 and up) have improved in reliability.

My ford focus has 85.000 miles on it and the engine hasn't overheated, staled or made one rattling noise.

My car has had problems similar. My struts went at 30,000 miles, my fuel pump went at 35,000 miles, I've had rotor problems since day one, it has squeeked and squeeled while breaking for about 20,000 miles, and it has hesitated and stalled out numerous times. I also do not recommend this car to anyone and will not be buying a ford anytime in the future.

Clearly the US spec Focus is not as good as the UK one. I'm on my third, a 2003 model, now with 91,000 miles on the clock and only one minor fault to its name. My 99 and 2001 models both had over 100k when done and still drove well.

I bought of 2001 Focus in the summer of 2006, and every since then I have been having nothing, but problems with it. At first it had an exhaust leak, right at the manifold. There was a short in the check engine light. Plus with that, I have a lot of noise coming from the front end. I heard that comes standard with a lot of Fords. Just recently, I had to have the ignition coil and spark plugs wires replaces. Now the check engine light comes on and they tell me that it is the Mass Airflow Sensor. All the problems are not covered by a warranty, and has cost over $200.00 every time. I love the car with the problems set aside. Good gas mileage, and perfect for single ladies. All in all a good ride, if you want to invest money into a car like this.

We had a 2001 Focus ZX-3. It never had a single problem and was a very good driving, great performing car.

My husband just bought a 2001 ford focus LX a couple of days ago. We had a 1992 plymouth voyager that was totaled in an accident. We needed a cheap car so here we are. So far so good. It is very roomy! Big trunk space. The door handles are hard to open and feel like they might break soon. Also the turn signal doesn't pop back on its own. I hear the brakes making a sound now also. It feels very powerful and I love the small size. I know it will need work in the future, that's what you get when you buy a used car with 109000 on it. I had a 2004 chevy aveo and I would say they are about the same.

Go get your brake's checked soon, or if you wait it will end up costing more.

The signal switch not poping back into the off position means that the switch arm is broken and will need to be replaced, but even broken by not poping back into place it will still function fine.

As for people with the LX Focus, or SE basic, if you have the 2.0 SPI engine they are known to have a few issues related to them and are often the engines that tend to die out randomly. the 2.0 Zetec is better built, and more reliable. as for the repair of $4,500, you could get a better engine as I mentioned from a local wreaking yard for as little as $300, and should cost no more than $1000 to replace everything without going to a ford dealership.

How do you know if it's a SPI or a Zetec?

The valve cover will be black with the white lettering "Zetec" on the upper left corner with the spark plugs and spark plug wires running through the middle of the cover side-ways. The SPI will have a metal valve cover that looks like some sort of baking mold flipped upside down.

I did not have any problems with my 2001 Focus LX until it hit 25,000 miles. The A/C evaporator failed, then came a fan, the brakes have been noisy forever, but work well. When the car reached 80,000, the engine went, and a rebuilt engine with 40,000 on it cost me $2,000 at a non-Ford garage.

After they changed the engine, a number of parts went bad, the alternator, hoses etc. In total I have spent over $4,500 in 6 years.

Now all the dashboard lights go on and off, the transmission is failing and sometimes the car stalls.

In summary, it is a nice little car, drives well, good mileage, but I will not buy a FORD ever again! Any body wants it?

I agree with the fact of Ford Focuses are not the best cars in the world, may be not even close to that, but not all of it is bad. The cars are good looking cars, very good gas savers, affordable price, and I believe Ford Co. has made big improvements in the Ford Focus.