2006 Ford Focus LX Vs 2005 Golf Comfortline

godtabh

Looking to change my Punto.

Have been out a few times in different cars and I think I've narrowed it down to either a 2006 Ford Focus LX or 2005 Golf Comfortline.

The Golf has 75k miles and the Focus has about 33k miles. I dont plan to do more than 10km a year probably less so I dont think the high mileage on the Golf will matter that much.

If you had a choice what would you go for and why?

biggus

Focus is probably more reliable and better to Drive than Golf . Just look at Respected English Car Mags, Group tests, Autocar, Car et al.
However in posting to a Thread here I realised there are 1800 yes, 1800 Focus of 2007 to 2005 New Model available on Car zone.

Therefore if a buyer had ready cash he could literally Steal a focus at the moment. When it comes to sell in a year or two this won't matter too much as any decent car under 10 grand will sell.. so Buy a 2007 or 2006 Focus for the price of an 03 or 04 Golf.

godtabh

The Golf I'm looking at is a 1.6 Comfortline for €13950 plus a trade in of my punto.

The Focus is a 1.4 LX for €16k plus trade in of the golf.

With limited test drive I did with both of them the golf is better to drive but I prefer the Golf.

If money wasnt an iusse and I was buying new I would would go for the Golf.

I'm just wondering is the €2k more for an 06 focus worth it

Redpunto

we had 99 focus from 2001 till last year and we had no problems with it until last year so thats .....6 yrs with us driving at least 20 k .

godtabh

Thats the old model so hopefully they've made it even better

biggus

Try a few garages in person(phone won't work) and tell them your a straight cash buyer, I bet you can get an 06 focus for 16k or close without trade in. Then sell your punto cheap privately. Why do you think all the fleets use focus. Don't mind the asking price, there's way too many cars available chasing too few buyers. As I said thers 1800 current Model Focus avail with 484 of them being 2006,
Banks are putting garages under pressure too, last day of month is best day to do a good deal, although tomorrow the 1st might be as good.

bazz26

I'd avoid the 1.4 litre engine in the Focus and the basic LX trim. The 1.4 litre engine only has 80bhp and is slugish. LX spec is pretty basic. I'd be looking at the 1.6 litre Zetec or Ghia model.

Zetec has air con, alloy wheels, sports suspension and seats. I have a Ghia TDCi and find it great, it has air con, Sony MP3 player with cd changer, cruise control, auto lights & wipers among other things. If a 06 Zetec or Ghia is outside your budget then you should be able to pick up a 05 one that is still that bit cheaper than a 05 Golf Comfortline.

godtabh

I drove the 1.4 LX and compared to the 1.4 Golf it has way more power but I assume thats to do with the size of the cars.

The Focus was easier to drive but I'm putting that down to never driving a car that size before..

bazz26

Both cars are notorious for being slugish in 1.4 litre form.

godtabh

bazz26 wrote: »

Both cars are notorious for being slugish in 1.4 litre form.

I asked the dealer about bigger engines for the Focus and he said its hard enough to come buy larger enginees in ireland

bazz26

There are over 270 2005 to 2006 1.6 litre Focus models listed here:
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&MakeID=9&xMakeID=9&ColourID=&xColourID=&ModelID=78&xModelID=78&Doors=&BodyID=&Engine_Min=1600&Year_Min=2005&Engine_Max=1600&Year_Max=2006&Price_Min=&Price_Min_integer=Minimum+price+entered+was+not+an+integer.&CountyID=&xCountyID=&Price_Max=&Price_Max_integer=Maximum+price+entered+was+not+an+integer.&BusinessID=&xBusinessID=&IsPrivateSale=0&FuelID=1&Mileage_Max=&Mileage_Max_integer=Max+mileage+entered+was+not+an+integer.&SortBy=MakeAsc&MaxRows=50&InsertPeriod=&ResultFormat=&submit=Find+%3E%3E

Redpunto

The focus saloon only comes in a 1.6. Our focus was only 1.4 and it did us grand but obviously if we had a choice we wudda gona for 1.6. Check out how much the tax and insurance goes up as well before ua decide.

E92

Focus saloon has been available as a 1.4 for over 4 years at this stage. Though most people go for the 1.6 thanks be to God.

There are loads of 1.6 Focuses around. They're a lot more popular than you might think(in saying that the 1.4 is of course the biggest seller but the 1.6 sells well for them too)! There's no reason for choosing a 1.4, unless saving €98 a year in road tax(not even €2 a week extra) is that important. 0-100 in 14.4 seconds is reason enough.

Redpunto

Redpunto wrote: »

The focus saloon only comes in a 1.6. Our focus was only 1.4 and it did us grand but obviously if we had a choice we wudda gona for 1.6. Check out how much the tax and insurance goes up as well before ua decide.

Doh:D

groupb

kearnsr wrote: »

I drove the 1.4 LX and compared to the 1.4 Golf it has way more power but I assume thats to do with the size of the cars.

The Focus was easier to drive but I'm putting that down to never driving a car that size before..

The focus is bigger and heavier but has better performance!

paddy111199

Just a bit of advice, i just bought a 1.6 zetec from the north. Including VRT the price was €16.5k with 8000 miles from a ford dealer with 2 yrs left on warrenty.

Try this website:
http://www.usedcarsni.com/home_page.php