First or second generation Ford Focus

Stky10

I've been looking out for a 1.6 Focus for a while and now I've found two, one first generation, one second generation.

The first generation car (2001) has 70000 km and has just had the timing belt replaced and is 60% of the cost of the second generation car (2005) which has 100000 km but is the better Ti-vct engine (but no timing belt replaced so far).

So will it soon be difficult or expensive to get parts for the first Gen models? Which is the better option to go for??. I don't do much mileage and just want a reliable easily maintained car.

colm_mcm

Can you be specific on the price, the 01 should be tiny money (€1000ish) making the 05 a bargain!

Stky10

colm_mcm wrote: »

Can you be specific on the price, the 01 should be tiny money (€1000ish) making the 05 a bargain!

Sorry, this isn't in Ireland so prices are a lot more expensive. First Gen is about 3k euro, second Gen about 5k euro.

colm_mcm

I'd get the 05 in that case provided you can afford it.

Stky10

colm_mcm wrote: »

I'd get the 05 in that case provided you can afford it.

Price is fine, but why the 05?

colm_mcm

The original model is quite dated. Also the newer one is just newer, and if you live in a country without the age on the plates, for anyone looking at it, it could be anything from an 05 to an 09.

dr.fuzzenstein

What country you in?

Stky10

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

What country you in?

Sweden. So rust is one of the factors I need to consider. I haven't seen either car yet to evaluate them for rust because a focus is relatively rare so the closest one is more than an hours travel away

Jimdagym

Handling on the first focus is far superior to the mark II, if that is a consideration for you.

bazz26

Alot of folks say the MkI is a better drive than the MkII. I've driven a few MkIs and owned an MkII for 2 years. I found very little between them from a driving perspective. However I find that the MkII is more refined especially around cabin insulation. The MkII being a more modern and safer designe along with the Ti-VCT engine would sway it for me.

dr.fuzzenstein

Stky10 wrote: »

Sweden. So rust is one of the factors I need to consider. I haven't seen either car yet to evaluate them for rust because a focus is relatively rare so the closest one is more than an hours travel away

Cool! Sweden!
I love that place.
They do drive insane cars over there, after a few days I wouldn't even look in the direction of an S4, a 6 series convertible or a Porsche anymore, far too common.
Why don't you buy one of the many Yank tanks that seem to clutter up the place?:D
Well, I'm talking about Stockholm, the rest of the country might be different.
We used to play a game called "Hey look, a Volvo!", but after two days it drove my GF nearly insane for some reason.
I switched to "hey look, a Saab!":D

johnos1984

Op I used to know a guy from Sweden who maintained fords had a poor rep over there as they couldn't handle the harsh conditions.

From what u know the mk1 Focus has poor rust protection but the next generation was far better

Henry Ford III

Jimdagym wrote: »

Handling on the first focus is far superior to the mark II, if that is a consideration for you.

Subjective. They both handle well.

L-M

The Focus in both marks is such a dreadful, boring, mundane slow and lifeless car to drive. Basic spec 1.4 in the Markii... *shudders*

colm_mcm

The 1.6 ti vct or whatever its called in the mk2 is quite acceptable though

bazz26

Limerick man wrote: »

The Focus in both marks is such a dreadful, boring, mundane slow and lifeless car to drive. Basic spec 1.4 in the Markii... *shudders*

No worse than a 1.4 Golf of similar vintage though.

L-M

bazz26 wrote: »

No worse than a 1.4 Golf of similar vintage though.

Much prefer a Golf, even down to the build quality. Drive a Focus then a Golf one after the other and tell me which you would prefer.

easygoing39

Limerick man wrote: »

Much prefer a Golf, even down to the build quality. Drive a Focus then a Golf one after the other and tell me which you would prefer.

I had the misfortune to own a 2003 golf,so same vintage as a mk 1 focus.The golf turned out to be the worst car i ever owned!!It was a 150 TDI,cost €27,000,and everything that a google search told me would go wrong did.Camshaft,injectors,window mech and worn susp bushing all had to be replaced.Cost me 1000's,while my fathers and my sisters mk 1 focus cars just kept running along sweatly.It was my 1st VW and my last,I like a fool got sucked in by VW's ads promoting how reliable they were,how wrong they were.

Jimdagym

Limerick man wrote: »

Much prefer a Golf, even down to the build quality. Drive a Focus then a Golf one after the other and tell me which you would prefer.

That's just as subjective LM. My wife has had 3 focus now, 2 mark I's and a mark 2. I have driven them all a lot. I car pool with a golf owner (10 reg) and I don't see a huge build quality improvement.

kippy

I have a 1.8 Tddi 2000 focus. Wouldnt change it unless I was forced to.
Great car, economic and anything that goes is wear an tear.
Have it over 5 years now.

OP,
If I were you I would probably go for the newer car, as I would assume that is Focus' are "rare" over there it would be easier and cheaper to own a newer car.

L-M

easygoing39 wrote: »

I had the misfortune to own a 2003 golf,so same vintage as a mk 1 focus.The golf turned out to be the worst car i ever owned!!It was a 150 TDI,cost €27,000,and everything that a google search told me would go wrong did.Camshaft,injectors,window mech and worn susp bushing all had to be replaced.Cost me 1000's,while my fathers and my sisters mk 1 focus cars just kept running along sweatly.It was my 1st VW and my last,I like a fool got sucked in by VW's ads promoting how reliable they were,how wrong they were.

Those 150bhps were known to cause awful, awful hassle.

Jimdagym wrote: »

That's just as subjective LM. My wife has had 3 focus now, 2 mark I's and a mark 2. I have driven them all a lot. I car pool with a golf owner (10 reg) and I don't see a huge build quality improvement.

Everything is subjective!

Stky10

Went to see the gen 2 car. It was at a Ford/Volvo/Renault main dealer. Expensive showroom blah blah. Car had a fair amount of problems with the paint work that wasn't mentioned in the ad (the photos on the website were taken from other angles so it couldnt be seen either). Worst of all the front right corner looked like it had been scraped along a wall or similar. As they said they were going to get that all sorted out, I decided to test drive it at least. At low speed turning left or right produced an awful scraping noise from the front right corner, so I guess whatever caused the damage to the paintwork obviously damaged more than just that (bushings at least). It didnt feel safe to drive either really, so I left it back to them. No idea why they had the car listed for sale for at least a week when it isnt roadworthy.

Will ponder the gen 1 car at my leisure, pretty busy for the next week or two.

bazz26

Limerick man wrote: »

Much prefer a Golf, even down to the build quality. Drive a Focus then a Golf one after the other and tell me which you would prefer.

I've driven a few of them, I just don't see one being any better than the other. The Focus has a cheaper feel interior to it but the Golf handles like a barge in contrast. I suppose it depends what you want from a car.