Mk 1 Focus....Are they economical?

woody33

Yesterday I asked were they reliable, and got some interesting answer saying that they were pretty good. But now Mrs 33 has had two different people say the Mk 1 "guzzles" petrol. I think the Almera gave us about 40 mpg on average in mixed not-too-hectic driving, so I wonder what mpg to expect from a Focus 1.4?
Around here it's mostly 80k speed limit, I asked a lad I know with a 1.4 Focus if he has problems overtaking with the smaller engine, and his response was " Overtaking? Nobody overtakes any more with the speed limits". Having said that, Mrs 33 did love the Saab 95 we had not so long ago. Thanks for any input.

patpark121

I had a Mk1 for 7 years. Bought it in 2003 second hand. 1.4 5 door. Put 175k on it before off loading & the only thing that needed replacing was he clutch at 150k. For overtaking forget it as it just doesn't have the power unless you drop to third & red line the rev counter. Economy wise with regular servicing i was getting somewhere around 450 miles to a tank at the time. Helped by the fact that it wasn't motorway driving, more national & B roads.

woody33

Thanks for that, so if the Focus tank is 61.5 litres that's 13.54 gals, so 33.23 MPG? Hmmm.
Has anyone worked out the mpg measured brim to brim and miles covered?

Nissan doctor

woody33 wrote: »

Yesterday I asked were they reliable, and got some interesting answer saying that they were pretty good. But now Mrs 33 has had two different people say the Mk 1 "guzzles" petrol. I think the Almera gave us about 40 mpg on average in mixed not-too-hectic driving, so I wonder what mpg to expect from a Focus 1.4?
Around here it's mostly 80k speed limit, I asked a lad I know with a 1.4 Focus if he has problems overtaking with the smaller engine, and his response was " Overtaking? Nobody overtakes any more with the speed limits". Having said that, Mrs 33 did love the Saab 95 we had not so long ago. Thanks for any input.

Between them being supposedly unreliable and now a 1.4 guzzling petrol....I think you need to stop taking your car advice from the lads down the pub:)

The Focus 1.4 has low gearing so motorway driving would be a higher revs so not giving great fuel economy but for normal urban driving they would be fine.

Jellicoe

1.4 mk1 focus, no flying machine, but does the job, 1.4 mk2 focus is too sluggish. In the mk2 you need the 1.6 (if looking for a petrol one)