looking to downgrade my octavia as wife will be needing a small car for work now shes passed her test, ill have to take the hit and see what bargains i can find for myself. situation is my octavia L&K is worth around £3500 so im looking for 2 cars now to replace it. shame, as i love it :-/

just seen a ford focus in the local ads but cant remember which one was discussed on here as being the most fun to drive, cant find the original thread. this is an 06 plate, 1.8tdci ghia, 108,000 mileage, short MOT to may. £2250.

dont spose it was this car you were all raving about was it?

ill be doing short journeys mainly so would prefer petrol, but im guessing if a diesel doesnt have the DPF itd be ok?

if i dont go for it, im open to suggestions for around the same sort of price. id like it to have a bit of something about it, and if no bluetooth itd need at least an aux for plugging my phone in. (got my priorities right eh?) 😉

thanks

Most likely a 1.6 or 1.8 petrol. If you jump from a diesel straight into a petrol the way the weight (or lack of) effects the steering is pretty noticeable. Might not be too evident without having the reference point though.

The mk1 petrol was/is great (mine is still going strong!). An 06 plate would be the mk2 though. Never driven one but IIRC most people who went from a mk1 to a mk2 said the original was better to drive. I’m sure it’s still a decent car though (but I’d be looking for a petrol personally).

The ford common rail diesels are pretty poor.

Mechanically the same as Peugeot HDi engine, but they got rid of the fuel injection system and fitted their own awful version.

thanks, ill stay with the idea of petrol then. am i right in thinking the mk1 is 98-04? and with a petrol engine, what sort of mileage should be the limit? look at anything up to 100k?

thanks

I’ve a 1.8 petrol Mk1. Now on 130,000 miles and still doing OK. I’ve put 100,000 miles on it and have had no real issues. Is now needing more oil (upto last year only oil it got was come service time).

Have driven my wife’s work Ford Focuses, all been 1.6 diesel from Mk2 upto the 2015 model (changes every two years). I’ve liked them all but when it comes to cars, I just like them to work. Never had a singe issue with any of them.

I got rid of mine @ 172k and I still see it pootling about. Bloody great thing. ’04 1.6 petrol.

MkII focus here. No Aux input! It’s a 1.8tdci. Fair bit of turbo lag on it, but it goes nicely once it gets over that.

yr 2000, 1.6 petrol mk1 here. I don’t know which version everyone was raving about, but mine’s been faultless the last 2 years despite being 16 years old.

Currently however, it’s got a scraping sound from a front wheel at full lock, suspect it might be a bearing or stuck brake caliper or something.

I’ve had a mk1 and a mk2. Both were great cars, the mk1 was a little bit more nimble but the mk2 is still a good drive. My gf has a mk1 2003 1.8 tddi ( no dpf) which is on 165k miles. Not sure it will get through the next MOT as it is slowly succumbing to rust but mechanically its been great.

they seem a good car then, but…….. if theres no aux that means no 6 music, no streaming deezer whilst driving :-/

might be dead in the water then as i insist that my driving is spent listening to good music 😀

My basic mk2 had an aux in the glovebox.Given DAB radios can be had so cheaply the days you may as well just replace the head unit.

My basic mk2 had an aux in the glovebox.Given DAB radios can be had so cheaply the days you may as well just replace the head unit.

aye, worth considering. do all dab radios also have the aux socket?

EDIT: seems theres enough of them with aux that this route is worth thinking about. thanks

The ford common rail diesels are pretty poor.

Mechanically the same as Peugeot HDi engine, but they got rid of the fuel injection system and fitted their own awful version.

OP mentioned the 1.8tdci, that’s a Ford engine not PSA.
I’ve got a 57reg 1.8, bought at 26.5k, now on 105k. It’s been fine.

I think most head units do have an aux in.I’d take a look in Halfords. I think you can also get Bluetooth kits which will stream music and phone.

One other thought,on difference between mk1 and mk2 was size. The mk 1 is roomy for its external dimensions but the mk2 had a bigger boot.

birky – Member

The ford common rail diesels are pretty poor.

Mechanically the same as Peugeot HDi engine, but they got rid of the fuel injection system and fitted their own awful version.

OP mentioned the 1.8tdci, that’s a Ford engine not PSA.
I’ve got a 57reg 1.8, bought at 26.5k, now on 105k. It’s been fine.

The 1.8TDCi is probably even worse.

It’s the mk2 1.6 tdci that’s not great. I should know, I’ve got one. 🙁 .

I bought an Aux kit from amazon and installed it. Took 30 minutes, but I did need to buy special keys to get the radio out to make the connection.

I think you can also get Bluetooth kits which will stream music and phone.

got one of those. it plugs into aux 🙂

Our ’08 1.6 tdci has been faultless. It’s the mk3 though and I’d hardly class it as a fun car. It’s not awful by any stretch but there’s not a lot of oomph to it once you’re over 40mph.

Adding AUX to mk2 focus is easy, just pop out radio plug in cheap lead from ebay in back, feed down through dashboard to where you want it. Lead even comes with the “keys” to remove radio.

I have a 1.6 petrol mk2 estate.

One thing with mk2 is do replace the washer jets with the mk3 ones to stop puddle forming on top of engine where the originals leak!

just been looking at a few on ebay. im from an age when the ford hierarchy was L, XL, Ghia…… whats the hierarchy with the focus? i see theres still the Ghia but im also seeing Flight, Edge, Zetec and a few other variations.
is the ghia still the top spec?

Just replaced our mk1 1.6 petrol with a mk2 1.6 petrol. Turns out I preferred the old one in almost every way. Was more agile, less squeaky and more responsive I think, certainly around town – brilliant car. Also, the mk2’s interior has been designed by a complete imbecile. Almost every aspect of it drives me nuts, like door pockets you can’t get CDs into unless you’re double-jointed and a driver’s arm rest that’s always in the way whatever you’re doing. It’s a nice enough car and my other half likes it but I probably wish I’d got a Golf or something, or a mk1 if I could have found a good one when I needed it. On the plus side, it makes me even happier that I only drive about 3k miles a year.

Ghia is still top spec, Zetec mid spec, reckon flight and edge etc will be same lowish spec.

Thought Titanium X was the top spec on Fords?

It’s is now but in the era the OP is looking at, 1998 – 2004, Ghia was top spec.

Think Titanium etc came in mid 2000’s >

Bought a mk.1 1.8 petrol with 120k on it 6 months ago. Put about 5k on it since. Great car, apart from swapping out the spark plugs its been faultless. Bargain for £500

I had a mk1.5, it was a basic LX model but all the core stuff was so right- comfy, perfect driving position fantastic use of space, decent handling despite being old and shagged, lovely power delivery despite having the rubbish 80bhp diesel. Had a few misdeeds, like the big random noise dampening sponges in the wheel arches that a) didn’t dampen any noise but b) kept the tin nice and wet. And pretty poor error logging etc- when the crank sensor went iffy it’d just cut the engine out while driving, but didn’t throw any useful codes frinstance. Apparently a basic/early version of their obd systems. (and frankly, an intermittant sensor error causing the engine to cut out dead, taking with it the power steering and brake assist, is not a very bloody good idea)

(I’d love to find a really tidy one and drop my 2.2 diesel tdci into it, apparently it fits.)

More recent models always seem to go a bit off that template. The driving position in my dad’s mk2 is horrible by comparison frinstance, all lopsided and the armrests are all in weird places, the engine trades drivability for headline power and the gearing’s too low so it revs too high on motorways, and the waste of space is pretty bad (even down to little things like the door pockets being uselessly small).

Had the mk1 lx estate 1.8 petrol face lift with alloy wheels added as an upgrade. Aircon heated screen front electric windows. Great bike car. Probably the best car ever designed at the time. Light years ahead of VW stuff.The Golf has only really caught up now dynamically to the Mk1 focus.Thats how good it was back in the day.

If I could find a well looked after ST 170 estate with some service history I would seriously consider getting another.

Brother had a mk1 1.8 TDCI diesel with 115 bhp. It was a really nice drive with a lovely slick gear change, great turn in and feel through the steering wheel and with power delivered smoothly through the rev range. Driving it put a smile on my face. Needed very little work from when he bought it at c30k miles until he sold it at c170k miles. Drove this and a 1.8 petrol and a 1.6 petrol. The 1.8 offered very little performance benefit over the 1.6 so wouldn’t bother.

Wife had a 1.6 petrol mk 2 focus from 30k to 70k miles. It was a disappointment… Needed new leads at c40k, had an sensor issue, needed new discs early at 35k and finally the gasket started to go. All servicing to schedule and regular maintenance completed but still more things earlier than I would expect. Drive was also deeply average with little feel to all controls. Dull and uninspiring.

hmmmm……im getting the itch to try one 🙂 just need to find the right one. itd be good to find a nice ghia that goes like stink and i can stick a new bluetooth/dab/aux into. just need to get lucky i spose at that age.
always liked me old fords. had cortina and granada ghias back in the day, leather interiors, walnut trims ahhhhh happy days…..

Mk1 was the better car. I had a Mk2 06 petrol. It was a nice enough place to sit, but petrol engine was under powered, and the handling was ok but nothing more.

I later got a Mk3 Mondeo that was way way better than the Mk2 Focus and can be had for same / less money. I’d get Mk1 Focus, but more so a Mk3 2.0 tdci Mondeo. More mpg, more toys, better handling

Had a 1.8 tdci mk1 ghia.
Beautiful handling and ride.
Just enough power and torque, 50mpg.
Non wooden dash version.
Loved it.

I bought a Mk1 1.6 cl petrol estate with 136k a few months ago for less than a grand. Apart from a central locking system that seems to have a mind of its own, the car drives faultlessly. Everything still feels tight, no rattles, engine pulls as well as a 1.6 can be expected to and whilst it has clearly had a couple of scrapes in its lifetime, I was expecting it to start falling apart by now. Which it hasn’t. Which is good by me 😀

Nissan micra for your second car OP 😉

I fitted an aftermarket head unit to a mk1 focus I had years ago, was a piece of pish. You’ll need a triangular fascia adapter for about £15 plus an autoleads cable adapter again, £10-£15. Then your head unit on top. I bought a Bluetooth head unit from halfrauds about 2 years ago for £59 I think, decent brand too. Was able to stream phone calls through it too, surprising how little you have to pay for a half decent set up these days.

You should be able to find a 2003/2004 ST170 that fits your budget.
As the St is the XR equivelant they wont depreciate if looked after and not modded to death.
Never owned one but been in a few, quick , nimble good drivers cars. With petrol now at 99p/l wont cost alot to run around either.
Big enough inside for a bike or camping stuff / trips to dump etc

I personaly would avoid all Ford deisels as they simply dont have enough reliability. In 2 posts time someone will be here saying their mondeo derv has done 3 million miles and never needed an oil change , but theirs is the exeception to the rule.

yep, im on it. ebay/gumtree/autotrader/facebook ads, thats the car im looking for now, so ill report back on here when i find ‘the one’. pretty sure thats where im headed now unless someone points me to a bargain car somewhere else.

Nissan micra for your second car OP

thats what ive been looking at too. got one im looking at on ebay that ends in 6 days time. the owners being a bit of a c*ck about its lack of service history (serviced it himself, didnt keep receipts as never intended to sell, if you dont like that dont bid type responses) but i might put in a cheeky bid and see how that goes.

thanks

EDIT: goes without saying, if you chaps see one for sale please shout my way 🙂

You can get an in car DAB from pure. Transmits on FM, which the radio then picks up. Think it has additional inputs to. But you’d end up with lots of writes about the place.

been surfing the net all morning for these, mainly looking at ghia 1.6/1.8. can i just ask a couple of questions to help me fine-tune my search please?

firstly, im still getting 54 and 05 models in my search for mk1. is there a definite cut-off point between mk1 and 2? can i assume mk1 goes up to 04 and no later, so every car with 54 or later is mk2?
and how would i identify the difference between the mk’s if im looking at pics?

secondly, will the pokiest engine be the 1.6i 16V (or 1.8i 16V), rather than just plain 1.6/1.8L? pretty sure it will be but just checking…..

ta

Early mk1’s up to and including 51 plates have bumper mounted front indicators. After that and until about 04, front indicators are in the headlamps.

That’s as far as my knowledge extends as I went looking for a mk1