Faults:

Bad ventilation, no air, and the front windshield would always get foggy.

20 000 kilometers - ignition coil died.

35 000 kilometers - catalytic converter fell apart (the dealer service replaced it with a catalytic converter for a van).

50 000 - in 20 minutes the car ate 40 liters of fuel - there was no oil in the engine and the engine light was not working (the service person told me how a sensor on the engine blew, and when I would go into reverse, the engine would pump out the oil? Luckily the engine was unharmed).

80 000 - 90 000:

- Rear brakes died on me and I crashed into another car uphill (I discovered the dealer service never flushed the old brake fluid from the brake system - only changed the fluid in the reservoir - so the pipes were full of greasy goo).

- Front left suspension had signs of wear, and the car pulled a little to the left.

- Water leaking from the engine block (I was at a regular dealer service when I saw a lot of calls of people complaining about water leaking from the engine - and guess what, after the regular service, mine also started to leak water - it turned out the dealer loosened a few bolts, because it wasn't me or my dog).

- While driving the car it would just turn off the engine and block the steering wheel (that was fun).

Dealer service had x3 prices for parts and Ford oils, while you could get an original Ford oil for 1/3 price in any normal car store (a lot of people like me learned this the hard way after spending so much hard earned money).

General Comments:

The best car for handling on a road, especially cornering. I used to drive that car like a maniac; where the road sign was 80km for corners, you could go up to 160km - the more you push the throttle, the more car digs into the road - I never saw anything like that, before or after.

As for engine, it is really indestructible, I was driving it all the time at 5 000 / 6 000 RPM because it was too weak to pull a station wagon with people or cargo inside.

If you would go up on mountain roads with full weight, the only gear was the first gear; in second gear the car's engine would die out.

I tried to increase the power by installing a K&N filter and dual exhaust muffler - it just gave me worse fuel consumption - at the end the engine had 13L per km of consumption... so I sold it...

In time I plan to buy the same Ford Focus, only with a 2.0 engine and automatic transmission...

If you ever plan to buy this used car - go for the 1.8 petrol; the best engine for a station wagon; a lot of my friends had it.

Faults:

Faults:

1. New battery.

2. Wiper motor - link failure.

3. Rear suspension bushes (NCT).

4. Rear wheel bearing.

5. Steering rack - high point.

6. Heater resistor pack (twice).

7. New plug leads.

8. New ignition coil.

9. Door mirror cracked.

10. New fog light (vandalism).

11. Door light switch (driver's side).

12. Rear exhaust box.

13. Rear brake shoe (jammed)- failed NCT.

14. Door restrainer.

15. Driver door lock - open passenger side.

16. Flex exhaust pipe.

17. Tape player button.

18. Rear view mirror fell off.

19. Dash lights too dim, can't see at night.

20. Sun roof leak.

21. Vehicle Speed Sensor (speedometer zeros).

22. Vacuum tube collapse/split - rough idle and stalls.

23. CV joint boot loose (NCT).

My wife's 2001 Ford Focus had the following faults:

1. New battery.

2. Driver's window winder.

3. Heater resistor pack.

4. New clutch.

5. New ECU (€1100).

6. Water pump.

General Comments:

The Ford Focus is excellent to drive.

Reliability engineering is not in the Ford training manual.