Faults:

A fault on the auxiliary heater caused the surprisingly large battery to be drained three times before the dealer managed to sort it out; happened when the car was 9-10 months old (approx. 22.000 km).

The ignition suddenly stopped working when driving, and the entire car was without any electricity. Started working by itself, dealer could never sort out what happened. The car was at this point 5 months old and had approx. 10.000 km on the clock.

Headlight washers stopped working after about a year (close to 30.000 km).

General Comments:

Positives: Excellent class-leading handling, well equipped and very good value for money. Quite roomy too, both for people and bags. Well suited for cold weather with an effective climate control and heated front window. Very low consumption.

Negatives: Interior quality somewhat substandard compared to most competitors, a bit noisy with the original 17" wheels (Continental SportContact tyres).

The Focus estate is well suited to meet everyday requirements for most people and families, as it is small enough to thread easily through crowded cities, at the same time as it is large enough to be comfortable when driving long trips. The Peugeot engine is surprisingly powerful, yet it delivers excellent fuel economy. The Focus acts like a grown up-car, but is still a lot of fun on twisty mountain roads. This will probably not be my last Ford.

Faults:

Nothing serious.

The car had a tiny dent in the driver's door when new. Fixed by the dealer.

Trunk wouldn't close as easily as one would expect - you had to smash it down really hard. Got better after some time, so we never asked for a repair.

Some plastic rattling... most recent noise - wind blowing through the driver's window (no crash history).

Engine RPM unstable at some rare occasions when in neutral. Jumps between 600-1200 and can make the engine die when accelerating from 0. It's a common SW issue with this model, but as it doesn't happen often, it doesn't really bug us.

General Comments:

We have a wagon. The handling is that of a wagon - it has some pendulum effect, but is otherwise stiff enough.

The suspension seems a little harder than our old Astra G (2000), so first you feel bumps you barely see, until at about 160-170 km/h, you stop feeling anything, which feels like taking off.

It is excellent value for the money, considering all the stuff inside, and the 1.8 L petrol gives enough power for 2 adults with plenty luggage. With 4 adults to carry, I'd consider a 2.0.

I had the "pleasure" to test drive a friend's 1.6 (2007) Focus wagon and was barely able to catch a fully loaded bus! (we were 3 adults with no luggage in the car vs 80 in the bus and I pushed it to 5000 RPM) Stay away from 1.6 engines - they are far too weak for this car - used cars dealers were full them.

When making our decision, we tested other cars:

KIA Ceed - I liked the handling, but due to VVT, it was very noisy at speeds above 110 km/h.

Astra H's interior was something I couldn't look at.

SAAB - tested a 180 HP, which was not impressive enough to convince us to buy 120-125 HP.

Faults:

Alignment went bad at about 20k miles, causing premature wear of tires.

Sway bar nuts came loose at 30k miles. (repaired for free under bumper to bumper warranty).

Slight rapping of the engine at 31k miles. This was due to a non-motorcraft oil filter. (Ford cars and trucks are picky about their oil filter brand, so stay with motorcraft and the engine will last a very long time).

The serpentine belt looks a little worn, but I suppose this may be normal at about 30k-40k miles.

General Comments:

This is a very fun and reliable car with superb handling.

The suspension is a little stiff, and I foresee myself replacing the suspension at about 60k or 70k. I won't mind, because I'll spend good money for good suspension at that point.

The acceleration is a little sluggish but manageable if you can finesse the gas pedal just right. (2.0L DOHC with auto trans)

No back seat interior lighting.