Read again.

 

Your made a statement about the quality of a car based on one experience according to your post. If there are more you didn't say anything about them.

 

I do alot of traveling with my dad since he works with the ship yard as aproject sup all over the country. When the car rental places dont have his usual type of cars in (seabring conv's, mustangs, etc.) they give him focuses or stratus. ive notcied alot with the focuses in the coeple we've had that the interior creaks, doesn't handle the best, haven't seen good gas mileage in them.The car overall didn't hold up to our standards. We took them through the roads out in Hurricane Ridge in Washington. It didnt perform nearly as well as the Stratus had or the Magnum(I know a compleetely diff vehicle) So once again like I said earlier, everyone has their own opinion, if they don't like mine. Oh well. Ive stated it. And T00cool or w/e his name is...it is my cuz's car not my bros. He wouldn't buy one.

 

I worked at a Ford dealer and didnt think much about the Focus until a guy bought an engine for a 2000 and this was like September of 2005. I said that it sucks he had to replace the engine and it was only 5 years old. The guy just smiled and said he didnt mind because it was a business car and had about 600k miles on it. I wanted to call BS until I saw the mileage myself.

 

Wow.

 

Seen a few crown vics like that.

 

My sister has a '94 F150 with the 4.9(?) inline 6.

I don't think that damn truck will ever die.

 

I own a 4 door hatch...


1st and second gear are tall as I'm sure you noticed.. but the car as you said handles really well, and even better with some stiffer springs. I really enjoy it, plenty of room too for storage when you put the rear seat down - I've fit a fullsize dresser in my car. A tune via an SCT Xcal2 or Predator wakes the bottom end of these cars up. I gained 20 ftlbs of tq at 2500rpm with just a tune.. I have a dyno scan to prove this if you'd like... (edit here is the dyno)



The SVT focus is not actually an SVT per say.. the only "SVT" parts on it are the front and rear bumpers and seats. The car is effectively the ST170 Focus from Ford of Europe. It shares the same 6-speed GeTrag transmission as the Mini Cooper S - with different gear ratios. Audiophile sounds system is very good right from the factory too - 6 disc in dash powering an 8 inch sub and four 6x8 components.

It's a lot of fun to really open her up on some good curvy roads as Im sue you dind't really get to do on the test drive. It was never intended to be a drag car, if you try to compare it to other cars in a drag race it will lose.. Put it on a road course with some curves and it's a whole different ballgame. The engine is 2.0L DOHC with VCT on the exhaust cam, a dual stage intake manifold and a true exhaust header straight from Cosworth stock. Top end is very nice in these cars as 3rd through 6th are geared very nicely.

As far as reliability. The first year and a half the car had transmission issues. The later 03 and all 04 models came with a beefier clutch and fly which fixed this problem. They also changed the battery rating in 03 as well so 02's have had issues with that as well. the Dual Stage intake switches break every once in a while too but you can get billet replacements - Mine has not broken however.

If you do end up buying the car and you need to bring it in under warrenty - (75,000 or 100,000 drivetrain Extended Warrenty) you get a complimentary rental (read a free rental) and when you pick up the car it will have been detailed as well for free just b/c it's in the SVT family.

If you have any other questionsplease don't hesitate to ask. My 2004 is my third focus - I had a 2000 that I beat the living hell out of... I called that car "my slut"... bought it with 30k and didn't have any probelms after a a hell raising 50k more - I didn't treat it as well as I should have but it still took a beating.


If you have any other questions, head over to www.Focus-Illusions.com

 

/\ nice post and sharp car.

 

Nice SVT170