It is 2004 and my 1986 Mazda 626 is passing 350,000 miles now. It is time to consider it’s replacement and can I find one that will pass all my expectations? Now the current 2004 Mazda 626 would be an obvious choice. Only issue is that it is over $20,000. When I bought my 86 model it only cost me $9700 and my mind is frozen in 1986 when I am looking at 2004 cars. Nonetheless, I am determined to come in below the $20,000 mark as I am going for a four year loan. That means the Mazda 6, Toyota Camry and Honda Accord are out. Forget the other second tier Asian manufacturers. Not going VW. Both Chrysler and GM have nothing that would interest me. That leaves me with the Mazda 3 and possibly the Ford Focus. I’m spoiled by my high mileage trouble free 626.
My non-negotiable requirements are simple. One, no timing belt engine. Two, no auto only 5 speed. Three, average mpg no less than 30 city/highway. Four, fun to drive. My research into the Mazda 3 with the 2.3L engine showed it was a timing chain. It also showed that this exact drive train was shared between Mazda and Ford. That piece if information brought the Ford Focus firmly into view. Getting deep into online research I learn the ins and outs of both models, colors, interior, and options. I also learn Ford has a $2500 rebate and Mazda doesn’t. Ah, ha!
Now Mazda has a good rep by me and many others while Ford not so much. However, this looks to be the last year of the first generation and Ford has had five years to get it right but I did look closely. So I pass on going to the Mazda dealer and make a list of Ford dealers ranging from closest to farthest. Starting at the closest, 3 miles from home, I start my walk around the lot waiting to see who is going to approach me. Approach me with bullshit and you are written off quickly. The guy who does approach is clearly young and new so he doesn’t have the polish down yet. I tell him exactly what I am looking for and he pulls out a test car.
Believe it or not but there is not one 2.3L car on the lot. So I get to test drive a 2.0L manual. Ok, it does have more power than my old Mazda as we zip up the long Ygnacio Blvd. freeway entrance. I head down towards the South Main exit which is a very nice S curve. Get the line right between the dirt on the left and sound wall on the right you can power through the curve at close to 60 with a few inches to spare. I like it although he wasn’t ready for that. Down the street to the entrance back with a simple sharp two lane curve to the left and back onto the freeway from below. He had an inkling what was going to happen when I made the left and started into the curve. Mind you these two curves are a constant in my life. One below.
Back at the dealer we now need to locate a 2.3L car. Can I take an auto? No! Can I take a moon roof? No! I want a 5 speed with the sports package in one of three colors. This process took 2 hours to locate a car that would be acceptable to me. In the meantime we discussed price and when we got down to a price I then bring up the still current rebate of $2500. The salesman gets up to talk to his sales manager and I get up to leave the dealer which quickly halts him in his tracks. The deal gets the total with sales tax and license to $17,000 and that is where it stays. Car eventually shows up in Tundra Green, nice color, and papers are signed.
I head up North Main to access a long freeway entrance. Did I say long? Up over the shallow rise, light below is green with freeway beyond, and I stomp it. Felt like Will Smith and “I got to get me one of these.” The power band of this engine really comes in at 3000 rpm and I can run it all the way up to 6500. Actually a few times I did run it higher as I was not paying attention to the car as much as how quick it was moving and the rev limiter shut me down. Head up the freeway to really test out the handling on a curve marked at 30 mph. Can I go through it at 60 mph. Get to far left past white line, at the right time tap the brakes and then throttle through to the right past the white line and straighten out. The car did it.
The car was purchased on President’s Day in 2004 and has performed pretty much flawlessly since. One passenger side engine mount had to be replaced and so I keep a Ford spare. The pcv hose had to be replaced which is a chore unto itself and took 5 hours to do. I’ll probably never find a car today that doesn’t have that hose under the intake manifold. The only quirk with the car happens during the last four rainy seasons. No leaks anywhere and of course the car is 100% rust free all over. Yet after a strong wet night there are electrical gremlins afoot in the car. Dash board warning lights are flickering. The warning for key in ignition is beeping and the overhead light is flashing so it is now kept off. My son noted it those four years ago when the interior light was going on and off and he asked who was in the car. Quirk disappears once things dry out even though the car is water tight. Oh well, and yes there are added grounds.
Needless to say but I have been extremely pleased with the car. It is quick. It is nimble. It is solid. Ford should have stopped right here but they didn’t. Why manufacturers eventually mess things up is beyond me. Heck, this car still has the original brake pads up front with 30% left after 167,000 miles. How can you beat that? Of course the car is 90% highway use. I do have spare pads and rotors in stock. Note all pictures taken last two months.
I expect this car will be with me for many more years to come. Since I can split driving it by using the 91 626 and the 2004 Le Sabre the miles will go on slower for me. Just as well since every time I get in this car I can get carried away. Not so much by how quick it can go. Believe it or not I am a steady 65 mph driver on the freeway. The issue comes with me and curves especially after adding the Ford Performance suspension kit. Now one would think you can’t get into trouble with a curve as much as you can speeding. Yet tell that to the CHP officer who stopped me at the bottom of that first curve above, last year, which took some doing on his part. It was an interesting encounter.
Fun sized cars, the ability to not lift off for corners is why I liked my Xsara, just feed the torque in and steer a right angle turn off at 80kmh/50 mph no problem just turn because it will, U turn at 50kmh/30mph changer down step on the gas and just turn, ok I got thru a couple of sets of LCA bushings but its still fun to drive when my daughter lets me have a turn, these Foci took the handling crown from Citroen so they are pretty good, I actually looked at a couple but went for a bigger car for the comfort the Focus also uses the PSA/Ford turbo diesel, but I could only find well beaten wagons no nice ones.
Great story, and it saddens me that cars like this (manual transmission sedan) are a vanishing breed. It’s a combination of all things that I’d want in a car.
I’m amazed at your brake life – I was impressed that I managed to go 100,000+ miles on a set of brake pads, but 167,000 is mind-blowing!
Incidentally, I find these Focus sedans to be some of the best-looking small sedans made in recent memory. For most smaller cars, the hatchbacks tend to look better-proportioned than the sedans, but somehow Ford avoided the overly dorky small-sedan look with this design. Maybe it’s the large tail lights, or the trunk that’s just big enough to look like it ought to be there — I don’t know, but I like the looks of these cars more than any of their competition.
Agggh, it keeps happening. Everybody loves the way these look, yet I have never found an attractive line on it. The basic shape is fine, but Ford went overboard with odd creases and angles. They sound like fabulous little cars to drive and you can’t see the outside from the drivers seat, so I could see owning one in the right circumstance. But how everyone finds it so great looking, ’tis a mystery.
I don’t know… maybe it is those angles and creases that work for me. Maybe angularity works better in some ways for small cars than rounded shapes? To me, this generation of Focus sedan just looks more substantial than the designs that followed — with the more recent Focuses, it almost looks like the sedan version was an afterthought, cobbled together out of necessity. Maybe it’s that the decklid seems much shorter, and therefore just clumsy-looking.
The later Focus sedans aren’t bad in my opinion (not like a Toyota Echo for example), but I definitely like these 2004-era cars better.
Well, taste is subjective, and to each their own, but the angles and creases on this style seem to be cohesive and thought out, unlike a lot of the sharp angle designs. I like them, and the hatchback ZX3 and ZX5 as well. Similar enough to fly under the radar with other cars of the period, yet still looking unique enough to be identifiable.
Looks are subjective of course, but I always thought the 3 and 5 door hatchs (much more common in Europe than the saloon) were terrific looking, and that saloon suffered by having to share the 5 door’s rear doors and therefore roofline.
You got that right, the 5 doors looks like a rally car right out of the showroom.
You got a very good one! My ’06 was a fun drive even with the auto and minus the sport suspension. But it was nowhere near as reliable as yours. Lots of niggling small issues the whole six years I owned it. Left me stranded by the roadside once.
I would like to subscribe to your newsletter entitled “how to keep a car for 15 years and still enjoy it”. My automotive ADD has never allowed me to keep a car more than 6 years.
Mine compels me to do a trade every three.
Picture Kurt Russell and Frank Bonner standing over me in a sales cubicle, both wearing Herb Tarlek clothing, shaking an aspergillum loaded with 10W-30 at me.
“The power of rebate compels you! The power of rebate compels you!”
Me: “I want a six speed stick! Your mother eats army boots” (licks oil off face)
“No standards on the lot. The power of rebate compels you! The power of rebate compels you!”
“Nooooooo!!!” (thrashes clutch foot and shifter arm) “Nooooo!!!”
It’s that strong. I’m already mentally thinking about what will replace my Nissan Note in 2021…and yes, something with a stick.
First, you need to find a car that meets your requirements and desires. Second, if you do then most likely it will be loads of fun to drive whether year one or year fifteen. I succeeded on both those points.
The third point that can make the first two fail is in taking good care of the car. Many times the care the car gets is based on it’s cost and so econo cars tend to be treated poorly particularly when they hit the third owner. I just saw a 2004 ZX3 tonight and it was beat to crap which is how I usually see them around here when I see one. If the car looks like crap then you don’t even want to be seen in it. I know I don’t.
My Focus gets all the prescribed maintenance. To keep it from looking like crap it gets washed 3-4 times a month. No corners are cut inside or out. Microfiber wash mitt and blown dry so very few swirl marks in the paint. Full waxing, with my equipment, three times a year. One small ding early on but none since as I don’t park anywhere where others can park next to me.
Consequently it looks great and it is still a blast to drive everyday I sit down in the car. Plus I don’t believe in throwing something mechanical away as long as I can maintain it and it repays me in trouble free use. I guess I have been lucky with every car I have owned but one.
After reading this, I just realized I haven’t seen a first gen Focus in my area in a VERY long time. Every now and then I see a (North American) second gen around, but they are few and far between. Oh the wonders of living in salt country.
I would love to drive one of these some time. I have read so many opinions on how wonderful the experience is. With seat time in a Miata and a Honda Fit, I would love to see how one of these compares.
The combination of your excellent maintenance habits and your excellent weather make for a dream-team of long life in a car.
My sister in law bought a first-year Focus sedan me, loaded with a 5-speed. I thought that in some respects it even drove better than my ’96 Jetta, high praise at the time. I never cared for the styling and the back seat was right, but I would have taken one as my daily anyway.
However, her Focus was even more of a lemon than my Jetta, and that took some doing. I think she sold it with 60k miles on it because it was costing an arm and a leg to keep it on the road and it was unreliable to boot. Nice to hear that they made some good ones, too. Too bad virtually nobody makes something similar now.
The first few years of U.S. Focuses were troublesome. Ford had worked out the bugs by 2004. My wife had a 2005 Focus SE sedan that she bought brand-new in late 2004. She finally traded it in July 2016 with 235,000 miles on the odometer. The only major problem was an alternator replacement at about 190,000 miles.
You knew what you wanted, made sure you got it, and 15 years later you are still happy with it. Nicely done.
This generation of Focus is the car that made me start paying attention to steering and handling. It was just a basic 5-door rental with the smaller 2.0 and 4 speed slushbox. Completely anonymous and bland powertrain, but the first turn in that car was a revelation…and we had the vaunted 1993 Civic at the time. Fun little cars. With a stick shift and the bigger engine, I can see wanting to keep it for a long time.
Comment marked as spam, I’m logged in, please rescue, why is this happening?
Rescued. Why the system flags some of these comments is a mystery. Perhaps it gets tired of reading rigpqirptijqjig4w98ueojqrp or about miracle cures for everything.
But MY miracle cures work.
Your experience at the dealer sounds like a test of patience and endurance. I’m glad you withstood the process.
It wasn’t his first rodeo, he’s not a sucker and he did his research. Doing that saves you thousands.
After disappointing experiences behind the wheel of a few Escorts, my only Focus rental was eye-opening. Especially compared to the Cavalier one might get at the counter as an alternative. Oh, and the next time I’m coming through WC on I-680, I’ll watch for a g reen Focus in my mirrors and move off the racing line 😀
That’s some spirited driving there. I like the the 2L’s throttle response in our ’10 Focus. It beats the 1.8L Toyota engine in the ’05 Vibe hands down.
Flickering interior lights in a Ford? Who’da thunk. We had that with the Windstar. There it’s caused by the door ajar sensors.
Time to saddle up in the Focus but no traffic southbound. Amazing! Also means I have no need to use that favorite S curve exit for the back way today. Just as well as Cal Trans is doing some rearranging there the last month.
Yessir, the 5 speed ZTS is the one to have. I made the same comments in the COAL about my 2001 Focus, in 2017 when we replaced it I would have bought a brand new 2001 Focus if I could. Why did they stop making these?
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-2001-ford-focus-a-daily-dose-of-joy/
Also funny you mentioned that Mazda had the same bones. I mentioned that once to a friend who was looking for a small car. Of course he didn’t believe me and bought the Mazda 3, which cost more and rusted faster than our Focus 🙂
As I said before, my current car is a 2005 Focus & I still enjoy it. It has 67K miles & the only problems that I have is that I had to have my driver’s seat rewelded after it had partially collapsed & I have problems with the door locks. Otherwise, there have been no major mechanical problems.
Rented a Mk1 Focus wagon in Europe in 2001. 1.8 twin cam engine, manual transmission. Plenty quick, great handling and precise steering even compared to ’91 BMW 318IS I was driving in the States at the time. Would have loved to have that wagon in North America. Year later, drove rental Focus sedan in Vancouver. OK, but handling didn’t seem quite as sharp, and auto transmission less lively.
TBM3FAN, Good on you for keeping it up like that, it looks great.
My daughter has a 2007 Focus Sedan, with the 2.0 and an automatic. They are quite an amazing car. Her car is showing 225,000 km (~140,000 miles) and it is an absolute blast to drive and has shockingly good fuel mileage.
I just pre-emptively changed the rear wheel bearings last weekend and took it on an extended, high speed, windy road test drive. You know, to make sure it was safe. I loved it, sun roof open and windows down and 65 mph through the curves.
I’ve already told our 13 year old she’s getting a Focus when she’s ready.
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I don’t get the “no timing belt” restriction. Belts are quiet. Yeah, they need to be replaced every 120K but that other high-mile maintenance item the water pump gets replaced at the same time. I had a timing chain break on a 200K mile Toyota 20R and get very noisy on a 150K mile 24R so they’re not indestructible.
IMHO, these were terrific cars. I had a 2001 1.6 litre 5 speed 5 door hatch for 120000 miles and 6 years and it was tremendous.
Great handling, space, economy, comfort, steering, you name it. Reliability was fine, although I had anew starter under warranty. Truly the car that told us that routine did not have to mean inadequate or dull.
Ours leaked at front and rear screens and Ford didn’t give a toss. Disappointing.
The first gen Focus is a nice car. My brother had a 2003 Focus and I had a 2005 Focus.
My 2005 Focus was a great car that gave me no issues at all
On your electrical gremlins, have you looked at the underhood fuse box next to the cowl? Water tends to seep past the seal.
Go over to a self serve car wash and spray down the hood area and see if the issues manifest themselves. If they do then it is water getting at the underhood box
A friend had one, and, praise the lord, it had non-optional steering, not just a wheel. It was linear and full of feel, in contrast to so many moderns up to this day. And it handled as described here, and rode very well, and changed gears clickety clack. I think Aus got a weaker engine, because it was not special in that way. Nor was it as reliable as yours. When it rained, it leaked, somewhere, (which led to getting rid of it) but the other problems were all fairly minor. A really likeable car.
The styling comes from the Edge (or New Edge? Sharp Edge? Postcards From The?) era of Ford styling worldwide, which produced the infamous AU Falcon amongst others. Personally, I quite like that car, but I know it produces horror and outrage from some on this site, not to mention plenty in this country too, and nearly sank Ford Aus. The Focus, especially as a sedan, has a lot of ideas in common with it, stylistically. Obviously, for many tastes, it just doesn’t work on a bigger car.
Where it also resembles the fugly Falc is that interior and dash, though again, I quite like it in both. But one thing I’d tire of if doing many miles in the car today – the standard of interior finish and plastics has moved well on, and by those standards, these now look like what the Chinese first tried offering a few years ago. They don’t now.
I’ve got some experience with a couple of 2.3 liter Foci…….
In the early 2000’s, me being a ‘wagon guy’, I kinda liked the Focus station wagon. In 2002, I took the opportunity to take a test-drive in one to see how I liked it, even though i wasn’t really in the market right then. The wagon drove fine, but being a regular 2.0 liter model, it just didn’t have enough power for me. There absolutely no ‘enthusiasm’ with the throttle response – it was like the engine wanted to say ‘sorry……’ to you. So that sort of killed my enthusiasm for owning a Focus. Around the early part of 2005, I was getting tired of the repair bills on my high-mile Audi A6 Avant, and I had seen, and test-driven a 2003 Focus ZTW with a 2.3 at a Ford dealer about 10 miles from home. I was just looking at that point. A couple of weeks later, daughter #1’s car gets a bad auto trans all of a sudden, and we are car shopping again. As it happens, we go to our neighborhood Ford dealer where she finds a low-mile 2004 ZX3 with a 5-speed AND the 2.3. SOLD! In the meantime, while the paperwork is being completed, I mention to the Mrs about the pretty little French blue 2003 ZTW over at the OTHER Ford dealer, and she says, “go ahead”. So we buy TWO 2.3 liter Ford Foci, on the same day, from two different Ford dealers.
Mine (with an automatic, but also had leather and a moon roof) was almost perfectly reliable for 6 years, the only failure being one rear wheel bearing. I rolled it over into a snow bank in late 2010, totaling it. The daughter’s ZX3 was with her until the summer of 2017. It had over 160,000 miles on it, and was STILL on its original clutch. When new, it was probably the fastest non-SVT Focus.
I dont think I ever realized that the first gen Focus (pre mid cycle facelift) came with the 2.3L engine. I thought they were all the 2.0L. I had that same engine/trans combination in my 2006 Ford Fusion SE Sport package. I loved it, even with the heavier car it was still a little peppy thing. That trans was amazing. I looked at the Focus at the time (late 2006), and the only ones with the 2.3 had that ugly (IMHO) Street Appearance Package. Plus, the Fusion’s ergonomics fit me better than the Focus.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-2006-ford-fusion-se-my-stainless-steel-maytag/
The 2.3 in the Focus was a ‘P-ZEV’ vehicle (‘Partial Zero-Emissions Vehicle’) and was only for sale in a few states – California and New York being the primary ones. The air filter housing was SEALED from the factory – supposedly good for 150,000 miles or more. It had a little bubble indicator on it that showed whether it needed replacement. I didn’t like the idea of an air filter you couldn’t replace, but a new one was like $250!
You could get the PZEV in any Focus. Although required in CA, it was a $115 option nationally. For an additional 14 horsepower (144 vs. 130), it was a bargain and was a great bang for the buck for someone on a budget.
Unless, of course, you had to change the air filter. That sounds a lot like the Chevy Vega in that regard.
Currently a lot less like $45. I’m still in the green.
https://www.tascaparts.com/oem-parts/ford-air-chamber-assembly-7s4z9e648a?origin=pla&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI78f9osOa5AIVwhx9Ch34NwWzEAQYBCABEgK1SfD_BwE
NIce! Looks like you live in or near Walnut Creek, CA. Fellow Bay Area person (down in the Peninsula).
Concord