Does anybody know anything about Ford Focuses?

[darkspork]

So let me explain myself before I ask my questions (or just skip to the last paragraph):

I'm probably going to trade my Ranger for a 2006 Ford Focus ZX3 SES this Friday. I can't come up with a good argument to keep it other than that it's reliable. Snow prowess is about what you would expect from a 4x4 with good A/T tires, but not necessarily better than a FWD car with snow tires. Mostly, I have it and don't haul anything, anytime I do haul something it's something I could fit in a hatchback and I don't really use the 4x4 either. I've used it tow once, and it was to help a friend.

So what I've come to is that I have a vehicle that only really seats two (unless you count the jump seats, I don't), gets 13-16mpg on average and sits more than it's driven as a result of said gas mileage. My loan would have a 1% lower APR and be $1,000 smaller than my current loan, I'd be paying the same and have it paid off almost 8 months sooner. The earlier payoff and better gas mileage is important to me because there's a good chance I'm going to get out of the military at the end of my enlistment and go to college. So now for a little bit about the car and questions about it:

It has all the options I want with the exception of ABS (but it stops pretty good on ice for a car that doesn't have ABS), I'd be buying a set of winter wheels and tires for it, so does anybody know how well these stop on ice with winter tires and no ABS? Also what kind of problems are they prone to? Has anybody who owned one have any positive or negative experiences they'd like to share abou them?

Thanks.

 

[chrwilkins30]

An 06 without ABS?

 

[martin]

Friends wife has an 06, also no abs. The only problem she has had with it is driveshaft gaiters, which was repaired under the warranty. Neighbor also had one and never had a problem. Keep in mind we're talking about a virtually new car, You're not supposed to have problems. What will happen when they're ten years or more old, who knows.
Regarding abs and ice, it's rubbish. good, soft compound winter tyres and good driving technique are the best thing on ice, and on some types of ice nothing works.

 

[JC 97]

My brother-in-law has been driving the focus since they replaced the escort.He gave the last one to his son with 270,000 miles on it and he his still driving it.FWD is great in the snow, as was stated drive carefully.In the winter I drive my '96 neon (yea I know,a neon) but it has no abs and doesn't slide much at all.I have m/s tires on it.

 

[disciplerocks]

Good choice in a replacement. Don't worry about the ABS. Not as big of a deal as you might think on that light of a car. And you will be getting the 2.0 Duratec which is a pretty good motor with a wide market in bolt ons.

Edit: Just seen you were talking about the hatch so you probably have the 2.3 Duratec then.

 

[JohnnyO]

I have a 2004 Focus wagon for a company car (I own the company). Have 4 generic snow tires on it (Magna Grip I think they're called) and goes very well, including blizzards and snow measured by the foot in Upstate NY when I'd loan it to my son when they lived up there.
Also it is very quiet, trouble-free, and goes like stink. Fast enough that I had cruise control added on because I was afraid of more getting speeding tickets.

 

[Slipknotyk]

So let me explain myself before I ask my questions (or just skip to the last paragraph):

I'm probably going to trade my Ranger for a 2006 Ford Focus ZX3 SES this Friday. I can't come up with a good argument to keep it other than that it's reliable. Snow prowess is about what you would expect from a 4x4 with good A/T tires, but not necessarily better than a FWD car with snow tires. Mostly, I have it and don't haul anything, anytime I do haul something it's something I could fit in a hatchback and I don't really use the 4x4 either. I've used it tow once, and it was to help a friend.

So what I've come to is that I have a vehicle that only really seats two (unless you count the jump seats, I don't), gets 13-16mpg on average and sits more than it's driven as a result of said gas mileage. My loan would have a 1% lower APR and be $1,000 smaller than my current loan, I'd be paying the same and have it paid off almost 8 months sooner. The earlier payoff and better gas mileage is important to me because there's a good chance I'm going to get out of the military at the end of my enlistment and go to college. So now for a little bit about the car and questions about it:

It has all the options I want with the exception of ABS (but it stops pretty good on ice for a car that doesn't have ABS), I'd be buying a set of winter wheels and tires for it, so does anybody know how well these stop on ice with winter tires and no ABS? Also what kind of problems are they prone to? Has anybody who owned one have any positive or negative experiences they'd like to share abou them?

Thanks.

I delivered pizza in a Ranger 4.0, and never really had problems with mileage. When I took her on road trips, she would crank out around 20 MPG and it reflected in a range of around 410-420 miles. But in town 14 was about average. Nothing could convince me to trade my Ranger to pick up even 15 MPG. She was just too much fun, on and off road.

I've driven the Focus. It gives a satisfying driving experience. It's just not like the satisfaction I had when blasting through the snow (I'd actually get 8 MPG when doing this, because my wheels spun so much).

ABS does shorten your stopping distance on snow. I personally prefer it. I personally won't purchase a vehicle without it. 4wd doesn't equal 4wheel stop. 2wd doesn't suffer in stopping distance. Here's where it DOES fail. The Focus is a FWD, which tends to UNDER steer. I would rather have an over steer than an under steer any day. Over steers are easier to recover. An under steer requires that you ease off the throttle and get on the brakes gradually until your tires finally catch and allow you to maneuver.

I don't know. For you, it may make sense. For me, there was no real amount of money that could tear me from behind the wheel of the Ranger and put me behind the wheel of a Focus instead. I may have considered a Focus in addition to the Ranger, but not instead of.

Also, while you're thinking this thing out, you need to consider a lot of other things. Are you transferring negative equity to the Focus?

If you are, then you need to think about whether or not the Focus is really worth the negative equity plus the cash price plus interest. My personal opinion is it's probably not.

If you do have positive equity in the Ranger, then is the cost difference really worth taking the risk of going without a warranty? Focus is a reliable car with an established track record. But, when they go, they either nickel and dime, or they have a catastrophic failure like a timing chain.

If I were you, I'd try to get a 2 year or so warranty. This should cost about a G and bring you to the same cost of the Ranger.

 

[4x4Ranger]

I'm quite fimilar with them as my mom has an 03 SE Auto with 157,000 miles, my uncle has a 05 SES Auto with 60,000 miles, and I have a 09 Coupe 5spd with 20,000 miles.

The biggest issue I see with them is tire wear, they wear tires quickly even with them aligned. Figure every 30,000 miles.

Front sway bar end link are a common failure, front suspension gets noisy when they are bad, but they are cheap and easy to replace. The 05 went 60k on the originals, the 03 went 90k with the originals.

Gas mileage is good, the newer the car the better the gas mileage I've found. I get 29 in the winter, 32-33 in the summer.

The 05's CD in dash changer just stopped working, won't play any CD's now. I've heard that's fairly common on all Fords from the mid-2000's.

Thats about it for problems, the 03 had an alternator go out at 120k, not uncommon in my opinion.

Fun cars!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

If you do have positive equity in the Ranger, then is the cost difference really worth taking the risk of going without a warranty? Focus is a reliable car with an established track record. But, when they go, they either nickel and dime, or they have a catastrophic failure like a timing chain.

Rangers (and pretty much anything else) are the same way. Either they slowly creap into your wallet or downright steal it.

I have driven non ABS FWD cars in the snow, I had one for a dd for 2 years. The only problems I had was the snow plow guy leaving a huge windrow behind my car at college that I had to shovel, knowing full good and well my Ranger would blast thru it without an issue. Driving around on the streets wasn't as pretty as a 4x4 but it got the job done. I never had a problem with understeer, even with my more sporty tires. I would say up until last year the worst snow driving conditions I had been in was with my car. My Ranger in 2wd is 5x as goofy on a corner just because it really wants to get sideways on turns, but relies on the same thing as a FWD to maintain control in 4wd... the powered thrust vectoring front wheels. Driving for the conditions and taking it slow virtually eliminated problems for both vehicles.

The lack of ABS on fairly loose snow snow I think helped the stopping distance, it would accumumulate snow in front of the wheels and act like a snowplow to slow you down. Sometimes the snowpiles hindered getting going again though... On packed snow or ice I have no doubts that ABS would help stopping distance though, especially in panic situations.

The car I had was a 1990 Plymouth Laser RS turbo with BF Goodrich Comp TA tires.

 

[Blackdog455]

im trying to get my fiancee to trade in her stupid nissan versa for an '09 focus. Her versa has had a butt load of problems and shes pretty much had it. She really likes the new focus and had planned on trading in her versa for one but just about a couple days ago she changed her mind and said she will just keep the stupid versa. ugh.

we get married next may and when we live together i really dont want to have to drive a stupid versa haha.

 

[fyre82]

I own an '03 ZX3 for a DD. At 30+ mpg, good handling in bad weather and lots of cargo space it is a nice DD. When it gets really bad the Ranger gets over the hill to work.

I think that this is the best small car I've owned for value, reliability and looks.

 

[feellnfroggy]

Your trading one vehicle not paid off for another? I dont see how your loan will be less, as most dealership will frlip your owed amount to the next car, they will pay off hte current balance to make the sale then what you owed on the ranger is tacked onto the focus, Not to mention an SES is base model, what model is your ranger? There are ways to improve fuel mileage even with out trucks. The best thing you could do IMO is hang on to the ranger long enough to pay it off, then sell it outright and buy the focus. Patience is the only way to get ahead with cars really.

 

[Blackdog455]

Your trading one vehicle not paid off for another? I dont see how your loan will be less, as most dealership will frlip your owed amount to the next car, they will pay off hte current balance to make the sale then what you owed on the ranger is tacked onto the focus, Not to mention an SES is base model, what model is your ranger? There are ways to improve fuel mileage even with out trucks. The best thing you could do IMO is hang on to the ranger long enough to pay it off, then sell it outright and buy the focus. Patience is the only way to get ahead with cars really.

i always thought it was different. Heres a scenario.

I have a $20,000 car and ive payed off $8,000. So i owe $12,000.

I want to buy a $14,000 car. The difference is $2,000.

The dealership looks over my car i want to trade in and says its worth $10,000. So i take them up on the offer and trade my current unpaid car in and now if have $4,000 left to pay off on the car i traded it in for.

I know thats a real scratchy scenario, but ive never bought or traded in a car at a dealership. Is this in any way how it works? or would i owe $6,000 cause of the $2,000 difference?

 

[dasfinc]

I think I may have the most relevant experience here

Owned a 2007 Focus SES For nearly 2 years, 31mpg average, Great in the snow, 50,000 trouble free miles and I traded it in for a mustang.

Years later I lost the mustang in flooding, and own a 2000 Ranger 4X4.
MPG Sucks, but it is unstoppable compared to the focus in the snow, and is far more capable, and I find myself making use of its capability probably once a week *Either 4X4, or towing, or hauling*

I miss the MPG, and the nice backseat, and the maintenance free nature of the 2005+ Focus's.

GRANTED, I would NEVER want to own a 2005+ Focus outside of warranty. Transmission rebuild quote is 3k+!!!!!!!!!!! Duratec transmissions are not a easy/cheap affair if they need service...

 

[feellnfroggy]

i always thought it was different. Heres a scenario.

I have a $20,000 car and ive payed off $8,000. So i owe $12,000.

I want to buy a $14,000 car. The difference is $2,000.

The dealership looks over my car i want to trade in and says its worth $10,000. So i take them up on the offer and trade my current unpaid car in and now if have $4,000 left to pay off on the car i traded it in for.

I know thats a real scratchy scenario, but ive never bought or traded in a car at a dealership. Is this in any way how it works? or would i owe $6,000 cause of the $2,000 difference?

Yes your right, I havent been awake long today.

3 years of selling cars, and i still get stuff wrong. Its the difference between trade value and amount owed that gets rolled ( i still might not have said that right).