Alternatives to nearly new/one year old Focus
- Thread starter Jono
- Start date
Fiat Bravo?
Are they made of cheese (or some unreliable italian metally substance) and will they fall apart?
I know nothing of fiats.
Nope had mine for 7 months and no problems yet. Mum just brought one as well, as we looked round every small family hatch thats on sale and she liked it the best. Engines are brilliant, only issues you *may* have will be small electrical gremlins but I've not had any at all.
Yeah doing pretty well at the moment.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Like that one, for example? http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-u...cleYearOfManufacture=2005&vehicleRegLetter=05
Indeed, it is very unlikely that it will generate large bill. If you don't need a diesel get a 1.6 Zetec. Even if you blow the engine and gearbox to pieces a used low mileage engine, a gearbox and fitting won't even cost 2k. Save the money and put it aside. It's hardly worth spending £5k extra for a car that's slightly newer and slightly better.
i would suggest possibly looking at something about 2 to 3 years old. By then its done the bulk of its depreciation, and it will be so new that you will get a 3 year warranty from the dealer.
It also means all the teething problems and annoying things that you get with new cars have been sorted by somebody else.
And when your warranty does run out, its only a 4 year old car, its not going to suddenly rust and start needing new suspension and stuff. You've got another 4 years or so before that sort of thing needs doing.
It's good enough for day to day use, anything else and it's pretty hopeless. The MK2 Focus had better 1.8 & 2.0 engines than the MK1 so it's worth a look if you want some more horsies. If it's a MK1 you want, get either the 1.6 or 2.0. The 1.8 seems to have the performance of the 1.6 but the economy of a 2.0 so you might as well go for the 2.0 in MK1 guise. I'm talking about petrol here, I don't do oil burners 
To be fair none of the Focus engines have any real power, they are slow cars. Yea the 1.6 is gutless but the diesel isnt exactly the starship enterprise.
Soldato
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Bravo, Astra, Mazda [some_integer], BMW 1, VW Golf, Toyota Carola, Honda Civic.
These are some of the cars like the Focus which won't be a pile of poo, the 2 Germans will probably be too expensive tho and I'd be a little weary of the Toyota, I've seen a few electrical nightmares with Toyota of late.
These are some of the cars like the Focus which won't be a pile of poo, the 2 Germans will probably be too expensive tho and I'd be a little weary of the Toyota, I've seen a few electrical nightmares with Toyota of late.