Four Reasons the Ford Focus Can Be a Friend or Foe

My first car ever was a brand new (at the time) 2002 Ford Focus. I bought it on my own, with very little guidance and of course there are a few things I would have changed if I could do it all over again. I would still be purchasing a car alone as a single female if I were to make the purchase again today. I still might have bought the Ford Focus, that's only if I couldn't find a Honda dealer that would help me get in a new or a used Honda that I could afford at the time. Although I would not have been able to afford a used Honda unless it was purchased from a dealer looking back I would prefer a Honda. Today I drive; you guessed it, a Honda.

What's funny is the Ford Focus is so popular that I actually had many people ask me about the car because they either were in the process of purchasing one or they recently purchased one. At the time I really didn't have much to say about the Ford Focus or Ford for that matter. Now with six years under my belt in driving one I definitely have something to say. I will be nice and tell you the good along with the bad.

Friend

1. Decently priced vehicle, I ended up paying about 18K on my Ford Focus. It originally cost 15K so depending on how you purchase it could be cheaper.
2. Ford was willing to work with me on late payments (hey I had some major rough patches working in radio and TV- neither place did I really make any money).
3. It was mighty big for a small vehicle. Many times people commented on how big the trunk was. I spent time sleeping in the back seat (driving to and from California a few times) comfortably, and I am six feet tall. I could fit three people comfortably in the back seat.
4. My car went every where in cold, snowy weather and hot, dry weather. I put 127K on it before it died. So that might be a con as well since I kept the fluids changed with no issues... but for a Ford that might be a good thing, I am not sure the usual life span of a Ford car miles wise.

Foe

1. When I bought it the sales man screwed me out of a car with a CD player just to get the car I bought off the lot. I never planned on buying a cherry red car. The sales man told me it was much cheaper without the CD player. I would have rather pay the difference to get the Silver Ford Focus with power windows and a CD player if I could go back and do it again.
2. The air conditioner clutch fell off one day with no warning and no reason to have done so. I spent a summer rolling the window up and down on the driver side depending on if I was driving on the freeway or byway. That cost almost $500 to fix because it was out of warranty by a thousand miles although the car was only one year old.
3. I paid the car off in March and the car stopped working (while I was driving it) one morning in May. Freedom of no car note or bill only lasted me barely 3 months as a new law student. (I started classes in the summer.)
4. I only got 127K out of the car in six years so how you look at that may be a good since that was an average of 21K a year or bad thing if you are used to driving a Honda.

Overall it seems the pros and the cons weight equally, except no pro can balance the issue of a car simply dying on you. I was driving one morning and without warning the engine went out THEN all the internal lights came on telling me there was a problem. You would think the purpose of the engine lights and other warning lights in your car are to forewarn you that there will be a problem in the near future. Instead my car decided to simply stop working.

So if you want to purchase a Ford Focus, it might not be a bad idea depending on the car's purpose.