[Drivesthebeast]

Well, I think this hasn't been covered for a while...if it's a repeat, my bad...

I am wondering what drew people to the Focus in the first place...was it the styling, the driving experience, etc?

I'll start off with my story first...

I saw the Focus in magazines, on TV magazine shows, and then in the flesh at the Auto Show in Toronto. From the first time I ever saw one, I liked it. It was different, it looked european, and to me, it looked cool. They automotive press seemed pretty fired up about it, and had a lot of positive feedback about them. I had to look at some in person at the auto show, and when I looked at them, sat in them, I was like "yeah...they're onto something with this one..." I was hooked right away, and wanted one, just from the sheer asthetics and the fact that it looked like nothing else at the time. I had to have one. To top them off, there were even some pre-production SVT's and others with aftermarket parts on them at the show too....I was drooling over the cobalt blue one they had with graphite OZ Chrono Evo's on it.... Consider me smitten...

Few months later, my parent's Contour was in the shop having some work done to it, and they ended up with a Focus SE wagon with an auto as a rental car. We took it out onto the backroads of Brantford, and the headlights, brakes, engine responsiveness, steering, and factory radio were all impressive for such a cheap car. I was becoming smitten again....

About a year or so later, I was working for a small communications company, and my boss told me one day that we needed another vehicle for doing multiple service calls or installations. I told him about the Focus, how well it was selling, how well the auto press loved it, and all of the positive attributes of them. About 2 weeks later, he bought a CD Silver wagon with a 5 spd and an SPI. We beat on that car pretty bad, loaded it chock full of wire, tools, and other stuff to do our jobs. It was peppy, nimble, had great fuel economy, and was very low maintenance. I was even more smitten now...

Then I tried to buy a Pitchblack 2000 ZX3 from the Lincoln dealership when I was working for Kelly Services (long story). Credit score not good enough..too new, yada yada yada. Didn't matter if I made enough in a week to pay for the car each month. Still smitten, but frustrated...

After completing basic in St-Jean QC, and then moving to Borden to go on PRETC platoon, I went hunting. Found an ad for a 2001 pitchblack ZX3 at DeWildt Chrysler in East Hamilton. Price, $12,900....kms, unknown. After some phone tag with a salesman, found out it had 40K on it...said I'll be there in 30 minutes. Looked ver the car for 30 mins, and then spoke to parents on their thoughts...after that, I conditionally bought the car I still have now.

After 100,000km's, I'm more than smitten with the previously smiley-faced funmobile...

Short version: Saw them at autoshow, decided I was going to have one...the end

lol!

Well, what did it for you, or still does it for you when it comes to these cars?

[_JC_]

for me it was a mix of things ...
i wanted a new car that was affordable and had a warrenty
also once i saw the european focus i had to have one

i also didnt wanna honda like everybody else ( but then agian it would be SOOOO much easier to mod ...&... more friendly on the wallet $$$)

[mo_focus]

haha, my story is very close to yours except couple of things, I saw the car first in 99 Toronto auto show. Right after that I went and bought a new one. The focus was so new that there was still no price on the car when I bought it. They didn’t even know what options it had. So anyways in Jan or Feb of 2000 I went and looked at the focus I bought. I didn’t like it because the lease price was too high plus the ZX3 had no power windows nor did it have an option for power windows. So I cancelled the deal and I got my deposit back.

Summer of 2000, I think in late July, while I was driving past Al Paladin’s dealership I just thought about looking at some more ZX3, I was hoping by then they had the power windows. I walked into the dealership and I met with Dan (sales guy who used to have a done up focus). He was really into the focus and didn’t stop talking about the car. He didn’t even let me test-drive the focus; he told me to test drive his car instead. I fell in love with his car and I really like the way he had everything set up.

It was lowered, mouldings painted, nice rims and inside were ok as well. So anyways at the end of that day I drove home with a brand new 2000 ZX3 silver with power options. I guess I’m lucky in way because my car is built in July of 2000 and it didn’t have all the problems that came with the earlier versions.

I love the focus and i dont think i would get anything different for now. Plus this is the longest car i have ever had.

[2001 ZTS]

I wanted and was saving for a S40 Volvo for the wife in 1999 after we got married and I knocked her up. I thought we deserved a "euro" car since we both had good jobs. I had a 91 Subaru wagon at the time but she couldn't drive a manual tranny. I wanted to show (her and my parents) that we had "arrived".

About the same time all the media was talking about this new Ford that was a Ford but totally "euro" in every respect.

I liked the sound of it.

What I didn't know was everything the writers wrote about the Focus was based on test driving the top of the line "euro" Focus's like the RS and the NA Focus was changed alot before it came here.

The good news is I saved $10,000, bought a WRX a year earlier than I planned to because of that and, modded as my ZTS is, I have a better car than a 2000 Volvo S40. The Volvo turned out to be a bit of a dud since it was based on a euro Mitsu Lancer.

On a side note; my Focus purchase was the first (and likely last) Ford purchase by anyone in my family since the 1966 Galaxy I grew up with. It went tits up in 1973 and they bought Chryslers ever since including a 1973 Dodge Colt (made by Mitsubushi ironically). It didn't last too long and it was a Plymouth Fury after that followed by a K-car (wrote off by my brother in 94?) and a 1991 Dodge Shadow.

My dad died in 96 but the 91 Shadow still looks mint, has 300,000 and has never had any "un-scheduled maintenance" ever. Honest to god NOTHING HAS EVER BROKE. My mom is in her 70's now so I have been in charge of her car maintenance the past 10 years just because you know how dealers treat widows differently than gear heads. It has been a faultless car and the standard I hold all others against.

It hasn't been Granny driving either because I've put most of those miles on it and trust me I didn't hold back on any occasion.

[SDPZX3]

i bought my car back in august of 2003, i had seen them atthe auto show the year before; when i had a Honda. :( that was the worst mistake! never buying another honda! anyways, i saw the car, sat in teh car and i fell in LOVE with this car!! My buddy kept tellin me that they were havin alot of problems, yada, yada, yada, but i insisted that i woudl atleast test drive one. So i did, and i LOVED IT! the best part was when i took it for the test drive the salesman said i could just open it up, and OH BOY! did i ever! LOL :P anyways, my honda was on its last legs AGAIN, so i justy said the hell with it. i spoke to my uncle who is the director of brand marketing manager for Ford and he got me his discount on the car. well sure enough my buddies dad is the sales manager there too!! :D SCORE!!!! so needless to say within a week i had my car, FULLY loaded with ever option that i could get with the 2003. I've had it for just about 26 months, and i STILL LOVE IT!!! its got 100,785kms on it, and has never missed a scheduled maintenance appointment, and i have NEVER had a problem with it!

like the commercial says
" hi, my name is (enter your name) Sean Peters and i LOVE my Ford Focus!" LOL

[meford4u]

My son bought the Focus because he wanted to drop the hammer

[microbunny]

I lost a bet...

[NefCanuck]

I think I've told this story before, but it represents one of the Focus owners that Ford wants, the "never expected to find myself in a Focus" owner.

My old wheels ((95 Olds Ciera) had just cost me a huge whack of cash again in February after the rad crapped out and I was sick of getting bashed in the wallet on repairs on a car that was costing me a small fortune in gas to boot (and this was at 65cents avg a litre, the pig was drinking an average 15L/100km)

So I start looking at cars in the same general size class, had my heart settled on either a Chevy Impala or Buick Century but couldn't find one in my proce range young enough with ABS until I find an '03 Impala at my GM dealership.

My dad comes down to test drive it for me and as he takes it out he comments "This car is really big" I'm like all "BS, he just doesn't like this car" The Impala seemed floatier than the Olds but it was only after the test drive when he parked it next to mine that I saw why as the damn thing was nearly a foot longer than mine. Too much car for just one person.

We tried an '02 Olds Alero they had at the dealership... the damn thing felt like a loose assembly of parts somewhat flying in formation and everything about the car screamed "cheap" from the switch gear to the way the car rode, so we left the GM dealership and my dad says "Let's try the Ford dealer, the Focus is in your price range" and I agreed reluctantly, after dragging him out of work for the original test drive, how could I just say no out of hand right?

So off we go to the Ford Dealer and he has 3 ex-daily rental '05 Focuses on the used lot. We grabbed the red one and my dad is driving with a s**t eating grin on his face. Not many cars can illicit that kind of reaction from him. I sit in it back at the dealership. It's obviously snugger than the car I was driving but it was loaded to the gills and was in good condition. Went home, slept on it after checking out if I could afford the insurance on it and decided the following day to buy it.

Aside from an issue with the fuel guage sender and fuel pump, it runs like a champ (Gas mileage isn't as good as they claim its supposed to be, but its better than what I was driving before so -shrugs-)

NefCanuck

[NoiSeeVT]

Its the only SVT I could afford!!! :D

[darkpuppet]

it took me about 3 years to buy the focus...

To me, there just wasn't a whole lot of interesting cars out there.. nothing with the looks I wanted, or the options I wanted. I was stuck between buying a base model expensive car, or a fully tricked out cheap car.

Over the years, I had looked at several cars, and my choices came down to 3. A Camaro SS, the Neon RT, and the Focus. I would have gone with a WRX if I could have rationalized paying that much to wedge myself into something with that little leg room.

Going with the most expensive cheap car option, the SS was out, and it was down to the Neon RT or Focus. Of course, I had to sit in a neon, and I checked out the back seats... no power windows in the rear???? WTF? so the focus it was... especially since they just introduced the ZX5. The hatchback i wanted, with the number of doors I wanted.

And while it's been fun, I'm not sure if I'm going to go for such a practical car next time.

[paolo]

Mine is easy.. everyone I know owns or wanted a Civic... I wanted to be different, plus have better insurance rates then them... Focus was myanswer.

[SVT ZX3]

NoiSeeVT,Nov 12 2005, 08:44 AM Wrote:Its the only SVT I could afford!!!  :D
[right][snapback]155337[/snapback][/right]

Sort of the same for me, but I still really want a Lightning...

[NOS2Go4Me]

It was a matter of... "we need a real car, not a project and nothing older than 5 years old." With Sara having just started work, we needed something more than a broken Ranger.

I just wish I'd known about the difference in engines... the only one I knew about was the Zetec, but had no idea what it looked like (nor that it actually said Zetec on the valve cover).

[Slimsride]

Wanted a car that had potential on the "do up" side....that wasnt' a civic.....VOILA...my reason

[CanadaSVT]

Traded in '97 T-Bird Sport for the '02 SVTF because I needed a hatch for the new dog. Never liked the looks of the Focus but when I took a few SVT's for test drives I realized they handled much better than it looked.
The '04 ZTW replaced the wifes '00 Sunfire (POS) because we needed 4 doors for the new baby, and the wagon for the dog.
Got rid of my SVTF for the Marauder because I needed some back doors before I killed my back getting the baby in and out of that 3 door back seat (open door, slide seat all the way up, hold baby out in front of me while I maneuver my 6'4" 280lb frame into the back seat, twist to the right and place baby in baby seat, secure baby to baby seat, climb out of back seat onto the pavement, push drivers seat all the way back, and finally jump in and get to the beer store).

[Frost__2001]

I fell in love with the car from the early european commercials on tv for the focus in early 2000, I read up on it and the more I read the more I wanted it, I wanted a ZX3 but I was talked into a focus sedan by my parents, same with the colour.

I waited till the last week of december and I got a really good deal on it as they could not get me a 2000, so I got a 2001 in black, I could only get it thru a lease, I loved that car till the end, when I traded it in at my lease's end for the current focus.

I bought the current focus because I got a better deal on it as I was looking at two other cars ( 1999 Honda CRV 5 speed, and a 2000 VW Golf Cabrio ) I took the yellow focus out for a test drive and I fell in love with it, but I hated the fact it had no speed control, or tilt but loved the moon roof. I got a better tade in on the focus for the focus and I got a great deal I could not turn down not to mention the warntee that came with the car. I still have no regrets on getting the current focus, and I would concider getting another one once this one it totally paid off.

[Frost__2001]

my bad double post.

[Phantom]

Mine's easy to. Needed a new car, was going to buy a used car my dad said why do that when I could pay this off in 5yrs and have a brand new car, whereas buying a 5yr old car for 10k less that would be 10 by the time I was done paying it. Really wanted a hatch, so test drove an new 04 civic SiR hatch, a golf and the focus, and I loved the focus. That and everyone and their grandma has a civic. But I liked the handling better in the focus, feels like it holds u better.

[guilty]

I needed to buy a new car and wanted to get a hatch. Looked at the Civic SiR and the Golf but both were more than I wanted to spend and didnt offer any financing options. Went to Ford and drove the Focus and liked it.. the 1.9% financing was a big part of it though..

[svt_rodg]

$23k on the road!