Ford Focus 1.8 TDdi 90 LX 5dr

Great car, ultra reliable, and easier to work on than it might seem. No its not an ST or even anywhere near in performance, but, it costs bout half the amount to run, in all ways, i put st fogs on mine and got the grille setups of an st too. Looks identical, just a bit noisier, but you can look past that if you got kids and would rather spend your money when you get there, not getting there. Will buy a diesel again, only it prob be a tdci as tddi are bit old now. Anyway who needs speed when your stuck doing 40 on the m25 every night.

I am pleased with the ford focus 1.8 but it does not have air conditioning which is a pain in hot weather (when we do get some) watch out for rear radius arm bushes going. If you need to replace them it is a very expensive job in labour

I bought my 2000 x focus tddi Zetec with 88k on the clock. On the whole it has been ok, apart from clattery smoky engine and NO power below 1500rpm, it ' s not a bad car. What it does well is economy but I had the dreaded flashing glow plug light a bit ago and changed some sensors.

I have owned my Ford Focus estate for 4 years it has always passed MOT with very little work, just minors like windscreen wipers, light bulbs! Always reliable and very fast acceleration. I will definitely buy another focus.

Had Focus hatchback before, needed an estate and diesel (2 dogs and kids). The car is a great drive and still feels tight on everything. Fuel consumption is fantastic at around 100 miles to £10 (I was getting about 20 miles to that in petrol). Handles well and seems a lot smoother than my last Focus.

I have generally enjoyed having the Ford Focus 1.8 TDdi 90 LX 5dr as it is comfortable spacious performs reasonably (it gets a bit breathless at about 4500 rpm) & handles well. The economy is excellent at around 50mpg & group 5 insurance mean day to day running costs aren't going to bankrupt you. Tyres last around 15000 miles on the front & up to 50000 on the back whilst brake pads & discs are poor with the discs prone to warping. Oil consumption is negligable & servicing is every 10000 miles (cambelt every 100000 - costs around 100 quid). However overall the car has not been a paragon of virtue as the ride is pretty harsh & with several major failings during my ownership. To date it has had 2 rear wheel bearings (60 qiud per side) 2 front springs (80 quid fitted) a steering rack & power steering pump (320 quid - ouch) handbrake cable (20 to buy 55 to fit) throttle pedal (fly by wire meant 75 quid to buy the bit & 30 quid to fit) discs & pads (I have tried several known brands Ferodo, Mintex etc usually around 80 quid all in - but it has had 5 sets in the last 800000 miles) & a bottom suspension arm & braket as the bushes were shot (40 quid from a breakers) - oh & the air conditioning no longer conditions. Bear in mind I have kept the costs down by doing some work myself & using non-franchised garages for the rest. Whereas I think you can expect occasional problems on a car which has done over 150,000 miles it has got to the point where the bills are coming too regularly so it has to go...

The Ford Focus 1.8 TDdi 90 LX 5dr does everything you would expect a Ford estate to do in terms of reliability, running costs (42-49 mpg) and practicality. Also offers a good deal of fun too, retaining all the talent of the Focus hatch chassis-wise.

A very hard car to fault to be honest, although despite decent performance, the 90PS TDdi engine does the car no favours. Not only is it rough, clattery and coarse like the diesels of yesteryear (well, it IS a diesel of yesteryear) but it smokes like an old boiler as well. Far better to go for one of the far more refined (and more frugal) TDCi variants. Or a petrol engine.

Apart from that, poor seats and some cheap looking plastics, it's superb. Reliable, well built, good looking and entertaining to drive. After 65,000 miles of hard use, it shows no signs of falling apart either, and has been 100% reliable to date.

VERY POPULAR CAR AND EASY TO SEE WHY, EVERY OTHER CAR SEEMS TO BE A FOCUS, NOW IN IT'S 4TH YEAR BUT STILL LOOKING FRESH AFTER A RECENT FACELIFT ALBEIT MINOR.

WITH IT'S LIGHT CONTROLS IT'S NO WONDER THAT DRIVING SCHOOLS HAVE TAKEN TO THE FOCUS DESPITE IT BEING LARGER THAN THE CORSA/FIESTA AND WITH GOOD RESALE VALUE PUTTING IT ON LEVEL FOOTING WITH THE CURRENT GOLF FORD HAVE A WINNER.

THE ONLY DOWNSIDE TO THIS CAR IN MY OPINION IS DESPITE HAVING A GOOD QUIET ENGINE AND GEARBOX IT IS LET DOWN BY A FIRM RIDE WHICH SOME PEOPLE TEND TO PREFER AND WHEN DRIVING AT 40MPH+ NOISE CAN BE INTRUSIVE FROM TYRE'S AND ROAD SURFACE BUT THE EXCELLENT CD RADIO CAN COMPENSATE.

I HAVE COVERED 25,000 MILES IN THE YEAR I'VE HAD HER WITHOUT FAULT SO I WOULD DEFINITELY GO THE FORD ROUTE AGAIN.