Ford Focus Estate 1.8 TDCi Duratorq

Last year I did something for the very first time at the ripe old age of 39 and before you ask it was not my virginity that I lost as that is very much intact and I'm still as pure as driven snow. What actually happened was that I became a car owner. All my life the only cars I have ever had have been company cars until redundancy meant that I actually had to buy and fund my own set of wheels. Up until that point I had never had to worry about insurance or tax and all of the servicing and repairs were taken care of, I just had to make sure I remembered to take it in when I reached the mileage ... more

Last month I got myself another car. I wanted something economic as I do a hell of a lot of mileage so I wanted a diesel. In the end I got the car I'm writing this review on: A 1999 (V) Ford Focus 1.8TDdi [AC] LX Estate. It cost me £1,600. Got 104K miles (106K now) and had had a full service history til 79K, with a cambelt change at the last service. And to be so blunt, I'm chuffed to bits with it. Anyway, so lets get down to business. - The engine. On the Focus timeline there are two types of diesel engine. The TDdi and the TDci. The latter came along later to be the diesel engine now used in ... more

For the past three weeks I have been using my fathers spare car as my other half has been using mine and this means I have spent two weeks driving around in a Ford Focus Estate, it has a 1.8l diesel engine which means I find it a rather sluggish vehicle to drive. It is an 03 plate so it does not have some of the mod cons that I'm used to with my own car, in particular there is no docking port for my ipod so it is back to digging out my old CD's so that I have something to listen to, the stereo is ok but a little dated as it does not even have a CD changer available. There are a few positives ... more

I drove the hatchback version of the Tdci Focus a few years ago when my wife and I hired one to drive up to the Isle Of Skye and back on holiday. The trip gave us a flavour of how well the car handled motorways, twisty B-roads and city driving. The combination of rewarding handling, comfort and over 50MPG was the result. So I made a mental note to consider getting one in future. Well, five years later, we finally got round to buying one after my wife had to give up her Peugeot 207 diesel company car earlier this year. We bought it from an independent dealer for £2995 with 95,000 on the clock ... more

Silver 55 plate 5 door estate. Lots of room for load lugging, fuel economy is pretty good, 45mpg during most driving, although compares badly with the 50-60mpg quoted by Ford. Seats can be uncomfortable during long drives. Just clocked up 10,000 miles with no problems so far. Bought for me as a company vehicle, therefore costs are not a major worry. Factory fitted CD player is not very good. Air Con has a really annoying feature where it turns itself on every time air is directed toward the windscreen. Not happy with the space saver spare tyre, but most manufacturers seem to use these now. All ... more