This next car comes as a tip from Cory who writes: At this price point, I wonder how hard it would be to attempt to build a budget Corolla GR. It can’t be that hard to bolt on a larger turbo and the Focus RS/ST has all of the suspension parts off the shelf. With […]
The Ford Focus wasn’t the most “American” car to come from Ford’s stable of things with wheels — in fact, Ford spent a lot of marketing money telling everyone how the little front wheel drive econohatch was actually European. That rubbed forner race car driver and Mustang tuner Steve Saleen the wrong way, so he […]
This next car comes as a tip from PA Cyclist who writes: Just over 3k miles per year if my math is right. This generation of Focus won European car of the year in 1999 and North American car of the year in 2000. Also, the ZX3 was on Car and Driver’s 10 best list […]
I know what you are thinking…because I had the same gut response when Ford introduced the RS version of the Focus in 2015.. Great, another example of an American car company joining the part about 10-15 years late. Because that is par for the course. Mitsubishi had been selling their Lancer Evolution since 2003 and Subaru had been selling their rally-ready all-wheel-drive STI since 2004…but Ford…they waited until 2015 to release a 4-cylinder turbocharged 300-to-350 horsepower all-wheel-drive rally thing. They were so late to the party that it had been already broken up by the cops….Mitsubishi exited the fun-car market that same year with the obsolescence of the Evolution at the end of the 2015 model year. It’s one thing to be fashionably late, its another to miss the entire raging party and then end up canceling the car 3 years later…because that is exactly what happened. Find this 2017 Ford Focus RS offered for $21,500 in Inkster, MI via ebay.
The third generation “global” Ford Focus (2012-2018) is known for a few things — primarily it gets a bad rap for its dual-clutch automatic “powershift” transmission, which has dry clutches that judder and shudder like Elvis’ hips, and the 1.6 liter EcoBoost engine is known to cause fires when coolant isn’t circulating properly…but this next car will have neither of those problems because it has had an engine/transmission swap from a Focus ST hatchback. More power, more fun, less shudder, less fire. Win win. Find this 2013 Ford Focus ST offered for $16,500 in Mason, OH via craigslist. Tip from FuelTruck.
We’re gonna take a quick trip down the rabbit hole of internet history here…way back to 2001…when Ford was trying to push their 1st generation Focus on Gen Xers. Naturally, they collaborated with MTV and renowned Detroit Techno artist DJ Bone and launched the (long defunct) website Focus247.com where you could mix your own techno beats…How could Ford have let this site fall into the digital abyss? You can see a little bit of what was archived by the Wayback machine here….but don’t expect to be able to mix your own beats because I couldn’t get any of the archived shockwave flash apps to work (arggg..I wanted to play DJ FU!). Anyway if you want a cheap 5-speed equipped car that was once marketed via MTV to a bunch of pimply faced Gen Xers around Y2K, you can drive this 2002 Ford Focus ZTS offered for $1990 in Santa Clara, CA via craigslist.
Happy New Year to everyone out there in cyber space…I hope the ’20s bring you as much joy, happiness, and car bliss as the teens have delivered. For today’s post I want to ask a simple question — what is the best used car to buy from the 2010-2019 decade? I’m not sure my choice […]
Four thousand smackeroos doesn’t buy you much in a late model performance car these days, but you can get a Mini Cooper S or a Fiat 500 Abarth if you find something with a questionable title status or high miles…but if hot hatches are your jam, I suggest checking out a high mile SVT Ford […]
The term hot hatch is tossed about like gonorrhea in a college co-ed dorm building, but what does it really take to be a hot hatch. First, you need a hatch. And then you need powahhhhh….maybe! What you need in a fast hatch is something that is equally at home in a parking lot dodging […]
Find this 2006 Ford Focus C-Max TDCi here on eBay offered for $6,500 buy-it-now or make-offer located in Alexandria, VA. Tip from Sam. From eBay listing: I have here an extremely rare 2006 Ford Focus C-Max Ghia TDCi. This car was imported from Europe and I’ve received it has a gift. I then applied to […]