Scotty I'm thinking of buying this 2014 Ford Focus stick shift with 70,000 miles for $9,000 from dealer, is it a good deal?
I would not do that. It has a manual transmission, so it is much better than the automatic transmission but the car is not well made. The clutch has issues as well as the engine. I would get an older Toyota or Honda with that price.
Way too much $$$ for a below average vehicle. Keep looking..
NO!
No way! My sister just bought a Scion (Toyota MIJ) today with manual transmission for 10k with 50K miles with a perfect maintenance record. I drove the thing and everything checked out. Granted, it would probably sell for 6k-7k a year ago, but there goes inflation and the increased costs of used cars now. I owned a 2003 Ford Focus and it was a piece of crap. My dad gave it to me and the thing was a nonstop problem even though it had just over 83,000 miles on it. I am a Ford fan but these cars should be avoided.
Hi,
I've owned Focuses and I currently own a 2014 Ford Focus.
These 3rd generation cars are reasonably reliable, and they're very engaging to drive
(If you get the manual, NOT PowerShift dual clutches. PowerShift is very mediocre and can turn into nightmares - both Powershifts I own (both the unreliable dry, and the “reliable” wet) ended up needing repairs at around 75k miles - one needed a clutch replacement and the other needed a clutch-damper (Ford’s take on the dual mass flywheel) rebuild)
if you are looking for cheap transportation, From my experience, manual 2nd generation 2.0 DuraTech HE (non-GDi) last incredibly long and are cheap to buy. (Scotty also said a similar thing about those engines)
The only thing I'm unsure about is the pricing, but if you are not planing on keeping it for over another 70k miles, or can't finding anything else for the money - why not, they're really not bad at all.
Better options, if you can find them in similar conditions with in your budget:
I'd try to get a Corolla (11th generation) made around 2012 with an 1.8L (in the US) or the 1.6 (in Europe) mated to a conventional automatic - if you can find a low millage one, that's as reliable as cars ever got. After that it was all downhill.
Additionally another good car, is the Mazda 3 (3rd generation) made after 2014, if you can find one with low milage and a 2.0/2.5 SkyActiv engine mated to a SkyActiv-Drive transmission those are also incredibly durable.
Feel free to ask about other models as well.
