california, dealership
2012 Ford Focus S
Naturally Aspirated 4 cylinder
5 speed manual transmission
90k miles
Asking $3600
Looks clean, definitely will have mechanic check it out
Car Wizard recommends it, but, are the manual transmissions more reliable than the automatics? Is 3k a good price for the newer generation? Would it last 130k/140k miles? Is the 2.0 4 cylinder better than the 3 cylinder ecoboost? Paying 3 times as much for a Corolla instead with the same miles, is this decent enough for the price? How reliable are these in general? Again, manual transmission. Thanks. (keep in mind crazy california prices)
(image online) but similar to this
another question, a friend of mine said they might consider this gen of Focus as a project car, how do you think it would be for a project car? Would parts be easy to find etc?
I would pass. The Focus is not a well made car and past 100k miles on those you are rolling the dice.
Thanks! What do you think of older generation Corollas? 2003-2013? I heard they were gutless but when it comes to reliability, my parents had an e100 corolla and the head gasket blew at 160k miles, so I'm wary. Do you have any experience with any Corolla
Corollas have proven to be very reliable cars. They had some issues from 1998 to 2002 but otherwise they are solid.
The manuals are definitely more reliable than the atrocious automatic and the ecoboosts are garbage as well.Ford phased out all those cramped cars and sedans and they have no plans to start making them again in the future. I’d look into a Toyota Corolla personally. I have a friend with that same fiesta and he’s topped the 125k range with minimal issues. But they don’t make them anymore and the few parts he’s had to replace he actually had a difficult time getting them because they are phased out.
Thanks for the response! If I had more of a budget I'd look into a 2015 or so Corolla but I'm wary of the older ones as my parents had one and the head gasket blew at 160k miles and we had to junk it.
@Californiaguy21 that’s surprising to hear. My wife had a 2002 Corolla that was pushing 525k mi and it ran perfectly.
They took good care of it but it was a salvage title and it may have just been neglected but I guess I should give the Corolla another shot, though I here the driving dynamics are poor on the pre-2014 ones.
@Californiaguy21 If you are iffy with the Toyota the only other used option I’d look into would be a well maintained Subaru.
What about the Outback/Forester around 2010 ? thx for taking the time to respond!
manual transmission
@Californiaguy21 either of those with a manual trans are great. Make sure you get the 4 cylinder. And if it has between 80k or more on the motor ask if the head gasket has been replaced. Subaru used bad gasket material for some years that tend to wear out around the 100k mark. Other than that issue those are solid built vehicles.