I looked HARD as HELL for an affordable Si, to no avail. Guy with a 97 Si wants 6K! And it has 160K on it.
I drove an '07 rental around the bay area. Not a bad car, a bit better feel to it than most economy cars, I wouldn't call it sporty, but it's not too far from being so.
I drove it, and bought it. Got him down to $4000,00 and a large coke from Whataburger....I really like it but have already decided to upgrade the speakers to Boston separates and add an Ipod dock. I love the power from such a basic motor, has ther Ztec DOHC 2.0 with 135hp, with the 5 speed it is decently quick. more so than a stock 1.6 civie for sure! Plus this car feels so much more planted than the Civics I drove.
Crank windows! Cool! My '01 ZX3 has been nearly trouble-free so far (112K). Rear tires do wear quicker than on a Civic because the rear suspension puts to work for good handling. The car looks to be in great shape. I'd snag it.
They are good cars with well proven drive trains. Rotate the tires every 5000 mi and you will get good milage out of them. after about 03 the bugs were worked out and recalls went away. Now you just need the fart can and 18" wheels....and mud flaps so you look all rally cool
Get camber bolts for the rear suspension. The "acceptable" range for the rear camber on the focus was too great. Something like 0 to 2 degrees. At anything past 3/4 or 1 degrees will chew up the inside of the tires. However, the alignment tech will tell you everything is peachy when their machine tells them it is under 2 degrees. Thes bolts are available from a few places like Tire rack and perhaps Autozone. Sometimes called crash bolts. TDC PS: I was going to try and sell you a set of snow wheels/tires until I spotted your location.
Can you tell us more about the camber bolts thing? I Love my focus but I'm getting really tired of new tires every 9 months.
My ZX5 doesn't see a lot of miles but it runs great and gets really good mileage. With the AC off it is reasonably quick. I was in a similar position a couple years ago and all the imports were stupid expensive, high-mile, auto trans commuter beaters. My first 'merican car, and so far I like it.
There are a number of places to get them. Here is two. http://www.tirerack.com/suspension/...odel=Focus+SE+Coupe&autoYear=2008&autoModClar= http://www.fswerks.com/ford_focus_camber_kits.htm The bolt replaces the outer bolt on the upper control arm. It has a cammed head that when turned moves in a slotted (by you) hole alowing the camber change. You must also adjust the rear to when doing this but that adjustment is available already. Here is a how to: http://forums.focaljet.com/suspension/582846-how-camber-bolts.html TDC
2005? Buy it! Seriously Ford had really ramped up their QC by '05 and had been building the Focus for 7 years so the kinks were ironed out. I drove a ZX-5 for a week and loved it.
Oh ... you sonofabish! 2 litre ... lots to power to tap out of that. Small turbo should get you there. Sure as shit it is more planted! 189 foot pounds of torque in that little feller.