Viewing focus, please reply asap

tw0nk

Hi all,

I am going to look at a focus 1.6 zetec today, anyone have any tips on what i should check for?

Thanks in advance.

Henry Ford III

How old and what mileage?

tw0nk

Its a 01, and theres 40,000 miles on the clock

Henry Ford III

That's pretty fresh.

Read this - not a bad buyers guide.

Not too much to look out for they are pretty solid cars.

Some of the earlier Foci had a problem where they ideled @ very low RPMs and tended to stall easily. Not a big problem but something to be aware of.

Seth Brundle

To be honest and despite it being 'fresh' for some peace of mind bring a decent mechanic with you who can give it the once over - they often advertise in the Buy & Sell.
Also given modern cars are becomming increasingly dependant on electrics then check that all of these work.
Is it a private or dealer sale? If dealer try and negotiate a metric cluster from them - it should help your resale potential.

tw0nk

Henry Ford III wrote:

That's pretty fresh.

Read this - not a bad buyers guide.

Thanks that site gave me some good tips.

tw0nk

One main concer of mine after reading some magazines n stuff is some dealers clocking the cars... is there anyway of knowing if the car clock is after being put down from a higher number?

Also , sorry about being so naiive, but its a 1.6, how would i know if the car is actually just a 1.4 with a 1.6 badge stuck on? (being silly I know)

Seth Brundle

Look at the registration document

tw0nk

tw0nk wrote:

One main concer of mine after reading some magazines n stuff is some dealers clocking the cars... is there anyway of knowing if the car clock is after being put down from a higher number?

Also , sorry about being so naiive, but its a 1.6, how would i know if the car is actually just a 1.4 with a 1.6 badge stuck on? (being silly I know)

Its written on the Engine. And in the logbook unless they have swapped out the engine.

tw0nk

Cool thanks.

cakehole

Bring a mechanic. As for clocking look for obvious wear on the seats and steerring wheel, pedals, gear knob...usually a good indicator

seamus

tw0nk wrote:

One main concer of mine after reading some magazines n stuff is some dealers clocking the cars... is there anyway of knowing if the car clock is after being put down from a higher number?

Checking the service history can help - if the service has been done by a dealer, they'll have stamped the service manual and marked down the mileage.

It's a safe bet to say that unless you're buying second-hand from a main dealer, the car has been clocked. The margin on second-hand vehicles is now so tight that few dealers leave vehicles unclocked. If you like the car, make a note of the reg, and you can find out who previously owned the vehicle (someone else can tell you how). Give the previous owner a quick buzz to verify the mileage.

Henry Ford III

seamus wrote:

Checking the service history can help - if the service has been done by a dealer, they'll have stamped the service manual and marked down the mileage.

It's a safe bet to say that unless you're buying second-hand from a main dealer, the car has been clocked. The margin on second-hand vehicles is now so tight that few dealers leave vehicles unclocked. If you like the car, make a note of the reg, and you can find out who previously owned the vehicle (someone else can tell you how). Give the previous owner a quick buzz to verify the mileage.

I'm not a car dealer, but surely that's unfair seamus?

Seth Brundle

Wasn't there something recently in the Oirish Times about clocked cars appearing in dealers also?

Gary ITR

Jebus aren't dealers worse than private sellers?

CJhaughey

Prime time had a special on it recently.
endemic because we don't have any HPi or other way of verifying mileage.
it is not illegal either!!

seamus

Onkle51 wrote:

Jebus aren't dealers worse than private sellers?

Standard dealers definitely are. Main dealers are unlikely to clock vehicles of the brand they sell. If a Peugeot dealer was caught selling a clocked Peugeot for example, the consequences wouldn't be worth it, because it would bring the entire brand into disrepute.

Gary ITR

When buying a s/h car i'd prefer to go to a persons house. When i say private seller i don't mean meet in a pub car park!!

Henry Ford III

Onkle51 wrote:

When buying a s/h car i'd prefer to go to a persons house. When i say private seller i don't mean meet in a pub car park!!

Correct and right.

You should be brought in and given tea/coffee, and offered the paperwork to go through on the car.

seamus

Onkle51 wrote:

When buying a s/h car i'd prefer to go to a persons house. When i say private seller i don't mean meet in a pub car park!!

Sometimes that may not be possible. A known scam (particularly when selling high-performance/expensive cars or motorbikes) is that the "buyer" calls to the house, feigns interest, checks out the area, then arrives in the dead of night to lift your vehicle.
The obvious way to avoid this is to meet at a neutral location, like a pub car park or a shopping centre.

Henry Ford III

I sold my last motorbike a few years ago. It was a really nice low miles Yamaha TDR 250, and the day the ad. went in I had 5 or 6 enquiries.

The next evening a lad from Dublin came down, with 3 other guys in a car. I showed them the bike in my garage, and didn't know what to do when one of them asked to go for a test drive.

I drove with the other guy on the back. It was a bit intimidating but worked out fine.

The neutral ground think is dodgy however for 2 reasons:-

1/. The car will not be stone cold. All purchasers should see the car started from cold.

2/. You could be attacked and they take your car and keys.

mmenarry

Tips for checking milage-

Trust your instincts, if it looks worn it probably is.

Check steering wheel wear, and pedal rubber wear. Bear in mind that both of these can be got around by canny sellers (newish pedal rubbers, adding a steering wheel cover)

The NCT sheet records the milage as well (all cars should fly through their first NCT, so should be done bang on the 4 year mark)

Most dealers/mechanics will note on the engine at what mileage the major service (timing belt/change) was done (look for it, or evidence that it was removed) - even a backstreet mechanic will use tipp-ex to note the mileage.

Cars should have a major service at time intervals, not just mileage intervals - i.e. if a car only does 20,000 miles in it's first 5 years (for example) it should have a major service anyway.

The majority of fluids should be replaced on a two-year basis as well (brakes & coolant) regardless of use.

Top tip for Jap imports - some unscrupulous folks will try to disguise clocking by changing the age of the car at registration time. All jap cars will have the year of manufacture on the seatbelt (pull it out all the way - it's on a white label sewn to the seatbelt itself)
Some really smart cookies will imprt and let you register it - so unless you can read japanese, make sure you know what year it is! (yes, I know numbers are the same - but there are lots of dates on a jap auction sheet)

Put your hand on the bonnet when you arrive to view the car - if its warm its been running prior to your arrival - might hide signs of poor starting.

If it is warm, take the opportunity to check the cooling system by starting the car and letting it run while you check the bodywork & other things - take your time.

The more faults you find (and on a second-hand car there will be some) the more "haggle" room you have. It's worth taking your time, and could save you a few bob.

Test everything electrical - these are usually the hardest/most expensive things to fix!

On the test drive, find some speed bumps - these are great for testing suspension.

Probably a bit late for the Focus viewer, but might help someone else

M.

tw0nk

Well I looked at it and really liked it, I looked at engine and there was no 1.6 written anywhere but ive since discovered that some sort of vin number tells you instead of whats written. How do i check this out for definite to make sure its a 1.6? i checked log book and it says 1.6, its an english import so anything else i should check for?

Thanks in advance...

CJhaughey

Most jap imports (petrol ones anyway) will also have the date on the plug leads too.

mondeoman

tw0nk wrote:

Well I looked at it and really liked it, I looked at engine and there was no 1.6 written anywhere but ive since discovered that some sort of vin number tells you instead of whats written. How do i check this out for definite to make sure its a 1.6? i checked log book and it says 1.6, its an english import so anything else i should check for?

Thanks in advance...

hi,write down the vin number(bottom of windscreen)bring it to a ford dealer
ask them to check it for you & they will tell you what size engine & any other details about the car(not servicing,unless done by them).
if you want to send me the vin number by private message,i'll try & get if for you.;)

Henry Ford III

Get a HPI check done. It will tell you everything you need to know.

Or pm me the reg. I can find out some limited info from that.

tw0nk

Thanks for all the help guys, I went to see it yesterday and I left a deposit on it, Im really happy overall with the car, looks barely used, the only nagging feeling in the back of my head is why was there no 1.6 badge on the back of the car but the log book said 1596cc and I read somewhere that zetec collections dont have the badge.

Thanks again for all the help, it was nice going to see the car with a bit of a heads up. Im sure Il be asking lots more questions about the car when I get it, if anyone has any other comments please post them up.

oh and Il definitely get the vin number and get a ford dealer to check it for me, do they charge for that? are they obliged to do it as part of dealership?

tw0nk

tw0nk wrote:

Thanks for all the help guys, I went to see it yesterday and I left a deposit on it, Im really happy overall with the car, looks barely used, the only nagging feeling in the back of my head is why was there no 1.6 badge on the back of the car but the log book said 1596cc and I read somewhere that zetec collections dont have the badge.

They don't always have that on the back. Check the engine block its always there.

lomb

And the MOST important tip for checking mileage is... check the tires, at 40000 miles they should be the original rear tires (unless they were rotated) this will show as being of a good brand(conti on focuss) and still have loads of thread on them to boot.
clocking doesnt show that well on focuses, they withstand wear well and are good clocking targets, best to ring the previous owner on the reg document. if the dealer is cagey then walk away.

maidhc

lomb wrote:

And the MOST important tip for checking mileage is... check the tires, at 40000 miles they should be the original rear tires...

They probably should be the originals, but hardly a definitive factor.

I think the most important thing is a nice detailed service history. I know Irish people are crap and doing this but there are plenty focuses about and you should be able to find one that has. The garage that serviced the car should be able to give you a printout of everytime they had reason to see the car, the mileage and the date.

Ford are pretty random about badges in general!