What do you think of a 2001 Ford Focus ZX3 Hatchback?

Answer 1

I agree with the below statement, its a zippy little car, and you can do so much bolt on stuff yourself at your house if your into working on it and you just watched the fast and the furious :P ha but stock the car has 130hp at 53,000rpms which is decent for an American tuner. mine right now has a turbo kit from focussport, and after the dyno tune i have 235hp to the wheels, she runs in the 14s at the track, it is of course recommended to have it professionally installed but it took me 3 days at about 3hours a day and i hooked it up, that's probably the best part about this car is that its so easy to fix up the engine is so small and simple to work with i also drive a 99 mustang gt and that i do take to the shop but get a focus they're very nice

AnswerI think that the Focus is a great car. Especially for tuning up to perform as a race car if you will. Outside that box it's a pretty dependable car for the money and the company. AnswerI think it was over priced and has many problems. It has 16" wheels that cannot be downsized because of the calipers. Try buying tires for this vehicle they are anywhere from $85-$160 a piece 205/50R16 and most places will not put any other tire that the manufacturer doesn't recommend which leaves you with one or two very expensive choices, this is a SCAM. You feel every bump you hit regardless of the size of the bump. These tires do not last I don't care who manufactures them. Mine were defective at 16 thousand miles and Firestone would not do a thing about them I won't ever buy another Firestone tire as long as I live because of this.

The seat belts ratchet and keep getting tighter even when replaced by Ford. It constantly goes through emission sensors and gives erroneous engine light errors. Not to mention the recalls, many recalls. You have to be a contortionist to put on your seat belt or to change the oil filter. Many unexplained rattles while moving. Extreme static discharge from the upholstery, don't believe me? search the web it's true.

The cheap brake pads that Ford put on this car expell a masive amount of black brake dust that is ruining my aluminum wheels and are very noisy and groan loudly when it is wet or dry, this generates many strange looks from people on the road and makes you ashamed that you are driving a Ford.

I would not recommend buying any focus, as a matter of fact I would not recommend buying any Ford product because of all the problems myself and my family have had with the Taurus-Windstar-Focus, we have had many fords over the period of 5 decades and can't rely on Ford since the early 1990's.

Thank You Ford motor company for directing me to purchase a Japanese car in the future. I am looking forward to owning my first Camry soon.

AnswerIt is a basic transportation kind of car. It needs to be maintained like any other vehicle and is not a luxury ride kind of car. I have seen more infrequent troubled focus cars that problem child's. I do want to comment on the 2nd persons comments however. I do empathise with their troubles as sometimes you get a trouble car. Regarding the SCAM on the tires, that you can thanks the lawyers and public for. The car is designed by the engineers to meet the public wants. That is the low profile tires that get fabric breaks. That is typical of that size tire, but again it is the look people want. The lawyers will encourage law suits to nail anyone who can get a buck squeezed out of them. That is anyone who puts on a tire that will work but is not specified for the vehicle is up for a potential law suit should an accident occur regardless of the cause of the accident. Regarding the brake dust, Ceramic pads can greatly reduce this effect. It is not uncommon to see brake dust on the majority of cars, The is a thing called "elbow grease" that is required and I believe it states that. I find it curious that it took 5 decades to change to a different manufacturer, but each manufacturer has it's problems. Moving to a Camry makes sense to me. If you do buy a Focus, megotiate about 4 extra licnce plate sockets into the deal. They are only available through the dealer as far as I know and run about $45.00 a piece. Although, I may be thinking of the Contour. Check it out first. AnswerI would undoubtedly recommend buying a focus, I myself have an 01 Focus ZX3 and I've had very little trouble with it! I can however vouch for the emissions sensors crapping out frequently but those fixes are small change compared to mechanical problems. I've had to replace the PVC valve($5)and E.G.R. valve ($60) so I've only spent 65 dollars on repairs in nearly 50,000 miles, but I put those miles on in one year that's a fair bit of driving. Anyway even if you include oilchanges and tires your still in the ballpark of 350-400 dollars. You do need to shop around for a good tire price but I paid 250 mounted, balanced, disposal and warrented so the tires cost a bit more than your average domestic what's the big deal if you want dirt cheap parts buy a crownvic or a caprice or an old caddy, the parts are cheap but I guarantee you'll be buying alot more of them!!! It's like any other car if you take care of it, it'll take care of you! AnswerSo far love my 2001 hatchback. Runs well but do here the noise in the brakes.. Where is the PVC valve we are looking for?? My husband services it and can't find where it is. Looking for a diagram but so far no luck. Any ideas where to find that on the computer?

Answer

Well i like my 2000 zx3 But stock, it doesn't like hills. I have to climb them at 4500 rpm haha. Plus I've had quite a few problems with it. Both that are my fault and factory defects. The e-brake cable broke on me but i saw that coming when i bought it. The line was just old and rusty. Now it only locks up one back tire but that's all your really need. :D Plus the front stabilizer bar went bad, but that was from me pretending i was in the WRC and jumping it. A new one cost me like $125. I don't jump it anymore. haha. But it has this defect going... At random times, when i hit the gas, the rpms will drop. But if i let off in time, it cuts back to idle. when this happens, (always when I'm driving down the road) I eather press the clutch in and play with the throttle, or i shut the car off and start it back up. They both usually work but the problem keeps showing up. I figured it was a bad fuel filter so i changed that. (by the way, changing the fuel filter in a 2000 focus zetec was the easiest thing i ever did.) the problem went away for a while, but come inspection time, I had to get a new flex pipe to pass immitions because my old one was shot. haha Right after i got that done, it started the problem again right away. So i figured the computer wasn't use to the new backpressure. So i unplugged the battery for an hour to reset the computer but it STILL dose it! I'm gonna take it to a dealership and get the computer checked to pin point the problem. and while I'm there, I wanna see if they can program the speed Governor and the rev limiter out of it. And program the fan to kick on earlier so the engine will run cooler. (cooler engine = more acceleration and better gas mileage :D). Not to mention the latch for the hatch froze up and it's stuck shut. I tore it apart to try to hit it with pb blaster only to find that the latch and the electric motor is sealed in a black box that you can only remove when the hatch its open. Once i can get this all fixed up, i do look forward to building it up. I wanna get a k&n intake (turbo's coming later), Racing plugs and wires, stronger cylinders, high compretion pistons, aftermarket exhaust and a racing clutch kit. But first things first. haha

Answer

I think you get what you pay for. It entered the market as a just over $12,000 (CDN) with a peppy little 16 valve engine. I bought my '01 ZX3 about 4 months ago just to drive back and forth to work. This little puppy is going on 9 years old and is sitting at around 120,000 kms - and other than a dash light, oil change and a couple smaller items (wipers, floormats) it's worth the little money I paid! Every single manufacturer has its flaws (yes even the beloved Japanese ones) so if you got stuck with a lemon I can totally sympathize with that (it's happened to me!). I think for the money it's a great little car to bomb around in and race back and forth to work. Hey even my 15 year old son is itching to start driving it next spring! If you ask if I would recommend it - then yes I would - but only as a second vehicle for your wife or kids....