03 Focus for Daily Driver?

[Black Magic]

I found a "Used" 03 Focus with 3,x.. miles on it. Manual, no power anything, A/C, CD, cloth. I am thinking of getting it for a daily driver so Black Magic can take it easy on the weekdays and kick azz on the weekends. They are asking 11,000 for it.

I have a 01 Focus Sedan that my G/F drives. So I know about them and think that a manual would be fun to have to drive. I am trying to promiss myself that I would not mod it. But You know how that goes.

The only thing that I don't like is the cut in funds for X mods and so on.

What do you all think?

Oh, bonus it is black too!

Mini Black Magic!

 

[mmsdrummer]

I've driven a manual focus and I would describe it as 'zippy' but nothing more than that. If you have the funds, black magic would appreciate that.

 

[ShadowA2J]

"Mini Black Magic" and you don't plan on modding it? Riiiiight.

 

[X24]

If I had enough money I would buy a DD. Then again, if I had enough money I probably wouldnt have a SOHC.

 

[james t]

dont do it.

that is good X mod money you will be using on another car. my rule of thumb is only get a daily driver when the mod vehicle becomes a PITA as a daily driver. you have a good, reliable explorer that gets decent gas mileage. if you had a monster-cammed V8, a spool, 20 psi boost, etc, then i would say go for it. why waste money on a DD when you already have one?

if you're trying to keep mileage off of your X for resale purposes, dont bother. selling a used xplo of any make/condition will get you a raping. used explorers are a dime a dozen, and resale is hideous.

 

[Black Magic]

Well, it is not for resale value. I just want my X to last me longer. I drive too far everyday to keep beating everything I have done to it. I just want to be able to drive this car and save on gas and save miles on BM for the weekends and shows. I think I am going to get it tonight. I just want to call and find out how much insurance is going to be. I would think not bad since it will be another vehicle and we already have more vehicles than drivers anyway. I will post pics if I get it.

 

[Stephen]

The extra insurance wont be a lot.

I can see your point seeing that the Explorers dont handle miles very well. I like the Focus, its a neat and sporty little car.

Keep us posted!

 

[Black Magic]

Well insurance co called back. It would be 577.75 for 6 months for the Foci. My Explorer insurance would go down too. But I am going to turn 25 in July so I will get a bigger drop in ins cost then.

So this is what I figured:

I drive on average 90 miles a day that comes to 1800 miles a month to and from work. At an average of say 17 mpg and that is being nice. puts me at $176 a month for gas @ $1.65 a gallon for prem. Now the Foci would be getting 30 mpg with same miles per month puts me at $84 a month for gas at $1.40 reg. So that is a savings of we will say $100 a month on gas. That is good. Now figuring on a 5 year payment about $200.00 a month. Then I could pay it off when ever I wanted. So that is $300 a month for payment & insurance. -$100 on gas savings. So I would be paying $200 a month plus other expences like taxes and licenses and so on to drive a little Focus with none of the toys that the Explorer has like DVD, killer sound, Satellite radio, ect... Be it a fun car to drive it is not that fun. So I have decided against it. Miles are just miles and my X is imaculate as I always keep my vehicles. So that is just more money I can spend on it.

Thanks for the input guys. I might try and find a cheeper one. That was just a good deal for one like that. Maybe I can find an O1 that is cheeper.

 

[james t]

i didnt realize you drove that far to work. i can see your point a little better now.

if its just a "work car", why not a semi-beater? ever think about some kind of 90's era Toyota/Honda/etc? my friend has a 91 Accord for that purpose. its 5spd, man. windows, and gets around 28 mpg. he paid $2100 for it in great condition, and has had it basically trouble free for over 2 years now. insurance on it is almost free.

 

[Black Magic]

I still have some pride in what I drive. Even if it is just a work car.

 

[james t]

what does pride have to do with it? i would drive a 91 Honda Accord just the same as i would drive an 03 Focus... its just a car man!

with that one comment you spoke volumes. subconciously, you want a Foci to fix up. it will have wheels, Eibach springs, and a system by the end of the year. its all for you, but i would just get something cheap, reliable, and not very moddable.

 

[expo5.0]

the way i see it a focus isn't cool enough to be worth paying more for than a beater. i drove a 94 minivan with 300,000 miles on it for much of the last year (it finally hit a deer and the radiator it needed was way more than its value).

i don't think a focus is a good call. i would buy a mid 80s 325i bmw for 2-3 thousand and resist modding it in any way. of course that would be hard to do, and the cost of upkeep will be greater but imo thats a good car to have that is stock and cheap. my first car was one of these albeit in better shape than a 3,000 dollar one.

or else i would look into an old civic or accord like everyone else is saying.

 

[Mike_H]

About four years ago I had a 150mile commute everyday. I had my X and my motorcycle. It was just too expensive to drive the X everyday and when winter came around the bike was out of the question. I spent a grand and bought a Metro. This thing looked new, ran great. I have something for small cars so I liked it. That little 3-cyl got 49mpg. The amount of money that thing saved me was well worth it! After driving it for about a year and a half I sold it for $1500.

 

[X24]

My family has a 96 Saturn SL2 for a spare car. Its fun to drive (5 sp) and is great on gas. Gets around 30 mpg, too.

 

[huskyfan23]

Wouldn't the $11 grand put into the Focus still cost a whole lot more then just driving the X and paying for the gas each month... It wouldn't really even out for many many many years.

 

[Stephen]

Originally posted by Black Magic
I still have some pride in what I drive. Even if it is just a work car.

I'm the same way, I figure if you spend that much time in your car, why would you want to drive a POS?

By the way, I drive between 25,000-30,000 miles a year myself.

 

[Majisto]

Our Explorer has almost 100K miles on it, and it has handled getting lots of miles in few years quite well *Shrugs*

Is this the SPI or Zetec motor? The SPI is just about as slow as they come, but damn is that gas mileage incredible. I say go for it if you really want to, but $11,000 might be too much for a used one. I'd just buy a new one and get an extended care warranty with it. The 2003 Focus has almost all of the strange oddities fixed the first few years had.

 

[MO_GUY]

Originally posted by Black Magic
I found a "Used" 03 Focus with 3,x.. miles on it. Manual, no power anything, A/C, CD, cloth. I am thinking of getting it for a daily driver so Black Magic can take it easy on the weekdays and kick azz on the weekends. They are asking 11,000 for it.

I have a 01 Focus Sedan that my G/F drives. So I know about them and think that a manual would be fun to have to drive. I am trying to promiss myself that I would not mod it. But You know how that goes.

The only thing that I don't like is the cut in funds for X mods and so on.

What do you all think?

Oh, bonus it is black too!

Mini Black Magic!

Matt why don't you check out the dealership on Manchester Road, they have like 3 or 4 Saleen Focus' and are only a few grand more!

 

[Black Magic]

Well, I wasn't looking to spend that much anyway. I didn't get it anyway. I ended up just keep on driving my X.