RapidAssistant

Mines has the 6000CD, but was "mistakenly" fitted with the Sony unit at the factory (in truth the dealer tried to pull a fast one on me and charge me £600 for the Sony unit hoping that I wouldn't mind) I refused and made them put the Ford one instead. Especially when you can dig a Sony one up on eBay for £400. Anyway, mines came with the socket in the glovebox but as far as am aware, it's not connected up to the head unit as it has a CDDJ button rather than AUX. It would be worth finding out though if there is a "hack" so that you can change that button's function.

How many flip-out style keys are you supposed to get? I know that the Ghia, Titanium and ST are supposed to come with them as standard, and I have a Ghia and I only got one, but the test car that I drove which was the exact same model had two.

I am gulping hard now as I've had the car nearly 6 months and I've just noticed the colour mismatch on the bumper!!!! And now that I know it's there it sticks out like a sore thumb. But has anyone tried claiming on the paintwork warranty?

The 1.4 and 1.6 are just the Zetec-SE engines from the old Focus, just a change of name, as well as the Ti-VCT option on the 1.6. The Duratec-HE 2.0 petrol is from the Mondeo, the old Zetec-E engine is now out of production. The 1.6 TDCi is the Peugeot developed Duratorq engine from the Mk.1 The 2.0 TDCi is the "Puma" type Duratorq as used in the Mondeo, Jag X-type and Transit.

Well mines says from a full tank about 458 miles to empty, and in truth it's more like 400. Roughly the same as my 1.8 Mk.1. I do notice that the gauge starts to drop immediately, rather then on the Mk.1 where you could go for 50-60 miles before the gauge even began to move.

Tonic seems to be THE colour for the Mk.2....they seem to be everywhere in the UK. Kinda wish I had gone for dark red again!

One of the big problems with the Ti-VCT is primarily because of the fact that we now have a trip computer, so it's easier to see at a glance what our fuel economy actually is. On the old Focus the trip computer was an optional extra only available on the Ghia so relatively few people had it, whereas on the Mk.2 its standard on the Zetec, Ghia and Titanium. Maybe we are all just a bit more conscious of it than we used to, and fuel economy hasn't really got any worse. ...but I have another question. Is it the trip computer that's telling porkies? After all, mines was saying that the outs

There are two distinguishing features of the Ti-VCT unit. Look at the timing belt cover, there are two large indentations ("* * * *" as I call them....) which are there to make room for the bulky sprockets (it is here that the camshaft adjustment mechanisms are encased). Also right next to, to the right of the timing belt cover, but to the left of the rocker cover, you'll see what appear to be two gold solenoids, one for each cam.

I have the 1.6 Ti-VCT Ghia and with 6000 on the clock and 5 months old, I can say the following. * On average 45-46mpg on the country roads * About 38mpg on the motorway averaging around 75mph * Handling better than old Focus FAULTS * Apart from the recall to have the dodgy rear wiper seal changed, none. * Needed oil topped up after 5500 miles (expected though!) FOIBLES * Driver's Seat Lumbar adjuster useless. Gives me backache. * Fat centre console doubles as a knee rest * Heated windscreen - there is a dead strip where there is no element right down the centreline of the scre

One interesting Mk.2 quirk surfaced the other day...when the windscreen washer fluid starts to get lowish...heavy acceleration causes the "LOW WASHER FLUID" message to trigger, then it doesn't go off again until you have killed the engine and restarted.

I am too getting a little concerned about the 1.6Ti-VCT's apparent appetite for fuel....especially when both the sales brochure and the Owners' Manual quotes a theoretical 55mpg on the Extra Urban Cycle. Here's a few points that I've noticed after 2200miles now, so I'll get my 10 pence worth in...... 1. The Mk2 doesn't have the original Focus's fuel gauge design bug whereby the gauge doesn't move from Full for the first 55-60miles. On the Mk2 it starts falling almost right from the word go. 2. Filling the tank to the brim causes the Distance to Empty readout to go up to 455 miles on mine

I take back my earlier criticism...now that the darker nights are starting to creep in (is summer ending already????) I can safely say that my autolights DO indeed work as they should!! :) :)

And I thought I was alone....I noticed the very same grinding noise on my 1.6 Ti-VCT Ghia the day after I picked it up. Only when the aircon is running, and it seems to come and go for some strange reason. Worse still, the aircon seems to stop working completely from time to time - I was driving along and soon noticed that there was no more ice cold air coming through the vents even though the yellow light was on. I stopped in a car park and listened to the engine with the window down...when the button was pressed you did get the characteristic "click" and the brief dip in engine revs as t

Well that's answered the question - mine was "accidentally" fitted with the Sony head unit (personally I think that the dealer was pulling a fast one and specified it on the car and hoping that I would fork out the extra £400 for it...). I told them to take it out and replace it with the Ford one. But at least I got all 8 speakers instead of the usual 4 and they all work OK with the 6000CD so I scored not too badly in the end.

Has yours got climate control - that could be the temperature sensor...?

It's downright bland to look at compared to the original Focus I agree...but for me the swinger was definately the interior, Ford have now equalled the Mk.4 Golf in terms of its look and quality feel, from everything to the way the doors close, to the way that all the switches operate. Plus the refinement is better than before.

When I was going for mine, the salesman was trying to talk me into going for the Titanium, since I let it slip that I was paying cash and that we could do a deal....but at the end of the day the Titanium is nearly a grand extra over the Ghia and the only things you get extra are half leather seats and the Sony head unit. The biggest problem for me was that the Titanium deletes the cruise control which is standard on the Ghia which was the main feature that I wanted....which I find wierd, and the only reason I can see why they took it off is that the Titanium has the 3-spoke Zetec steering

Agree with you on the autolights - the trouble with mine is that you drive into a tunnel and they come on....but they never seem to go back off again! Not even switching off manually and then putting the switch back to AUTO cancels them. :)

I have taken delivery of a brand new 1.6 Ghia on the Ti-VCT engine. Mines has the bog standard 6000CD stereo, but I notice the AUX jack in the glove compartment, which I'd really like to connect my minidisc player to. But where the AUX button usually is (my mate has a Mondeo TDCi with the exact same hifi), on this it has been replaced by a button saying CDDJ....so I am wondering if there is some sort of hack available to change the function of this button so that it selects the redundant auxilliary jack instead of the autochanger which isn't there!!

I've taken delivery of my new 1.6 Ti-VCT Ghia three weeks ago and I have to say that the fuel economy is roughly about the same as my old Focus 1.8 Zetec. Personally, I think the poor figures being quoted here are down to the length of time between trip computer resets, as it is averaging your fuel economy over a longer period. The second day I had it, I reset and then went down the M74 from Glasgow to the English border....set the cruise at 65mph and religiously stuck to it. by the time I got to Gretna the Average Fuel reading was at 47.4mpg - not that far away from the quoted figure, and