TheSerpent

See, that's what was confusing me! I would have thought a chassis number would be allocated before a build! Well they have given me a delivery date of the 1st of December ever since the whole process started. We constantly get late deliveries, often two or three months late so I was pretty skeptical about 01/12/05. However from the experiences you guys have had give me a bit of confidence! Many thanks to all!

OK, many thanks for that. 10 days to two weeks between dealer and delivery seems pretty reasonable. Question is - what's the time difference between chassis number and build date? EDIT: Come to think of it, my main concern was to get the Stage 4 diesel tax break. Looks like the car will made in '05 for sure and so will qualify.

Ah, so the DEATC option (the only one I specced) will slow things up a bit. Thanks for that, I'll bear it in mind! Barring 50 million rental hacks getting in the way - roughly how long is it usually from chassis number to delivery? Ages and ages or is it relatively far along?

Sorry to butt in chaps but I'm trying to inquire about how long delivery takes once a chassis number has been allocated - it seemed to me your conversastion is heading that sort of way. It's for a lowly Ghia, not an ST!

Wish I could get that kind of information - the vehicles section at work say they don't know production dates or build dates! However they have grudgingly told me that it was allocated a chassis number on the 15th. How far along is that? I expect that's the first thing that happens and they'll launch the next Focus before I get this one!!!

Full lock? A quick sneeze ought to do it...

Hi deanogtv (an ALFA man by any chance??), here's a link to what I wrote after testing a 2.0TDCi Ghia for a weekend http://www.ffoc.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.p ... ht=#799543

I'm keen to know if my Focus will actually get made this year (it's a company car and I opted for the Stage 4 2.0TDCi for the tax break), but you only get the tax break if the car is manufactured in 2005. It was ordered on the 14th of October, if I recall correctly. My question is, how can you find out when the car is being built? Presumably when you buy from new privately they can tell you but does anyone know what can be done for us company joes? The people at work probably won't know what I'm talking about so no good asking them!

Porridge cooling. Isn't technology wonderful.

If I may ask - what specifically did they object to? Seems to me that your C-Max was/is very shoddy and if you know that a significant number of people have had similar difficulties then you are probably justified in criticising the lack of quality.

Ah that'll be the bother then. Trouble is I usually deal in parts for cars that haven't been on the market for donkey's years and such parts are usually referred to as factory or just original. I'll get me coat...

OEM usually stands for Other Equipment Manufacturer. In this case it refers to companies making lights that replace the original ones - i.e. any lights you buy from anyone other than Ford can be considered OEM lights.

There's an LX estate in the car park at work. I'll snap a pic if you're interested. Myself I quite like it, but that's nothing to go by!

As far as I can see the 1.4 is only available on the Studio, LX and Sport (UK model that is), but it is available. Agreed about the 1.6, there is always a balance to be struck with smaller engines.

I've seen a few black Focus 2s and the colour does suit them nicely - the dark Zetec headlights look particularly good next to the black. A standard Mk 2 car won't be as dramatic as the old shape but it's still going to be quite attractive. If you aren't sure, drive both the 1.4 and 1.6 - that's the best way to decide and it's what test drives are for. Make the dealer do it as I find they are usually pretty reluctant. I can tell you first hand that the 5 door is not short of space. Personally I considered the old Focus a bit short on legroom and very short on boot space. The mark 2 has ple