I got this car 4 years ago and when I got it, everything needed to be changed because the previous owner did not take care of it. So there was about $2500 in parts that went into it including breaks, ball joints, wheel bearings, had the ac fixed (dryer was dead), new tires all around. One common issue with this car is the rear suspension, the springs in the back sag and you get 2 degrees of negative camber which results in inner tire wear. There is a bulletin about this from ford, you have to replace springs and rear trailing arms to fix it. The car also exhibits some weird idle even with cleaning, the idle sensor seems to be at fault. I had a zetec in my ford escort but never had any of these problems. The engine and transmission also runway louder than in the escort even though there are no exhaust leaks. It is also far worse on gas, gets about 7.5-8l/100km on hwy, 9.5l/100km in the city. I'm hoping the engine will last though since its a zetec and I have 1/2 a million kms on it in my other car.

Had this car for 13 years now, got it when it was 180k on it, now it close to 500k. Had to replace the clutch, breaks, ball joints, outer tie rods, alternator, did all 4 shocks at around 400k. Oil change every 10k and the engine burns no oil. Very reliable and gets you 6L/100km highway, 7.5L/100km city. I got it down to 5.5L/100km on the highway driving very carefully. I have a newer focus and this car has proven to be more reliable than the newer focus with far fewer things that break.