So my wife is in the market for a cheap hatchback A-to-B car. Trying to keep it at 2500ish as far as price goes, so that has left us with VW's and Ford Fouci as the main contenders. What are the pros/cons of the two, and what specifically to these should I look at when picking one out? Are either of them "avoid it like a bi-turbo"?
My family bought a '00 ZX3 new. It's had no significant issues aside from normal stuff, and it got beat on and neglected by a couple kids (one of whom was me). I still have it, in fact, though it's down for a brake master cylinder at the moment. Had an SVT Focus for a couple years, too. I'm a fan. Put the SVT suspension kit on any run-of-the-mill ZX3 and you'll have a really entertaining little appliance.
<-- I am biased but I would go for the Focus. There is a lot of aftermarket available for them. Suspension (easy button is the SVT stuff as Alex mentioned), Performance up to and including turbo and supercharger kits like I have, and lots of styling stuff.
The Zetec engine is very reliable. I know of several that 250K+ miles on them with no problems.
I want to say that era was the low point of VW quality.
Anecdotally, it seems that VW had variable quality. Two polar opposite examples:
-Conversely, a co-worker's 04 2.0 was a freaking nightmare of electronic horrors when he unloaded it in trade with only 95k a few months ago.
Makes it hard to be a buyer, for sure.
I will say that the Mk4 seemed very well protected against corrosion, especially the fasteners.
I have an 03 Golf - quite happy with it. I looked at a LOT of Focii. I could never find one as rust free as the Golf. So that is why I went with the VW. If you get a Golf - get a VW-specific code reader. They can throw a lot of codes that will clear and stay cleared.
Paid $2K with a set of snows:
When looking at 10+ year old cars it's really the actually car you need to look at and not the brand. At this point if the car was a lemon it most likely would be off the road and not for sale used. People keep cars that are reliable and get rid of ones that aren't, and they don't wait 10 years to do it.
I would however lean toward the Focus, as has been mentioned early 2000's VW have a reputation for certain problems while the Focus is just another Ford.
I have two friends with SVT models and one with the wagon. One repeating problem was the friend with the wagon and broken trans/engine mounts. It was a stick and while he's driven stick for 45 years he is not as smooth with clutch take up as he could be which may be one cause of the broken mounts.
Automatic or manual? If auto, take the VW off the list. Otherwise I don't think either are terrible, but the VW will need suspension work (struts and front bushings) if it has over 150k and hasn't been done.
Focus rust a lot harder but they are a heck of a lot more tolerant of lackadaisical maintenance.
Are any areas of the Focus more prone to rust? It will be a Florida car, so rust shouldn't be too bad unless it was parked at the beach.
BTW - the one shown above has spent 12 years pounding the roads of Ontario and Quebec. Almost rust free.
Focus, all day, every day, and twice on Sunday.
Unless you happen to find a TDI with a 5speed for $2500....that might sway me
I have also heard of 00s VWs having electrical problems, so you may want to look at a Golf TDI first before a gas powered Golf. A pro for the Focus is that it's a good small car to drive, not just an average small car they made in the past. Another con for the Golf is that the back seat area is tiny, which is deceptive with it being 5 doors.
Maybe my experience is unusual, but I had an '02 GTI and apart from a problem with the seat recliner mechanism slipping (a TSB issue, IIRC) it was a trouble free and entertaining car. I put 100k on it and traded it on my WRX (which turned out to be much more costly to own).
Dunno. Just sayin'
A tdi will need an expensive timing belt change as soon as you get it, because 99% chance it was done wrong, and its not worth the risk of ruining a $2000 engine to not do it.
Neither.
Buy a 1996+ Civic. Or Corolla. Better in everyway. The Golf's interior is less of a penalty box than the Focus (I will go so far as to say if in nice condition, the Golf is a good place to sit).
I don't know why everyone likes that year of Focus so much. The one I owned, and the others I have sat in all have appallingly E36 M3ty build quality and are rattletraps. Sure, they are better than comparable era Cavaliers, but that isn't saying much...
And I know you said hatchback, but honestly, I haven't found the utility of either cars I mentioned in sedan form lacking and I travel a lot with a lot of crap.
Travis_K wrote: A tdi will need an expensive timing belt change as soon as you get it, because 99% chance it was done wrong, and its not worth the risk of ruining a $2000 engine to not do it.
It's also a maybe 700 dollar thing that only has to be done once every 100,000 miles and will easily add 700 bucks to the resale value of the car if you have proof its been done. Check TDI club and look for local Gurus or independents not dealers. If you aren't driving a lot of miles it may not be worth it but my 2000 Jetta TDI got 43mpg with the AC on and doing 80+mph on california freeways
Probably easier to find a Focus? Seems like the people I know who take care of their VWs keep them forever and the Golfs/Jettas I find for sale have been poorly treated. That's my experience anyway.
If I were in the OP's position I would go for the nicest example of either one I could find in budget.
have had a focus for 4 yrs now. had a fuel pump die but that was it. 200 later and it was fine.
its also thoroughly beat on between my hooning and autox's. watch for motor mounts that go bad on foci. engine side should be poly or OEM ford parts. all else are junk. TRUST ME
rear wheel bearings also seem to go bad IF YOU BEAT on it. however whole drum assembly for 75, 30 min of time and youre good to go.
cheers
Neither. That price range, 01-06 Elantra GT hatchback. More space, easier to work on, cheap parts and dead nuts reliable.
If you are going for an auto the 100,000 mile plus VW automatics of that era get pretty sketchy for reliability. If you are looking for stick it should be a solid car. The 2.0L 4 cylinders are tough as nails and get good gas mileage.
There will be some but not significant electrical issues. Not as bad as Audis of the era or as bad as they have a reputation to be. Check to see how well the windows go up and down. Chances are if the window regulators haven't been replaced they will need to be. Sometimes the sensor in the seat belt buckle will go and leave an air bag light on. You would need to replace that assembly to clear it. CEL aren't all that uncommon but most of the time they are minor issues. As others said get an aftermarket scan tool or a VAG-COM if you really want to know what's going on with the car. Ross-Tech sells the cables and software and they are well worth it if you own a VW. I owned a MK3 and a MK4 jetta and the MK4 had less issues. By the time I was done with the MK3 neither the cruise or ABS worked. Both were fine in the MK4.
If you get a 1.8T you will have to worry about coilpacks. VW did have recalls on them so chances are if it is on the road they will have been replaced already. Doesn't hurt to have a spare set though.
Replacing the timing belt is a must do if you cannot find out the history. It should be changed at 80k-100k.
My experience with VWs was a love/hate relationship. When all is good, they are fun and entertaining and can run with the big dogs on open road. However, they require more repairs than other cars I have owned.
My boy has a 2000 focus sedan; except for any self-abused repairs, it's needed a fuel pump and fuel rail sensor in the last four years or so he's had it, 150k miles I think. Bullet proof otherwise.
He's gotten hop up goodies on it, and it's a great handling, great driving car. I was in a VW of the same era a few years back, and my thought was "meh". Even stock for stock, I think the focus is better.
SVT suspension is a nice upgrade, so yes, throw that kit on it and it'll be a really fun driving car.
NGTD wrote: BTW - the one shown above has spent 12 years pounding the roads of Ontario and Quebec. Almost rust free.
My '01 zx3 has spent 14 years of pounding the salty roads of the midwest and still lacks any non-surface rust, and all that surface rust is underbody.....its also been an indestructible tank of a car(Scratched the rear bumper while nearly totalling the front of a 2009 Beer can....err, I mean Hyundai)
Only issue I had was corrosion in the license plate lights caused that circuit to get a little melty and require rewiring. Other than that, rock solid.....and strangely enough, it never smelled like crayons on a hot summer day. 
yamaha wrote:NGTD wrote: BTW - the one shown above has spent 12 years pounding the roads of Ontario and Quebec. Almost rust free.My '01 zx3 has spent 14 years of pounding the salty roads of the midwest and still lacks any non-surface rust, and all that surface rust is underbody.....its also been an indestructible tank of a car(Scratched the rear bumper while nearly totalling the front of a 2009 Beer can....err, I mean Hyundai) Only issue I had was corrosion in the license plate lights caused that circuit to get a little melty and require rewiring. Other than that, rock solid.....and strangely enough, it never smelled like crayons on a hot summer day.
You must have taken good care of yours. Most of the Mazda 3/Focus that I looked at had a crap ton of rust but I was mainly looking at sub-$3K cars.
Like a couple of the previous posters said, in the 10-15 yr old range buy the best car you can get. I try to have as broad a look as possible. When I was looking I looked at all of the cars shown below:
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