My wife's 2000 Focus ZX3 is hitting 125,000. It's still very reliable, but it's going to need a clutch, new tires, the second set of front brakes and the first set of rear brakes, and possibly a cv joint I think I can hear getting ready to go bad. She uses it daily, driving a lot of rural miles, visiting patients to do home-health physical therapy.
She likes little cars. They are much easier to zip through traffic and much more nimble. She is a good driver and has used the handling of her small cars to avoid accidents.
She loves stick shift and really doesn't want an automatic. She's also very frugal and doesn't want to pay for an automatic. She also has generally gotten better fuel mileage with the stick shift. The Focus is the first car in which the clutch has worn this quickly.
She does not care for air conditioning and does not use it if the car has it. Thus, the seals dry out and when her AC is used, hers fail more quickly than others. The AC in her Focus has not worked for about 6 months.
In the past 25 years her cars have been: 1981 Toyota Starlet 1300cc hatchback; 1983 Toyota Starlet 1300cc hatchback; 1986 Dodge Colt 1500cc Hatchback; 1990 Suzuki Swift 1300cc Hatchback; 1993 Ford Festiva 1300cc Hatchback; 2000 Ford Focus ZX3 2.3 liter hatchback. The Focus is the largest, most powerful car she has ever owned, but it gets the worst mileage at about 32 mpg.
She likes "cute" cars. Her favorite was the '83 Starlet; very nimble, very economical, pretty darn quick with only 1300cc because it only weighed 1725 lbs. Her next favorite (and the most reliable; longest time, most miles and fewest repairs) was the Ford Festiva made by Kia. She thinks the ZX3 is "cute with an attitude". The Suzuki Swift was the least well-made and was traded off quicker than any other.
Until the Focus, the most we ever paid for her car, brand new, was $6,000. The Focus was $12,000.
She will consider any brand of car. I will not permit her to have a car made by General Motors; a car made by someone else with a GM nameplate is marginally acceptable. Don't even bother debating with me; GM is OUT.
Personally, I'm leaning towards the MINI; the standard one, not the "S". I thought she'd go nuts over it when she saw it; small, light, nimble, quick and cute. But, it didn't click with her. When she finds a car she likes, she notices every one she sees and comments on it: "There's another Festiva!" She never even notices the MINIs. It's probably also more money than she'd like to spend.
What she has been noticing is the PT Cruiser. Part of it is because it's "cute"; a big part of it is because she's a Physical Therapist, usually abbreviated to PT, who "cruises" to the patients' homes; so it makes sense that the PT "cruiser" drives a PT Cruiser. And, coincidentally enough, many of her PT colleagues do have one.
Further, one of her patients has a PT Cruiser convertible. I know she's interested, because she mentioned it to me; even mentioned the color. I looked it up; the base model comes with a 5 speed, and is list-priced at right around $20,000. That's more money than she has ever spent, and more money than her frugal nature would like to spend, but she is also getting much closer to cutting back her hours and semi-retiring. She will never completely retire; she loves it so much, she'd probably volunteer to see the patients if they wouldn't pay her any longer. But, after all these years of being frugal, she seems ready to let her hair blow a little. Part of it might also be my health and the fact that she wants to enjoy what time we might yet have together.
Comments, please on 2 things: Sugggestions for other cars that might suit her unique personality, and comments/warnings/wisdom about the PT Cruiser.
She likes little cars. They are much easier to zip through traffic and much more nimble. She is a good driver and has used the handling of her small cars to avoid accidents.
She loves stick shift and really doesn't want an automatic. She's also very frugal and doesn't want to pay for an automatic. She also has generally gotten better fuel mileage with the stick shift. The Focus is the first car in which the clutch has worn this quickly.
She does not care for air conditioning and does not use it if the car has it. Thus, the seals dry out and when her AC is used, hers fail more quickly than others. The AC in her Focus has not worked for about 6 months.
In the past 25 years her cars have been: 1981 Toyota Starlet 1300cc hatchback; 1983 Toyota Starlet 1300cc hatchback; 1986 Dodge Colt 1500cc Hatchback; 1990 Suzuki Swift 1300cc Hatchback; 1993 Ford Festiva 1300cc Hatchback; 2000 Ford Focus ZX3 2.3 liter hatchback. The Focus is the largest, most powerful car she has ever owned, but it gets the worst mileage at about 32 mpg.
She likes "cute" cars. Her favorite was the '83 Starlet; very nimble, very economical, pretty darn quick with only 1300cc because it only weighed 1725 lbs. Her next favorite (and the most reliable; longest time, most miles and fewest repairs) was the Ford Festiva made by Kia. She thinks the ZX3 is "cute with an attitude". The Suzuki Swift was the least well-made and was traded off quicker than any other.
Until the Focus, the most we ever paid for her car, brand new, was $6,000. The Focus was $12,000.
She will consider any brand of car. I will not permit her to have a car made by General Motors; a car made by someone else with a GM nameplate is marginally acceptable. Don't even bother debating with me; GM is OUT.
Personally, I'm leaning towards the MINI; the standard one, not the "S". I thought she'd go nuts over it when she saw it; small, light, nimble, quick and cute. But, it didn't click with her. When she finds a car she likes, she notices every one she sees and comments on it: "There's another Festiva!" She never even notices the MINIs. It's probably also more money than she'd like to spend.
What she has been noticing is the PT Cruiser. Part of it is because it's "cute"; a big part of it is because she's a Physical Therapist, usually abbreviated to PT, who "cruises" to the patients' homes; so it makes sense that the PT "cruiser" drives a PT Cruiser. And, coincidentally enough, many of her PT colleagues do have one.
Further, one of her patients has a PT Cruiser convertible. I know she's interested, because she mentioned it to me; even mentioned the color. I looked it up; the base model comes with a 5 speed, and is list-priced at right around $20,000. That's more money than she has ever spent, and more money than her frugal nature would like to spend, but she is also getting much closer to cutting back her hours and semi-retiring. She will never completely retire; she loves it so much, she'd probably volunteer to see the patients if they wouldn't pay her any longer. But, after all these years of being frugal, she seems ready to let her hair blow a little. Part of it might also be my health and the fact that she wants to enjoy what time we might yet have together.
Comments, please on 2 things: Sugggestions for other cars that might suit her unique personality, and comments/warnings/wisdom about the PT Cruiser.
