My Hyundai has totally disappointed me and I will be looking at a 5 speed 2007 Ford focus (last year of the first generation in the us) are there any things about these I should keep an eye out for during my test drive?
What has happened to your Hyundai? Those early Hyundais aren’t exactly the best cars quality wise so I’m not really surprised.
It might have just been a defect in our particular car, but my family used to have a Ford Focus from around that time (in the UK though). It was brand new and may have lasted for a year and a bit until warning lights started popping up all over the place and the repair costs just became too much.
I have a 2003 which is pretty much mechanically identical. There’s just a couple things I’d look for:
Motor mounts, specifically the upper passenger side mount. It’s liquid filled and eventually it will collapse and all the goo will leak out. If the car has a vibration at idle it’s probably this. The lower “dogbone” mount can also go bad which allows the engine to rock excessively when letting the clutch out or shifting. You can get polyurethane inserts for the dogbone for under $20, which I highly recommend.
Rear wheel bearings. Listen for a growling noise from the rear, or jack up the rear wheels and feel for looseness or noise while spinning. The bearings are pressed into the drums so the easiest thing is to just replace the whole drum.
The ignition lock cylinders are prone to wearing out, which may cause them to stick or be difficult to turn. I know this was common on early cars, they may have fixed it by 2007, I’m not sure.
Engine wise, the only issue I’ve had is a split PVC hose. The Duratec is a licensed copy of the Mazda MZR motor and is pretty simple and reliable.
Other than that, just try to verify that regular maintenance was done and that there’s no drivability issues i.e. bad idle, fault codes, weird noises, etc. Good luck! 