[Drivesthebeast]

Agreed that the Toyota BOREolla is for the everyday person who cares about getting from point A to point B, with little-no-care for HOW they make that trip. You'll pay premium price for a car with hubcaps and cheap interior bits, unless you buy the XRS or something. The Corolla S is just a poser, and not as good a car as the XRS, which has the toyota Celica GT engine and gearbox (NOT the GT-S, as many think so, and this is wrong).

I also agree that the Civic is again a stripped down car that you'll pay top dollar for. It's what everyone else has, and is also what theives want too for some unkown reason. They also have the greatest battle against the "Ricer" or "Boy racer" stigma. You'll pay top dollar for a car with a cheap and spartan interior, and also with hubcaps and steelies. They also have less Ft LBs of torque than a stock Zetec too, even the Si models...

The Sentra is a heavy car, with a cheap interior and poor fit and finish. It's got lousy handling which will require aftermarket bits right off the bat to put it in the same league as a ZX3 or ZTS Focus. This is no joke, read the reviews online or in the magazines...the car is considered a mule, even the SE-R or SE-R Vspec, both of which will be a LOT more money than the Focus.

The esteem actually isn't that bad of a car. For a low price, you can have a relatively reliable car that does have an aftermarket following (one of my co-workers is building up an Esteem Wagon with a bunch of aftermarket bolt-ons and a killer MTX sound system). They are reasonably priced, and shouldn't be any more expensive to fix than a focus. The downside, it's got a stigma of being even cheaper than a focus, and it's not as well appointed either.

The Focus is an awesome deal. Because of it's bad rep in the first 2 years in Canada for mechanical woes and recalls, it would seem that most people aren't too interested in them...thus making the resale prices very appealing, even on some older SVT's now too. The focus is going to give you a car that can outhandle all of it's competitors, even when still stock. Put some good tires on one, and you'll embarass a lot of expensive cars, right out of the box. They also have a fairly large options list, and nicer than average plastics and vinyls and whatnot used throught the interior. Go and compare the interior of a ZTS sedan or ZTW wagon with an import...bet you'll find the Focus is MORE luxurious and expensive looking inside, and will likely have more options for the money too.

If you wanna find one as a project car, I'd go for a low mileage ZTW wagon, as they make an awesome sleeper project. Pretty much any focus will be a lot of car for the money...

You shouldn't be sorry, and I'm sure that despite the horror stories you may have heard about them, I think that there are MORE Focus owners on here, and other sites for them that DIDN'T end up with a lemon, than those that did.

Hope this stuff gives you some insight...