Chris Alexander
18th November, 2009
After an epic journey covering over 700 miles in 7 days, visiting 12 garages, and looking at an innumerable number of cars, I’m pleased that I have finally got my hands on my new vehicle.
It was not without incident though.
After my former car (an heroic 15-year-old Ford Escort) failed its MOT quite spectacularly (on 10 points, 3 of which were failed front suspension and a further 6 on corroded chassis) the race was on to find a new car and get it literally within 14 days - before its existing MOT ran out.
With some considerable effort (and dropping a considerable number of other activities in the process) I eventually found two Ford Focuses at the final garage we looked at just 9 days before “judgement day”. The choice was between the silver, 1.4 litre, 3-door, 90,000 miles 6-year-old and the blue/grey, 2 litre, 5-door, 60,000 miles 9-year-old Ghia X model.
Taking them both out for a spin there really was no choice. The 2 litre’s extra power, extra doors, below-average mileage and top of the range interior far outweighed the slightly (£150) cheaper insurance and road tax and slightly less scratched paintwork of the silver model. Here’s the beast: