2007 Ford Focus wagon, 5-speed

[spacemanspif]

I came across this car on CL.com and picked it up for a price I couldn't pass up. So my beloved Saturn is parked waiting to sell and the wagon is pulling daily duty. I figure I use this thread for updates like a project log. Stats on the car are, 154,000 miles, 2.0L duratec engine, 5spd trans with 3.89(ish) final drive . 60mph is at 2,500rpm and, like others have noticed, the speedo reads about 2mph high but the odometer is correct (GPS verified).

Definite plans: upper and lower grill blocks, air dam extension, roof rack cross bar delete and taller LRR tires (195-65-15 currently on 60s)
Hopeful mods: Rear skirts, Kamback/box cavity, belly pan
Considering: lowering on cut-coils

For now just cleaning up the car and collecting the basic maintenance stuff. Already bought a new (used) door and back hatch to replace the dented up ones. Biggest job thus far has been cleaning the interior because the previous owner was FILTHY and the whole interior needed to be cleaned top to bottom. I'm positive there is still 30lbs of dirt imbedded in the carpet .

For now the only pic of the car I have is the following one. If anyone has experience with these cars/engines speak up, I'm looking for to maximize MPGs (obviously) and keep this car for at least another 100k miles.

[bhazard]

Nice, manual wagons seem hard to find around here.

[MetroMPG]

Congrats!

I'd yank the entire gubbins off the roof. Unless you're driving into a perfect head/tail or no-wind, the side rails are presenting more apparent frontal area than you think (to a cross-wind) and generating lots of drag.

If you're going with taller tires, I'd definitely consider lowering.

Mind sharing what's a price that you can't pass up? Just curious -- feel free to tell me to go away if it's none o' my business.

Hope you have fun with it!

[Xist]

Was it $1650? My Midi-chlorians indicate this would have been an unwalkawayable asking price.

[Daox]

Nice wheels. Already beating the EPA handsomely too I see.

[spacemanspif]

Originally Posted by Xist

Was it $1650? My Midi-chlorians indicate this would have been an unwalkawayable asking price.

Close but I paid less It was pretty funny, I saw it listed for $2,200 and figured I'd low-ball the guy and see what happend (Saturn running awesomely but I wanted a wagon for more room). Show up to look at it and it's got $1,850 on the window, haggle some and I give my offer and he says "no". I say " well you have my number, call me if you change your mind". 3 days later he calls and tells me to pick it up and I see it's got $1,650 on the windshield. Guessing I was the only one interested in it lol. He had made a comment about 5spds being hard to sell in the area so maybe it was just a right place, right time situation.

Originally Posted by bhazard

Nice, manual wagons seem hard to find around here.

Major reason why I wanted it. I was looking for a white, 1995 Saturn SW2 5spd for a long time and finally decided that I'd have to expand my search and a few weeks later, this car dropped in my lap

Even trying to drive like a "normal" person I beat the EPA rating but my commute is almost all highway it's easy to beat the combined rating. Wheels are getting plasti-dipped this weekend because I hate cleaning spokes lol.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by spacemanspif

He had made a comment about 5spds being hard to sell

Yet another reason to drive manual! It's the gift that keeps on giving.

I saw a 2011 Camry manual (4 cylinder!) advertised recently and thought, "oh man, he's going to have a hard time selling that!"

[spacemanspif]

Time for an update after a productive weekend. As stated, the wheels got the black treatment because I don't clean my car much and don't want to look at brake dust covered silver wheels. And since I don't like chrome too much, I also did the grill with a stealth block from the back side. Blockage is done by using some coroplast that I caulked around the perimeter for adhesion. Time will tell how long it holds up so it may show up on a future update. For some reason the car had 2 different sized lug nuts on the front and rear wheels. No idea why this is but I went and bought 16 matching nuts and installed them. They are a little bigger than the factory ones but I think the chrome sticking out a little bit from the wheel looks good.



And the "stealth" block. Lower grill will be blocked some in the future but since this was off for plasti-dipping I thought that I should take advantage of the situation.

[MetroMPG]

I like the look.

Roof racks! :P

[dirtydave]

I didn't even know they made that car with a 5 speed. It looks good! and smashing the EPA without even trying? Good job bro!