It’s safe to say that today’s Nice Price or No Dice Focus brings the goods when it comes to driving fun. Let’s see if this oft-forgotten hot hatch is priced to make good on those performance promises.
It’s been a bad week to be an independent import with aspirations of grandeur. On Tuesday, we had the weird-ass SsangYong Actyon, which bottomed out in our voting. Then, just yesterday, we saw a 1994 UK-market VW Corrado VR6 go down in flames similarly. As intriguing as that privately imported sports coupe may be, its RHD layout and $27,000 asking price couldn’t muster much excitement for it having made the trip here. The result was a 96 percent No Dice loss, the second big denouncement in a row.
Today, let’s look at a car that has every right to be here and comes at a far lower price than anything else so far this week.
Going against what’s considered to be common wisdom, this 2002 Ford Focus SVT is the result of not leaving well enough alone. When Ford introduced the Focus to replace the long-running Escort for the 1998 model year, the company stepped up its small car game. In standard form, the new model offered handling that was a cut above both the outgoing Escort and most of its rivals. Fast-forward to 2002, and things got even better with the introduction of the Focus SVT, a model the company’s performance team massaged to do everything the standard Focus did, only way better.
That starts with a heavily modified version of the 2.0-liter Zetec DOHC four under the hood. Ford leveraged Cosworth to improve the engine’s performance and reliability. The resulting motor is both stronger and better breathing than its lesser relations, giving it 170 naturally-aspirated horsepower and 145 lb-ft of torque, the latter coming on strong at just 2200 rpm.
Ford mated that hot mill with a dual-mass flywheel feeding a Getrag-designed six-speed manual gearbox. A recalibrated and lowered suspension puts the added ponies to good use, and larger disc brakes all around mean the car stops as well as it goes. Offered for just three years (2002-2004), only around 14,000 SVT Foci in total left the factory.
This 2002 SVT has just 60,040 miles under its belt and is claimed to be the 60th of the 4,788 to come out of Ford’s Hermosillo factory that model year. Heck, it even has a certificate from the SVT team to back up that claim.
Painted in CD Silver over an interior upholstered in black leather with “Infra-Red” cloth inserts, the car certainly does give off the vibe of its time. Helping that aura is the fact that it looks to be completely stock, right down to its 17-inch factory alloys. Those look to be in excellent shape, as does the bodywork and paint. If there’s any level of criticism to be found on the car, it’s that the headlamp lenses appear to be clouding a bit. That, however, is just a minor nit.
It’s just as nice in the cabin, where the seller boasts the car has never seen the likes of the Marlboro Man and that the A/C works like a charm. The seats appear too lightly bolstered for the car’s intended purpose, but the cloth on the main surface should help hold passengers in place when things get curvy.
This is a one-owner car, and while it wears new rubber, the miles are low enough that probably not much else, other than fluids, has been replaced. It offers a clean title and an accident-free history. The asking price is $7,900.
Now, it’s a fact that any number of more modern cars in base form will best the SVT in most categories. That’s just the nature of today’s turbocharged market. Still, there’s a certain charm in an old-school hot hatch, and I think most of us are here for that.
What’s your take on this fast Focus and that $7,900 asking? Does that seem like a screamin’ deal on a future near-classic? Or does that price make it all a blur?
You decide!
Phoenix, Arizona, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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