Originally Posted by kender
first you have to start with something good, which the focus was far from, it was just about the biggest piece of shit ford made. it is second in shitty only to the newer deisels.
Right. With the exception of the recall-happy late 1999 thru 2000 models, the Focus was a damn solid reliable car. Recalls are to be expected on a 1st model year. For example, the new Civic made by God's gift to the automotive industry had a massive recall within months of hitting the showroom floor.
Despite a couple stupid quirks with my SVT's tuning, it is a joy to drive and hasn't let me down. The regular ZX3 is a fairly capable car right out of the box. SVT capitalized on those capabilities and built a fantastic little car. My only complaint is it could use a bit more power.
FYI, only the SVT name is dead. They are now operating under the name "Ford Performance Group" (of course with major cutbacks in staffing). There is much discussion on this topic in Ford Tech and other Ford sites (some of which are officially sponsored by Ford SVT).