I'd be interested to see the number of recalls for the Focus broken down by year. IIRC, the first couple of years were recall city, but by 2003 clearly Ford had hammered out the gremlins. The nice thing is that even then, the Focus was tarred as problem car, so you can pick up nice late-model ones at quite reasonable prices.

"Think of it, if you like, as a librarian with a G-string under the tweed." Clarkson on the Mondeo.