Well, I went to a different Ford dealer at the weekend, and after a test drive, I put down a deposit on a low mileage 02-reg Silver Ford Focus Zetec. I pick the car up on Wednesday or Thursday.

Now I've just got to shop around for insurance.

I've got my Empeg in a 2000 Focus. if the UK version of the Focus is like the US version, the adapter kit was inexpensive, about ~20 USD.

Yeah, it's about £15 for the kit in the UK.

I have no idea how different the UK version is different from the US version, but I have over 75,000 miles on mine at the moment without a problem.

Probably not much given the trend today to reuse designs as much as possible. For example, IIRC, the Audi A3, Audi TT, Golf and Beetle all share the same floor pan.

I have the 2.0L four valve gasoline engine and it's great for a back-and-forth/work-car.

I opted for the 1.6L 16v petrol engine. It gets better mpg than the 1.8 or 2.0, and insurance should be cheaper.

I was pleasantly surprised at the performance when I took it on the test drive. I only had it up to 60mph, but I think it'll be fine for motorway driving -- it felt like it had plenty left. This with driver and 2 passengers in it.

Obviously, I've been driving a 9-year old 2.0L diesel, with no turbo, so I'm easily pleased.

I suspect that your back-and-forth/work-car patterns will be quite similar to my jaunts up and down the motorway -- the UK's only a small country after all .