I'm after a cheap second car for my partner to use as a runabout. She hasn't had any on road practice since getting a licence, so prefer her to learn in something where the dings won't matter.

I believe these early Fords had gearbox issues, but wouldn't this have be rectified in a 10 year old car?

If you want reliability go Toyota not Ford.

The fiesta, apart form the gearbox issue, where the solution is to have the gearbox replaced every 100,000km or so... very economical out of warranty

recently due to age they seem to have developed spontaneous combustion issue from the radiator fan

 

Focus's gearbox is quite fixable now compared to the fiesta's but there aren't that many in the market

 

but unless you know your way around cars and are particular fond of Ford, why bother where similar vintage Toyotas are everywhere and any somchais knows how to fix

The Mk 2.5 Focus (pre 2011) has the normal 4 speed auto box and is one of the best driving cars ever made and can be found for about 120k.

25 minutes ago, stubuzz said:

The Mk 2.5 Focus (pre 2011) has the normal 4 speed auto box and is one of the best driving cars ever made and can be found for about 120k.

 

For around 150-200K, The Powershift in the Diesel version around 2010s isn't plagued with the same problems as those in Petrol too, decent power and economical considering the price of Diesel here

 

earlier pre-facelift the diesel came with manual but rare as a hen's teeth