Mechanic opens up on 'most reliable car in the world' and it's 20 years old
A top motor mechanic has revealed one particular model of car that is both inexpensive and the 'top for reliability'.
Experienced car technician Paul Lucas purchased a second-hand Mk1 Ford Focus over a decade ago for just £500, and insists it's the most dependable vehicle available on the used car market. The pro argued the model is a sound choice because of a combination of simplicity, reliability and the time it was built.
"For me, a 20-year-old 1.6 litre Mk1 Ford Focus is top for reliability," he told the Daily Mail. "It was designed before all the unnecessary bells and whistles came in and even lets you start the car with a real key rather than press a button."
Launched in the late 1990s, The Mk1 Ford Focus was praised for its solid build quality and enjoyable driving dynamics. Replacing the iconic and best-selling Ford Escort, the Focus quickly gained popularity due to its balance of comfort, handling and practicality. Its petrol engines, especially the 1.6-litre variants, are known for their durability when properly maintained.
Meanwhile, experts have also offered advice on the best times to buy and sell used cars. A spokesperson for the used car buying service BigWantsYourCar.com told the Express that the optimal time to sell a used car may have already passed for this year.
They said: "April is the sweet spot for selling a used car. Dealers need stock to replenish their forecourts after the surge in new car sales in March, and many buyers are looking for a more affordable alternative to a brand-new model."
Want big news with big heart? Get the top headlines sent straight to your inbox with our Daily Newsletter
With the cost of living crisis still affecting a great many British households, increasing numbers of people are turning to the used car market for their next purchase. While some buyers have chosen to go for second-hand electric cars, many remain cautious about making the switchover.
Jeff Wong, a used car controller at Porsche Centre Bristol, also explained to the Express that potential buyers are still concerned about battery health. He warned: "People are now starting to ask the question. But now we have devices in all our Porsche centres where we can actually test the battery life of an electric vehicle.
"Our cars are around the five-year mark, 2020 is when they were first launched, so they are about five years old. We are getting more and more people asking the question, and we can quite simply plug in the batteries and tell the customers exactly what kind of life is left on these cars. Hopefully, with that we can give them good news and give them more confidence in buying these cars."
The Mk1 Ford Focus remains a highly recommended used car for those seeking reliability and value. As experienced mechanic Paul puts it: "I bought mine 15 years ago for £500 and have no regrets."
In 2025, Ford announced that the Focus will no longer be built as the manufacturer pivots towards crossover vehicles and electrification. But as a 20-year-old one is so cheap and reliable, who needs a new one?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
How Rachel Reeves will RUIN British horse racing for millions of fans in her desperation to increase taxes
The Racing Tax will put the sport's British success story in grave danger NICK TIMOTHY How Rachel Reeves will RUIN British horse racing for millions of fans in her desperation to increase taxes Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) AFTER increasing spending by EIGHT times more than she promised, Rachel Reeves has created a huge, £51billion black hole in the public finances – and she's going to make YOU pay the price for her failure. In the Budget this year, we are going to see record tax rises — and among the ideas in the Treasury is a new Racing Tax. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Horseracing supports rural communities and towns all over Britain Credit: Alamy 3 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has created a huge, £51billion black hole in the public finances Credit: Reuters 3 A bookmaker pictured at Royal Ascot in 2022 Credit: Getty Horseracing is the second-largest spectator sport, with five million people watching every year across 59 courses. It generates £4.1billion for the economy and backs 85,000 jobs. We have the best horses, the best trainers and four of the top ten races in the world. It supports rural communities and towns all over Britain, including West Suffolk, home to the Newmarket racecourses, which I'm proud to represent in Parliament. But the Racing Tax will put this British success story in grave danger. Right now, bookies pay a 15 per cent tax rate on racing, but Labour's plan to combine all online gambling taxes into a single rate could increase it to 21 per cent. 'Mindless free-for-all' Because racing is also subject to the Betting Levy, ministers would put racing at a competitive disadvantage against the most addictive kinds of online gaming. It could mean £330million of lost revenue for racing in just the first five years, and put 2,752 jobs at risk in the first year. This would lead to higher prices and less racing because of lost income. This proves Labour doesn't understand racing at all. Punters who follow the horses, on the whole, tend to be more selective and use their knowledge, judgment and skills when placing their bets at the bookies, on the course or online. British Horse Racing to Strike for the First Time: Industry Unites Against Betting Tax Hike Plus there are only so many races that you can put money on. But online gambling is a mindless free-for-all and incredibly addictive. There is simply no reason why horseracing should be treated in the same way. Yet, in the desperation to increase taxes, racing — and millions of racing fans — will suffer. Some assume racing has the cash to spare, but this is not true at all. While the industry is very valuable to the economy, its profit margins are tight for breeders and trainers. They invest a lot, but don't always see a return. We are already at risk of falling behind global competitors — such as France — because we are breeding fewer thoroughbred horses. But our racing industry isn't taking this lying down. On September 10, the day before the St Leger festival at Doncaster, no races will take place in Britain. Everyone in the industry knows the financing of horseracing needs reform. Nick Timothy The four race meetings at Lingfield Park, Carlisle, Uttoxeter and Kempton Park will be cancelled. The industry is taking a financial hit to prove its point. Usually, races are only cancelled because of awful weather, equine virus outbreaks or national crises. But the whole industry, from owners to trainers to jockeys, is standing together to protest against Labour's plans. It will be the first time in the sport's modern history that the industry will voluntarily refuse to hold races. Together, they will head to Westminster and make their voices heard. Everyone in the industry knows the financing of horseracing needs reform. Australia and France give horseracing a lot more government support through direct funding or betting taxes than us. Private investors have deeper pockets in the USA and Japan. Prize money is more modest in Britain — which means races in places like the Middle East might become more appealing to owners and trainers than races at home. But the industry keeps getting punished. No progress has been made on reforming the Horserace Betting Levy, which provides a third of the industry's income. 'Nobody has any fun' Affordability checks have been introduced for anyone betting more than £150 on racing within 30 days, driving customers away and costing £3billion in lost turnover in just two years. Labour ministers keep offering us warm words, but fail to deliver. The Racing Tax is the last straw. Opposing Labour's tax plans does not mean we don't want change. The Horserace Betting Levy can be improved by applying it to bookies' total turnover rather than just their profits. It could cover bets placed on overseas races so long as the bookies are based in Britain. The rate could be raised above ten per cent. This would be done to the benefit of the industry and punters alike. There is also more the sport can do to modernise and increase revenue. But the Racing Tax is classic Labour — faceless bureaucrats interfering with people's lives, undermining a successful industry and making sure nobody has any fun. They just don't understand how the economy works, which is why they are killing it with more tax and regulation. We should all stand with horseracing to protect this vital but endangered industry.
Spectator
an hour ago
- Spectator
Does no one care about Britain's soaring gilts?
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves is threatening a round of tax rises. RMT is on strike over the bank holiday. And something or other is going on with Masterchef. As the summer unfolds, British domestic politics is worrying about all its familiar issues. In the background, however, something far more serious is happening. The country is going quietly broke, and hardly anyone cares. On the bond markets, the yield on the UK's 30-year gilt rose yesterday to 5.6 per cent, overtaking the equivalent US yield for the first time in a generation, and approaching its highest level since 1998. The 30-year yield is significant, because it represents investors' views of the long-term solvency of the British state. It is a judgement on whether the money you lend to the government now will be returned in 2055 and whether the interest will be paid in the meantime. And while the answer to that is still 'yes', it is a far less definite 'yes' than it has been at any time over the course of this century. It is fast getting close to the level where it is more like a 'well, maybe'. It is not just 30-year debt. The yield on benchmark 10-year gilts has been soaring as well, rising to 4.7 per cent. It is above the level that provoked the meltdown in the wake of Liz Truss's mini-budget back in 2023, when it spiked up to 4.3 per cent, a level that, at least according to every Labour front-bencher, 'crashed the economy'. That matters, for two reasons. First, we are already spending vast amounts of money servicing our debt. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, over the course of this financial year, the UK will spend £111 billion on debt servicing alone, or 8.3 per cent of total public spending. As the debt becomes more expensive, and as it has to be refinanced, that figure will only grow and grow. Very soon the Chancellor will be raising our taxes not to pay for more hospitals, or better schools, but simply to pay the interest on our outstanding debt. The rising yield also reflects a consensus view that the British government has lost control of its finances, and once the markets have formed that opinion it will be very hard to get investors to change their minds. The harsh reality is this. If the 30-year yield goes above 6 per cent, Britain is almost certainly broke. We have not quite got there yet, but we are getting dangerously close. When it happens, no one can say they weren't warned.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
How employees are using AI to fudge receipts for business expenses - and how to spot them
AI is being used by office fraudsters to fiddle their expenses, a cybersecurity expert has warned. Many places of work will ask their employees to upload a photo of a receipt they need reimbursing for before their expense is approved. Scammers don't need sophisticated skills in technology or Photoshop anymore, because now it is as easy as asking a chatbot to create a receipt for a business transaction that never happened. Even with minor errors that AI models can sometimes make, these are likely to be missed by the managers approving claims as they often have so many to sift through. Jake Moore, the Global Cybersecurity Advisor for ESET, said the scam is scarily realistic and can fly past under the nose of financial teams. He told the Daily Mail: 'AI has enabled crime to be sped up and become accessible to many more people. 'Tools like Photoshop can be difficult and take a long time to learn. Now with AI, just by speaking in a natural language to it and giving it a prompt you can get what you want. 'If you ask it to make you one from scratch it can look fake, but if you start the prompt with a real receipt, it is impressively quick. It's shocking how it looks extremely realistic.' The cyber expert put a chatbot to the test and made a £38.20 Starbucks receipt that could trick almost anyone. And it can be done all in a matter of seconds. Mr Moore added: 'AI images can sometimes look generated, but in a situation where you're someone in a financial team going through these quickly and at masse, it could get through. 'It's a potential area that financial teams aren't thinking about and can go under the radar quite easily. 'People have said "why would you risk getting caught for an extra £35", but we are in a cost-of-living crisis, and this could be of interest to someone who wants to try and claim a bit of extra money. 'We have a shop theft issue in this country where we see people brazenly walking out with bags of shopping because there is something like a threshold of £200 where police won't get involved,' and little thefts are a small win for some people, he said. Mr Moore said the ease and sophistication of this kind of fraud can be difficult to mitigate against, 'especially when they look so authentic'. He advised businesses to start handing out company credit cards instead as he urged to increase awareness around manipulating AI for financial gain. 'If they're using their own card to claim reimbursements, it's likely to be a small amount as you will usually need a company card to make a big purchase, which can also be a good way to be able to monitor payments and mitigate against it. 'Financial teams should look out for blurry text, misaligned formatting and the VAT number. 'If it's a fake, when cross-checked [using a VAT number service] the shop at the top at the receipt won't be correct. 'We all need to raise our awareness.' It comes as experts have warned that online fraudsters could use AI to launch a wave of convincing scams. Cybersecurity company Norton warned that criminals are turning to AI tools such as ChatGPT to generate extremely convincing phishing emails and create 'lures' to rob victims. Chatbots also completely remove the language barrier for cybercriminal gangs around the world, warns Julia O'Toole, CEO of MyCena Security Solutions. She said: 'Phishing has come on significantly since email scams first hit inboxes, but a lack of proficiency in language and culture has still been a major barrier for scammers, who have struggled to make their emails realistic.' People often spot scam emails and texts because they are badly written but some chatbots can easily create messages that convincingly impersonate businesses and official bodies. Consumer group Which? previously asked ChatGPT to create an email telling the recipient someone had logged into their PayPal account. In seconds, it produced a professionally written email with the heading 'Important Security Notice – Unusual Activity Detected on Your PayPal Account'. It included steps on how to secure the account and links to reset a password and contact customer support.
