Okay, i love cars and i hav been looking for the past 8 months for a car that i can have a lot of fun with. I love muscle cars but since they are really expensive to insure and maintain, i'm looking at the svt focus. Is it a good pick? The first thing i want to do performance wise is put an exhaust on. What is a really good choice? I want a deep sound that dosent AT ALL sound like a ricer. I hate ricers, and they are a waste of my time. Please let me know what things i can do with this car when i get it.

SVT focus is a great perfomance bargain. espeically if you do not care for the options such as HID headlamps and recaro seats, you can get one for a very nice price.

They are sometimes iffy about maintenance.. some are problem free, but some have constant bugs - seem to be artefact of them being almost custom built.

Overall, you cannot go wrong with an SVT.. they might be a little under powered on straight line if yo uare coming from muscle, but they make up for it by excellend handling. ... if you want more power going straight, I would recommend SVT Contour.

Igor

I think the SVT isn't near as quick for what it has for horsepower, I saw another SVT today that I test drove and confirmed what I felt the other 2 times I've driven one. Maybe it's just the elevation that kills them here. Seemed nice otherwise suspension wise.

Get a 3rd gen rx-7. They are twin turbo. Suppose to be 255 hp stock but you probably wont see that in a 12 year old car. Thats what I would do.

If you are into rampant acceleration, you would probably be best suited to an SRT-4 or Mazdaspeed 3. The SVT's signature is it's fantastic handling ability. I regularly beat cars with FAR more horsepower at the Autocross, and all I have done is tires.

Also, if you would want an effective 1st mod, that should be a Tune instead of an exhaust. There really aren't many gains to be made there unless you get the high-flow Cat as well.

i heard you fail emissions if you replace your cat on the focus

yep...but the exhaust on the focus is awesome from the factory....like carrera said,.a tune would be your best first mod. and if you dont like a ricey sound..then you wont like the sound of a svt with a high flow cat **kinda ricey[:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)]

would probably sound better if the svt was a 2.3 not a 2.0...not to mention there would be more hp if it was ...lol why dont they just use the 2.3