2009 Ford Focus 1.6L Petrol · SP09 ULJ

The 2009 Ford Focus currently holds a valid MOT certificate issued on 26 May 2026 at 129,965 miles with zero defects recorded. That clean pass came immediately after a failure the previous day on 25 May 2026, where the tester flagged a seriously leaking offside rear shock absorber, a major rear exhaust gas leak preventing emissions testing, and an obviously incorrect offside headlamp aim. The fact that all four items were rectified overnight and the car passed the following day suggests the owner addressed the failures promptly rather than deferring repairs. Looking further back, the maintenance trend is mixed. The 2025 test on 6 May failed on ten separate items including an insecure front exhaust, inoperative parking brake, worn offside front anti-roll bar ball joint and suspension arm bush, and headlamp aim faults, yet the car passed cleanly on 7 May 2025 at 127,709 miles. A pattern emerges of failures being fixed quickly before retest, but the underlying issues point to a vehicle that has required repeated attention to brakes, suspension, and exhaust components rather than consistent preventative upkeep. The mileage progression tells a coherent story. Between the May 2024 test at 121,850 miles and the May 2025 test at 127,709 miles, the car covered 5,859 miles in twelve months. From May 2025 to May 2026 it added just 2,256 miles, indicating significantly lighter use in the most recent year. The overall average of roughly 7,645 miles per year across seventeen years is typical for this age of vehicle, and the recorded mileages align plausibly with the test dates with no obvious gaps or anomalies suggesting clocking. The MOT record itself is complete and consistent, with no missing annual tests visible in the supplied data. A buyer inspecting this car in person should focus on the components that have repeatedly appeared on the failure list. The offside front suspension arm bush and anti-roll bar ball joint were flagged as excessively worn in May 2025, and the front suspension bushes were noted as worn again in May 2024, so any clunking from the front end or uneven tyre wear would warrant a thorough check of those bushes and joints. The rear shock absorber was seriously leaking in May 2026, and while it has since been repaired, the condition of the replacement unit and the matching nearside damper should be verified. The exhaust system has failed for major leaks in two consecutive years, so a visual inspection for corrosion, poor repairs, or aftermarket sections is advisable. The parking brake was inoperative on one side and below minimum efficiency in 2025, meaning the rear calipers, cables, and handbrake mechanism deserve close scrutiny. Finally, the front sub-frame was noted as corroded in 2024, and while it was not considered seriously weakened at that time, any MOT tester applying the same criteria today would examine it carefully, particularly around the rear mounting points and suspension pickup areas.