Thanks for the advice. Something just occurred to me, I have not driven a stick in a long time and I'm abit rusty so I decided to look for a used Fox or 94 to 99 Mustang GT with a stick. I don't want to screw up a new transmission, I want to practice first on a older stang. Also since the news of the Alaskan Pipeline being down for repair I decided to keep the Focus for about another year.
Thanks for the advice. Something just occurred to me, I have not driven a stick in a long time and I'm abit rusty so I decided to look for a used Fox or 94 to 99 Mustang GT with a stick. I don't want to screw up a new transmission, I want to practice first on a older stang.
I bought my stick GT about 12 days ago, and I hadn't driven a stick since 2002. Once you find out how the clutch engages on a new car, the rest comes back quickly: it only took me less than two minutes in the GT to get used to a stick again.
Try not to trade-in your Focus unless they are giving a good deal. Do some research and see what others are selling for on cars.com. In my case, I sold my '99 Ford Explorer for $5600, dealer wanted to give me a laughable 2800 (July 2005). It had 105,000 miles, but looked real good.
If you squeeze an extra grand or two out of your current car, maybe you can at least get a used 2005 GT.