LR vs. LS - much difference?

[thekovac]

Gday all!

Recently I've been looking into getting a little 4 banger thats got a bit of space inside to house my bike, as well as having a bit of guts to get around town with.

I like the idea of getting a Focus, they've got such a good rep. in Europe as well as having great handling.

Now, my budget sits around the 8-10k mark, and I won't be buying for a good 3-4 months but I am somewhat presuming and estimating the costs of a decent focus by that time, and planning ahead.

So my question is: Is thier much difference between a LR or LS focus? Is it the difference enough that it would warrant getting a base model LS over a higher end model LR (i.e. Zetec) ?

I have read that the LR's are fairly weak, so I would probably only go for a 5 Door Zetec manual if I went down the LR path. How slow is slow? I'm not trying to impersonate Micheal Schumacher on the roads, but I would like something that has a little bit of guts for some highway overtaking and when I might a few passengers or a bit of load in the boot. Would the standard 1.8 or 2.0 be able to take it?

For my budget I would probably stuggle to get a decent condition LS, I might need to look into the auctions or the lower end of the scale. Being chain driven I figure having a bit more k's in the car would not be a too big of a problem as servicing costs should be quite reasonable. What should I look out for in the higher k models?

So, there's my essay.....thanks for reading and look forward to the responses!

Cheers - thekovac