Two years ago I decided to buy a brand new car, and after much research I decided upon the Ford Focus 1.6 (old style now). Everything I had read pointed towards a really good choice. So I went into my local Ford dealer and a week later I had my nice new car.
First thoughts were a good looking car, well built, fantastically smooth to drive, held the roads amazingly well. All of the equipment worked wonderfully well and I absolutley loved my new car. Then the problems began....
After two weeks the Airbag Modulator failed, so I went back to the dealer, and they replaced the faulty part within a few days. They wouldn't let me have a courtesy cat so was left hanging around the dealers for a few hours. All work was under warranty so no cost to me.
Three weeks after the Modulator fault I was washing the car and noticed tiny rust spots all over the bodywork. So back to the dealer I went, this time a courtesy car was available - of which I had to pay the insurance for on my own policy (I was 23 at the time and they gave me the most expensive and powerful Fiesta they had, so the premium was about £35 for the day...). The rust problem was something to do with the top layer not having been applied properly so it was scrubbed down and reapplied. I got the car back later that day.
Over the next few months there were ignition problems, i.e the engine wouldn't fire up when cold. It would often take at least three attempts to start successfully. When turning hard left (when parking) I could hear a knocking sound coming from the front wheels.
The rust problem came back again and the CD player packed up.
I then moved house following a new job and whilst driving through the city I could smell the clutch burning and had a few incidents when the clutch slipped. So I took it to the new local Ford dealer for a service and to check the faults I have already described. They found nothing wrong and said I had to take it back to the original dealer for the bodywork problems, as it was their work originally.
I went back to where I used to live, and on driving up a long hill the clutch burned out. So the car was towed to the original dealer. They tried to tell me that the clutch was not covered under warranty (the car had 14k on the clock and was 6 months old), and that it was up to the mechanic to decide if I had been driving the car wrongly, and that his decision would be the deciding factor. I paid nothing. On picking up the car, I enquired about the problems, and that I had been elsewhere. The person in charge of servicing and repairs came charging out to me, ranting "we don't pass judgement on other dealers the same as we wouldn't like them to pass it on us!" and stomped off leaving me in the middle of the workshop. I got the car home and I could still smell the clutch burning. I took it back, and the mechanic casually said "it probably hasn't been cleaned out properly", and I accompanied him for a test drive. He hammered it up to about 80mph on a narrow A-road and commented that there was nothing wrong.
One week after this, the gear linkage from the stick to the box sheared. I called the dealer again and they couldn't have cared less. I got rid of the car very soon afterwards.
I hope that this is a one off, as the car really was very nice to drive.
Following this experience I would NEVER buy a Ford again.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
great first review, well done, we all make the odd spelling mistake, but i had to chuckle at the courtesy CAT ! lol, i wish my typo's were like that instead of the gobbldegook it normally produces, have fun on ciao, x
darkangelwing 27.03.2007 16:19
I'm a big fan of Ford, just engine wise they are the most powerful generally, will not be getting a focus though.
thebigc1690 27.03.2007 15:44
F.O.R.D -- fix or replace daily!! as i am a mechanic i know exactly what your talking about!!
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Advantages: heated windscreen, smooth ride, the fact that its not a clio(always good i find) Disadvantages: its not as responsive as i thought it would be, got a big behind and not in a good way
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