2000 Ford Focus LX review from North America

Several things have gone wrong with the car.

- I have had 3 recalls on the car.

- The car makes a noise in the transmission at low rpm's; sort of a grinding noise.

-If I go over a puddle a bit too fast water gets in the car and wets the carpet.

- The gas mileage could be better. For a small engine with not too much pep, I seem to waste a lot of gas.

- The air conditioning smells bad.

- The interior dash shakes at high speeds.

- The clutch slips and burns if I try to take off fast.

-T he most agravating issue of all is this one. After only having the car for a year and 27,000 miles on it, my CV-joints are going bad. I noticed the noise the other day in a parking garage. I had never noticed it before, but the echo of the parking garage's concrete walls allowed me to hear the very disturbing noise. I just can't wait to go back to the dealer and have to hassle with them and wait a week to get it fixed. To top it all off, will also have to ride around in a rental until my car gets fixed. I should have gone with something better.

The car in general is bad. Bad quality, bad company and bad reliability. I try to find the good qualities of the car; and there are some, but all the good qualities seem to be overwhelmed by and overshadowed by all the faults and disappointments.

The car responds nicely considering the low output of the engine. It is comfortable and spacious. The engine seems to be reliable; about the only thing in the car than can be considered so.

I really thought that this would be a change for Ford and their long line of unreliable cars. I seem to be wrong. Just like its ancestors' history, very unreliable.