Economical Fast Diesel
Nothing.
A Truly Amazingly Reliable car, that is very Economical and has a good turn of speed. Handling is really good and comfort excellent. Optional Air Conditioning pack well worth the money.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 23rd June, 2004
A value bargain at $1,600.00
I only have four negative things with my 2000 Focus SE wagon.
1. AC is a gas and power hog for the 2.0 Zetec, but living in Texas AC is a must.
2. The transmission does have a tendency to slip at low speed when changing when over drive is on. I found that if I turn off the over drive I do not have this problem, which works well for me since 90% of my driving is in town at 35-40 mph. In addition this gives the transmission more torque, therefore better acceleration.
3. There is a rattle in the rear of the car which I have determined to be the upper control arm bushing, which means that you have to replace the entire control arm (dealer item only). I already replaced the rear shocks, I was able to locate on the Internet.. That brings me to item 4.
4. Lack of parts availability other than from the dealer.
My brother bought this car new for his wife and children. He sold it to me this year with 75,000 miles on it. He did have about 12 recalls done, but the brakes lasted to 69,000 miles at which time the rotors were replaced also.
I really enjoy the room in side and the fact that you sit higher up, my last car was a 1990 Toyota Corolla and was low to the ground, which is not good at when it rains a lot and floods.
I had to buy special racks in addition to the factory rack for me to be able to take my canoe on camping trips.
Even though the AC causes more gas consumption, it gets really cold!
Kudos to the rest of you, as for being treated poorly by the Ford dealer or service department, It appears they just want to sell the cars and not repair them. They refused to acknowledge the rattle, brushed it off by saying they could not find it!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 12th June, 2004
VERY disappointing in the long run.. terrible reliability
There have been 10-15 recalls in 4+ years.
A month after I bought the car, a small crack started in my windshield began. Ford replaced the windshield under warranty.
Like other reviewers, I had water leakage from the A/C. When Ford fixed the problem (on the third try, but thankfully under my extended warranty), they broke and replaced the windshield (so I'm on windshield #3).
I, too, had problems with the ignition switch sticking when I removed the key. It got so bad that I tried to start my car and the key wouldn't go all the way in! I actually called the police because I was worried someone had tried to steal my car.
I bumped the ultra-wide side mirror on a concrete post at a drive-through window. That loosened it so that I had to have it replaced. Naturally, when they replaced it, they screwed up my window so that it would only go half-way down. They denied it was their fault, but my warranty covered the window problem.
EVERY spring, the air conditioning doesn't blow cold. Having been to FOUR different dealers, the most recent replaced the evaporator (the first one asked me if I knew how to use Max A/C...I can't describe how angry I was at that comment). Naturally, in so doing, they have managed to completely screw up my engine, because they had to seemingly take the car apart to fix it. When I got it back, the dial to change from vent to defrost or floor heat didn't work. They finally fixed that, and the repair is so amateur-hour-like, it's insulting. It still barely works correctly. The biggest problem is the knocking my engine does. I honestly can't believe this car sounds and feels SO BAD at 59,000 miles.
I've replaced the tires as well, and have had similar problems as others with brake dust and what not.
This car was so promising when I got it. Rode great, was very comfortable (I'm a big guy, so the head and leg room was great), had plenty of pep in the engine (I have the bigger/faster of the two options, as I recall). I loved it. Then the problems started. I have had more work done to this car than I expected, and cannot believe I'm seriously thinking about buying a new car and salvaging what I can out of this pile of crap. Very disappointed in the end run with the Focus.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 4th June, 2004
5th Jun 2004, 07:04
I used to own as Contour (which is about the same size as the Focus, they share similar engines), and I can relate to the recalls (I had 18), and the ignition key sticking. This was very annoying. I had a strip down, manual version. I'm glad I bought that version when I found out what kind of problems people were having on the automatic versions. Engine wise, not that many problems. The biggest was the recall on the water pump. On the way to work one morning and it began to overheat. My plans were to take it to a dealership later that day to have the recall done. I got halfway to the dealership (I had a friend follow me in case something went wrong), and the water pump blew up in the middle of a busy intersection, blowing parts all over the road. Never again will I own another Ford. They're rolling coffins.