Faults:

When I turn on the air conditioner, water comes from the vents.

The trunk does not open from the inside, I need to use the remote control for it.

The reverse in the car does not work the way it should.

The car is too light to be driving in the rain, snow, etc.

Door sticks consistently.

Too many recalls already, etc... wheel bearings, seat belt won't release.

Water is getting into the lights making it hard to see at night.

The ignition sticks when you take the key out.

General Comments:

The car itself is great. I love it, but I could do without the problems...

The maintenance that is required is crazy.

There is no way a new car should have had as many recalls as this one did.

They should have recalled the entire car and given the customer the option of keeping the car or getting something else.

Faults:

Front pads wore through causing the front discs to be wrecked, only 500 miles after a service.

Clipping a kerb resulted in a new steering rack.

Hose blew on the clutch, causing a near collision.

General Comments:

Handling is poor in the wet.

Not enough acceleration for the money.

Nice top speed after 30,000 miles, 130+ mph now.

Traction control doesn't like my style of overtaking, dropping a gear results in no power moments.

Faults:

When I bought this car I thought it was pretty good for the bucks.

Too bad, I had to change the CD player 3 times, front left tire 3 times, and brakes 2 times.

Oh, and did I mention the seatbelt 5 times??!!

This car is pretty sporty and has good acceleration even on the base model, but it's very undependable. It breaks down every couple of weeks thanks to the cheap Ford parts. The dealer offered no help whatsoever, so I called the Ford helpline and now Ford is sueing them for making me pay for stuff covered by the warranty.

Same with my dad's Lincoln LS, cheap mechanical parts inside the car and out, sure it looks great for the first 6 months, then you better get your wallets ready. If you're looking for dependability, try Honda or Acura. I bought the Acura 1.7EL and I love it, most importantly it doesn't breakdown.

General Comments:

- Good acceleration, but bad traction because of the tires.

- Very cheap and bad quality standard equipment and mechanical parts.

Faults:

The only thing that went wrong is the trunk closing mechanism didn't retract fully preventing me from closing the trunk easily. A good slam would close it. The dealer replaced the defective part under warranty and now it works great! I leased the car with 19,000km on it initially and it is the best car I have ever owned :)

General Comments:

Some owner has posted a review on here complaining of a small boot (trunk) space. The Focus has a very decent trunk size for a compact car and what about the fold-down rear seats, just pop them down and you have a huge trunk!! Ever seen the trunk size of a Honda Civic or Toyota Echo, now those are tiny trunks!!!

The Focus won many Car of the Year awards because Ford finally got it right, great handling, huge interior room for a compact, great drivetrain and the best value in a compact car out there. Sure you can get a little sharper handling or more power from a Japanese manufacturer, but you will pay at least $3000 US more for that if not more, and is it necessary? Not in my opinion.

The Focus just plain works in every aspect for me, day in and day out. I never considered a Ford product before, the Contour was a joke, but I am totally pleased with my Focus and look forward to driving it everyday. There is nothing out there even close in its price range that can compete in terms of styling, handling, cabin size, comfort. The Toyota Echo looks like it was squashed between 2 trucks, too narrow and ugly. The Honda Civic is a fine product, but check out that price tag!! No thanks!! The rest of the compacts are either too expensive or lack styling, performance, or both... (GM products... Cavalier, ugh!!)