2001 Ford Focus ZX3 from North America

Summary:

Very reliable and fun car to drive

Faults:

There is a squeak when the brakes are released. When brakes definitely needed replacing, I got new ones, but the squeak is still there.

Minor wear in the driver's seat.

General Comments:

Very fun to drive! Never any mechanical problems in the 35k miles I've put on it other than brakes needing replaced.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 1st November, 2006

1st Nov 2006, 22:26

The squeak you're referring to, is the shoes against the backing plate of the rear brakes. A simple few dabs of brake caliper grease on the contact points of the rear shoes will easily cure your problem.

Take care!

2nd Nov 2006, 12:16

I've always thought that the ZX3 looked like a new Ford Aspire that car from the 90's.

22nd Dec 2006, 21:49

Unfortunately, my experience with the Ford Focus ZX3 2001 model has not been good. I have nearly 70,000 miles on it, and the rental agencies in the area know me by name when I walk in the door (this is not an exaggeration). The transmission needed some minor repair early on, but it wasn't too bad for the first 1-2 years. Ever since then, it's been in the shop to have things like the seat cushion replaced to major transmission work (it has to go back for the transmission again- it is still under warranty, fortunately). The struts were replaced a while ago, and it needs to go back for the this in the near future (after the transmission work gets completed). The brakes have to get replaced every 12,000 miles, and the braking system recently had to be replaced. The alternator went on me once- all the power started going, and luckily I made it into the dealership. It took 2-3 months to figure out why the check engine light was on (along with a lot of money).

That's a VERY BRIEF synopsis of my problems. Ford can scratch me off their customer list after I get my next car.

2001 Ford Focus from North America

Summary:

Lemon

Faults:

Engine is gone (not working), CD player no longer works, Dome lights, back wiper are not working, Not able to open driver's side door from the inside, (very dangerous and the dealer would not cover this)

General Comments:

Not impressed.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 11th October, 2006

11th Oct 2006, 12:59

Well since it doesn't run, there is no reason to open the driver's door from the inside, is there?

11th Oct 2006, 14:11

Horrible review, but hey, you got 100,000 miles out of her.

2001 Ford Focus SE Sport - Street Edition 2.0 liter Zetec from North America

Summary:

Best little sports sedan - Just beware of aftermarket lights on a used one

Faults:

Well I bought this 2001 Focus used when my previous Focus lease was over in Nov. 2003. It came with an after market Hella headlight kit, Xenon Body Kit, a lowering, and several other modifacations all done by Ford when the car was sold new, to celebrate its last 50 of these special editions. it had just over 57,000kms on it and came with a 150,000kms warranty on it.

December 2003: DP-FE sensor went leaving me with a check engine light on all during the weekend until I could get the car back to the dealership where I bought the car from on the following Monday. I knew what it went the moment the light came on as I had prevous happen in the previous Focus I had. They fixed the car under warranty and I was out of the dealership in less than an hour as I said check the DP-FE sensor first.

Not even 16 hours later the same light came back on, on my way to work the following day at 4 in the morning. I called the dealer later in the day told them the same thing happened, and I was told I could not bring the car in until next week as they were out of that part. I called another dealer and made an appointment, and had the car in the next day. I was told it was an error code for the MFA and the screw was not in place on the DP-FE. The MFA was reset at a cost of $157.38, and then I was lectured by the service manager that I should not have modified the car, and that this was not covered by my warranty.

Feb 2004- After 4 months of ownership the healight lighting system failed, leaving me with just the remaining parking lights and high beams and I had to use the fog lights to drive home from Toronto at 11pm in February. It was a Friday night so I knew I had to drive it like that until I could get it into a third dealership the following day.

That dealership told me that it indeed was a major issue and they would have to call Ford head office to check on a few things and to bring the car back, they had the car for over a week and told me it was not covered by warranty, and I had to pay the full amount to replace the full wiring harness and fuse box at a cost of more than $1000!!!

May, July, Sept, Nov 2004 - The car went back to the third dealership for the same headlight issue, but was easier to fix as they put in a by pass into the wiring harness when they fixed it in February, so it was a cost of $107.90 each time to replace a relay and fuse not covered by warranty each time.

January and February 2005 - Coldest 2 winter months in Ontario in a long time and the drivers side headlight glass cracked. Then one week later the high beam glass cracked followed by the same headlight issues the following week. I later found out it the light was not an OEM Ford part and was $1130 to replace the headlight units! I later removed the Hella headlights and replaced them with a complete stock headlight system from a junkyard.

No major issues since then other than the general maintenance.

General Comments:

If you are buying a Ford Focus, make sure you get the Car Fax report on it! If your car comes with after market lights, make sure they are checked out, and are OEM Ford Lights or approved by Ford, because when they fail they will cost you more than it would to replace them in the long run!

Otherwise the Focus is running car with little problems, so long as you keep up on the regular shceduled maintenance.

They are super cheap to run, and if you are thinking of getting after market parts for your Focus, get European parts as they are OEM Ford parts and covered under your warentee!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 15th September, 2006

18th Mar 2009, 09:14

When you start modifying a car you can expect more problems??

31st May 2009, 04:43

Actually the mods that came on the car when I got it were fine, it was just how the Hella headlights were wired up, it's what caused the issues with the car, once they were removed I never had an issue with the lights again.

As for modding the car, I have changed most if not all the front end parts on the car to the standard European Focus parts, I have over 235,000kms on the car now and it still runs great. The only issue I have with the car at the moment is minor rusting around the 3rd brake light in the trunk. But for a 8 year old car it's to be expected.