2000 Ford Focus Zetec from UK and Ireland - Comments

The ventilation system doesn't work properly and damp gets in.

The factory fitted alarm started going off in the middle of the night for no reason. You can't turn it off. As a lease car I contacted a number of dealers, all offered a very poor response on the verge of rude.

After long high speed journeys, when you come to a stop the engine sometimes sticks at high revs.

The CD player won't work on cold mornings.

On the plus side the car handles well, you can throw it at corners and it'll spring round without much difficulty.

A very exciting and responsive drive.

It's very good on the motorway, low 'cabin' noise and good performance.

The 3 door looks good with the large alloys and good lines, but it's a bit gutless.

I have been very disappointed with the 2 litre engine. It's just too slow from 0-60. I drove the audio A3 1.8 as a comparison which was much quicker.

Fords attention to detail also lets the car down. Cheap plastic add-ons and interiors, bog standard seats and a really annoying hole in the carpet so that the cars number can be seen.

Finally the attitude of the dealers. I've had this car for a year through work, as such I can use any Ford dealer. It's fair to say I've spoken to more than one dealership about a number of issues and each one has been unhelpful and rude. They really do sound annoyed when you ask for things to be done.

Luckily, I get to change back to VW next week but if I'd had bought one of these cars I would be very unhappy indeed.

I also have a Focus through work and would totally agree with the contributors comments on Ford dealers. It seems that anything is too much trouble for Ford Dealers and you are left with the impression that they are doing you a favour in talking to you!.

After owning a Honda it came as a culture shock when I had to start dealing with Ford Representatives. However this is only a personal view but it is spread over 5 separate Ford dealerships. It is a shame as the Focus is a very good car in its class but the after sales service leaves a bitter taste...

From my observation, it seems dealer service for mainstream cars (like Ford, Vauxhall, Fiat, Opel) is a problem. Quality surveys show that the Japanese build cars which don't break down often, meaning they have parts designed not to break down, or they are put together right, or both.

Modern cars are far more complicated, even the cheaper ones, and when you sell a lot of cars which in themselves are not designed right or put together right all the time, if you're a mainstream car dealer you end up with too many cars with problems which they couldn't diagnose and the factory isn't of much help to your cause either, so they're stuck with dealing with the customer.

I once worked for a dealer, and the kinds of odd problems they have to fix really forced mechanics to think outside the square - and hire a crystal ball for good measure. It's the mechanics who discover the inherent problems even before the factory - you could imagine how useless the technical department is for something like that. I think Japanese car dealers don't have as much to worry about, and if the situation brings out the best in them, the best will come out.

I have to agree about the situation involving ford dealers, although I have found one close by that so far has been one of the better dealers I've had to deal with. the other thing I would like to say is that my experience with foreign brand car dealers has been no better. I also would like to say that you get what you pay for. The focus is a small cheap car and performs like a small cheap car, not to say its a bad buy for the money, but it has a cheap interior to keep the price down and I haven't seen any small cheap car that doesn't have those type of probelms.

I had my company Focus 1.8 TDI Estate serviced 2 weeks ago at 40k. I informed the garage that the front brakes juddered when braking at motorway speeds and could they investigate. They fitted new discs/pads, but told the leasing company (who I work for) I had insisted on new brakes being fitted!!!

When driving home I used the rear screen wiper, (frequently with an estate), only to hear a lot of clunking. Stopped the car to find they had fitted a new blade approx 4 inches longer than it should have been and it was hitting the high level tailight/washer jet. Regretfully all local dealers are now taken over by the same group, so I don't even have a choice anymore.

I have a 1.8TDI Zetec estate through work, doing about 35-40,000 miles a year.

The dealers are truly bad, but no worse than FIAT dealers. At least Ford keep some parts in stock...

The car rattles like mad from the centre console, and I keep having problems with the brakes, which the dealers seem unable to fix. A couple of weeks ago, the car failed to stop and I had to use the handbrake to come to a halt. Again the dealer made excuses about not finding the fault, and ended up replacing the discs and pads. So far, so good, but it doesn't inspire confidence when you're covering so many miles per year.

I have a ford focus 2002 with a rattle coming from the nearside rear wheel I've had the car into a ford dealer for investigation, but to no avail I purchased the car from new I wonder if anyone else has had this problem.

Try the stabilizer link arm. Also I would like to say that I own a 1.8 audi and it comes no where near the 2.0 on performance. The focus's handling is amazing. this is a great little car. O and if you go to these links it will show you that the audi is slighty slower.

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/specs/data-detail.aspx?deriv=12134

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/specs/data-detail.aspx?deriv=17830