2006 Ford Focus from North America - Comments

I got a brand new 2006 ford focus SE in October. Within a few weeks I noticed a slight ticking or tapping in the engine that sounds like a lifter or oil flow problem. The driver side visor mirror cover broke at the hinge. (The hinge is built like a toy meant to last about 2 days). That middle arm rest stowage thing is not user friendly. In fact, very little of the car is user friendly. Most people can't pick up these faults on a test drive. We are only human.

Anyway, the thing that bugs me the most is the 6 CD changer constantly getting jammed. Often, it pops out a CD a whole day after eject is pressed. While that ejection delay is going on, perfectly good CDs can't be 'found' by the player. Then later, the same ones will play.

There needs to be more room to lay things in the driver area, without them slipping down into a multitude of hiding places. There should have been a deeper stowage tray beneath the radio. Even a ball point pen bounces out of it after a little bump. The rear window lock switch by the driver doesn't allow the rear windows to work from the back doors.

The doors, especially the back ones, get hard to open after a little dust gets in them. I think there is plastic against metal or plastic against plastic in the lock mechanism that allows dirt particles to embed in the plastic, increasing friction, instead of being pulverized as they would between metal surfaces. Kids simply aren't strong enough to open the doors when they get like that.

The rear tires are wearing twice as fast as the front tires. They are goodyear. Most people say the front tires of a front wheel drive wear faster than the rear tires. But maybe if I don't use a heavy foot, the rear tires wear faster since they are sort of forced around a curve, while the front tires are allowed to turn to line up with the instantaneous direction of travel. Otherwise, I suspect a factory installed tire quality conspiracy. A corrupt manufacturer might not dare to cheapen the front tires, but the rear tires might be the same model number as front, yet have shoddy construction.

The divider between the spare tire and the luggage compartment is made of stupid thin crappy pressed cardboard stuff that would be good only to construct something like a temporary shipping carton. The first time a few sacks of groceries are put on there, the divider pushes past the silly thin little metal tab that is supposed to hold it up. This bends the tab and notches out the papery divider. Go ahead, straighten that little tab easily by hand. It will bend again from the next grocery sack.

When I lean into the rear of the car at night and want to turn on a dome light, it is up front, beyond my reach. The extra lights for the passenger or driver have rocker switches that are too tricky to turn off easily by feel when reaching into the car at night.

The small vent hole in the muffler is to let moisture out, but does it have to sound like a big hole? Does it have to be in the front end of the muffler? Shouldn't it be in the rear end of the muffler? There are other things just as important, but I am pressed for time.

This ford focus cost me about $3000 more than a superior Hyundai or KIA or Toyota. Their warranties are better. I wanted to be patriotic and buy USA, but I am ashamed of many of our products. Many of them becoming a worldwide laughing matter! But I am not laughing about being tied to a piece of junk that has many more payments to go.

There are a lot of things we miss during test drives. Too often we're all buzzed about how the car looks, too excited by the thrill of buying a new car. Oh well, it happened to me as well. I own a 2000 Ford Focus, and if you think you have problems, imagine being the owner of the FIRST model year (something EVERYone should avoid no matter what manufacturer). If you'd like to read about my woes, look up my review (Ford Focus SE Sedan) titled "Great power train, not so great anything else...". It'll probably make you feel a little better... and you can see what else has happened to me as time has passed. Sounds like you haven't had any truly major problems as of yet...that's good. With the new Mazda derived engines, Consumer Reports has upgraded the latest Focuses to "Recommended" based on "Average Reliability".

I can't believe how the same car's quality can vary between two markets. In the UK, independent surveys put the Focus ahead of all its non Japanese rivals (including the Germans) for reliability, owner satisfaction and quality. Certainly my experience bears this out - my UK 2002 LX model did 99,000 miles in three years with just one minor fault (at 80,000 miles, (a UKP 15 part, under warranty, and fixed first time by the dealer). Sure the dash plastics are a bit cheap and it's not the last word in luxury, but you absolutely cannot question the engineering integrity on the UK models. They're great cars.

A relative of mine spent 30% more on a Golf at the same time I bought this and her car has done 60,000 miles, broken down twice and had nearly UKP1,000 worth of warranty work in the same period. Oddly though, the Golf would sell for UKP2,500 more even with the same mileage. Strange thing, the car market.

How can the reviewer not know what engine and transmission he/she has?

"The rear window lock switch by the driver doesn't allow the rear windows to work from the back doors."

That is the whole point of the window lock button- so little kids in the back can't open the windows.

Yep, the Ford Focus is a convoluted piece of crap. It has the lamest designed and most complex, yet the worst electrical systems on the face of the planet. Heck, you'd be better off in a Lada! At least you can fix those.

The good old Blue Oval. At least they've circled the problem.