2004 Ford Focus C-MAX Zetec 1.8 petrol from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Good, reliable, and with useful space

Faults:

Noisy AC compressor - replaced.

Alternator failure at 86,000.

General Comments:

Found C Max to be an extremely comfortable and reliable car, with more than adequate performance (bearing in mind the type of vehicle).

I'm surprised at some of the comments made by other owners, although fully aware of serious problems with the 1.6 automatics.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 22nd March, 2012

2004 Ford Focus C-MAX 2.0 TDCi turbo diesel from Belgium

Summary:

A great car that turned out to be dangerous

Faults:

This week my brakes failed completely without warning (no warning on the LCD, no warning light, no sound). The brake pedal was hard and could not be pushed in. I was just about to drive onto the road. Fortunately the EPB could still be activated. After deactivation of the EPB, the brakes functioned again. This happened twice. Each time in the morning when I wanted to get to work.

BE WARNED! APPARENTLY YOUR BRAKES MAY FAIL COMPLETELY WITHOUT ANY WARNING!

I have read many cases on this site where a faulty alternator or low battery may cause power steering and brake issues. I just spent 1600 Euro (tires, breaks, air con,...) a few months ago. It's always a lot of money, but I value my safety (and that of my family)! But this issue is very severe, and may cause deaths if Ford doesn't deal with this!

General Comments:

I really loved this car for its all-round use up till now! I have to figure out what I am going to do with it, because I want a safe car, and I don't want to sell an accident waiting to happen to someone else.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 23rd June, 2011

24th Jun 2011, 08:46

Get rid of this deathtrap before it kills you!!!

In reply to 24th Jun 2011, 08:46

8th Jan 2020, 03:27

Just sell it... spares and repairs. Don't worry about it. It's not your problem; there's a world of crap bodgers out there who think they can just fix things by hitting stuff and just tightening bolts and wobbling wires until they work, and pouring in quick fix lotions and potions to the engine, gearbox and batteries, as well as getting artistic with filler and pop rivets. And buying ropey old tyres and brake parts from scrapyards, and being masters of disconnecting warning lights. I know... I used to be one of them LOL.

2004 Ford Focus C-MAX Ghia 2.0 litre from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Nice car when it's OK, but horrific when things start to go wrong

Faults:

Everything was going OK with this car until about 6 weeks ago.

Suddenly one day the outside temp indicator went blank, the same night the alarm went off several times. After about the tenth time, it stopped.

A couple of days later off it went again, then stopped. It was like this for about a week, then one night it went totally ballistic; the alarm went off constantly & I could not turn it off with the key. I even drove around our estate whilst the alarm was still going. In the end my husband slammed the bonnet down so hard that he broke the catch. This cost £100, plus £80 for a diagnostic test, which found nothing.

Now after another couple of weeks, the outside temp indicator has gone off again, bonnet open catch alarm showing inside, & now the inside fans don't work.

Be warned, do not buy this car, they are very expensive for parts & diagnostics. Never again.

General Comments:

Apart from all of the above, it is a nice car to drive & comfortable.

Don't like the electric handbrake, or the fact that the bonnet opens with a key behind the Ford badge on the front grill. There is no way to get into the bonnet if the catch breaks without drilling through; whatever happened to a good old fashioned bonnet release catch in the foot well???

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 1st June, 2010

2nd Jun 2010, 00:10

Weird electrical problems that seem to pop up in unrelated areas often turn out to be a battery that is going bad. Make sure you have a new battery before trying to fix a bunch of electrical problems.

The dealership for my Volvo V40 spent almost two thousand on warranty repairs fixing the wrong things before we insisted he replace the battery. Then everything worked. The incompetent mechanic told us multiple times he had checked the battery, when he hadn't. (You have to load test a battery, not just check the voltage with no load.)