Ford Focus

I use my car daily for myself and a 3 and 8 year old. On weekends my partner of 6 foot also fits in comfortably. Obviously with two substantial car seats the middle rear seat is best used for the fold down arm rest (with cup holders!) rather than a seat. I do have large car seats though, the slimline versions may be better.

As a car person I am in love with the purr the engine makes especially when heading out onto the freeway. It has so much zip even my Dad who is a mechanic can’t believe how quick it is!

Styling wise it’s absolutely gorgeous, the kind of car you enjoy walking up to in the car park, I have the S so It has the extra body kit which does help it to look even nicer than the entry level Trend. The feel and features and finish feel very high end for a price tag of under 30k. It has that great solid thud when you close the door, none of that awful tinny plastic feel you get with the Mitsubishi rivals.

5 star safety rating, looks great, drives great, fuel economy is great, about $60 a tank for nearly 700kms, $310 to service at ford (cheaper if you go to jax etc)

So from a fussy picky mechanics daughter to future owners.. go for it you will not regret it.

Great little car to commute to family gatherings, sporting matches and work every day. Comfortable material seats, power steering is easy to use, great sound from the stereo speakers and so easy to drive and park. Reverse camera is easy to follow and use, lights up well. Drivers dashboard is well lit and has all the information you need to ensure your drive is relaxed. Etheridge Ford were super helpful in negotiating a deal, allowed me plenty of space to make my decision and couldn't have been more helpful with my purchase. I love the car, only negatives are that it lacks front sensors and there are no cup holders for kids in the back but that's it. It's zippy and quick to overtake, has lots of power and is the engine is nice and quiet on a long road trip. I'm so happy with my purchase!

brought a 2009 focus 170,000 km on the clock started off a pretty smooth ride. very spacious hit the 180,000 mark & the engine mount collapsed & has started jumping out of gear with a flutter in the clutch.not great on fuel on short trips a lot better on the hwy.overall it does the job that can be expected of a $4000 car.

Bought my 2011 Ford Focus Sports brand new from the day of purchase had issues but it was all in my head or my driving apparently...
3 clutches replaced, TCM module replaced and 1 week after the TCM was replaced power steering went.
It is a money pit and according to Ford unroadworthy.
These days my focus sits in its parking bay and never moves.
I can't afford to pay out the finance which is not even mine on it so I can't even sell it... So I pay the rego and just sit and look at it... Hate Ford.. Never again

My Ford Focus (thank God I got a Manual - the horror stories on the Automatic sound disgusting) has just clicked over 100.000kms and at around the 99,000 mark the power steering malfunctioned and I was without power steering. I took it to Ford and they said to me it was the power steering rack and that to change it over would be just under $4500!!! I can't believe that to change the electric rack was going to cost almost half the price of the car, I chuckled to myself and said your joking right? The service advisor said no, that's what it costs and then he preceeded to tell me they could a secondhand one in for under $1900! I left because I knew I could do it myself for less than a quarter of the price. How the hell can it be malfunctioning with less than 100,000kms on the clock. That is a safety issue and they completely ignored it. Something is fishy is going on here, I had then turned to google and youtube and there are many cases like mine and a few cases here in Oz. It can't be anything we are doing wrong, and sure enough it looks to be a cover up. In the USA they also tried to fight it and eventually succumbed to the wave of complaints. It seems Ford Australia still thinks they can get away with here. I asked the Ford dealership (Ringwood, Victoria) about other cases, and they said they haven't had many of these cases at all. Looks like I too will need to contact Ford Australia and probably also ACL about this.. wish me luck!

At 92,000 Km the 2009 Ford Focus developed an alarming intermittent habit of dropping into 'limp mode'. Per error readout a new throttle control body was installed by our local Ford dealer - though the problem persisted and could not be found. Despite several requests Ford Australia refused assistance and since the car remained unreliable I was unable to sell the car in good faith. The local dealer was courteous throughout the 6 months saga and ended up buying the car for $500 - a loss of around $3.5 - $4k. Disappointed that Ford showed no interest in sorting out the issue or at least meeting some of her loss. Despite its age, the car had been well looked after and only travelled 92,000Km. The main problem seems to rest with the electronics (CPM) which when faulty destines the car to scrap and Ford Australia are unwilling to back their product.

I had same steering malfunction. Given the car had 65000k on it and car was serviced by ford each time and cost over $30k new i simply told Ford i would lodge complaint with Qld fair trade, such low kilometres is unreasonable given your own warranty is for 100 thousand kilometres. They offered to cover 40%. I told them your parts, your labour marked up and only 40%? Kept calm, filed as i said and Ford paid 100%. Do not believe ford customer care. You are covered by consumer laws.

I would normally never consider a European Ford but when I managed to buy my current car for a very small amount(a third of what it's worth!) I was pleasantly surprised by an amazing handling and very responsive car. The car is a bargain basement version of the Focus and so has very little in the way of luxuries or conveniences. There is a great lack of storage in general. Only 2 shallow cup holders in the centre console. It has very little space in the boot although the back seat does fold down to create more. The leg room for the rear passengers is great and tall adults are very comfortable back there. Only the front windows are electric but like my wife says it's good to have two that will open no matter what, in case of the electrics failing. It has a tiptronic gearbox which is backward in operation compared to our Nissan Elgrand so it takes focus :) to get it the right way around. I would definitely keep this car because of its economy and its great handling zippy drive! I however need more than just a daily to work kind of car so I need something with a little more space. I have 3 cars at the moment so at least one has to go. I will keep either this one or the RAV4 and as I prefer a manual the RAV4 might win but the Ford is making me doubt because of its great drive and economy something the RAV4 lacks a little.

Here's my lemon 2013 Ford Focus (diesel) with just 43,000 kms on the clock (!) being towed to the Ford dealer interstate because the power steering died! Fortunately, the vehicle was parked at the time, not driving up bends on a mountain, or crossing a busy intersection.

Needless to tell you that neither Ford Australia nor the dealership I bought it from would help me with the $5,000 cost to replace the steering rack on this six-year-old vehicle. (The new car warranty had expired, and the "Harrier" warranty... not worth the paper it was printed on... was declared void when I moved away from the city of purchase). Is that even legal?!!!!

I did manage to find a company who completed the work for a few hundred dollars cheaper, but that incurred yet another towing fee.

With transmission issues already looming, I decided to sell. I will never buy another Ford. I know I'm one of many, many thousands of angry and disappointed Focus owners. I'm currently in contact with the ACCC and Fair Trading in the ACT.

I brought a one owner (local government) 2.0 liter diesel 6sp manual with 155K on it for $3000 from a dealer in Adelaide. Its been a fantastic buy. I do a mix of small city driving at 50km/h (←6l/100km), 100-110 km/h (5.3l/100km) and 130ish km/h in the outback (7.1l/100km and yes its still legal in our more cultured territories). Amazing highway acceleration... Better than a Falcon for overtaking road trains. The turbo comes in smooth and strong from about 1500rpm with heaps of torque ... Its so nice. Excellent handling and a comfortable ride ( although not Fairlane standard ). Its simple to do basic maintenance such as oil changes. Easy to park etc and can tow a good sized trailer or mid sized caravan. Unfortunately it has a stupid "emergency" spare tyre and no reversing camera from the factory. Overall the 2008 diesel Focus is such an underrated car and wonderful second hand value if you don't mind changing gears.

After seven years of using this car every day I can honestly say it has been a dream car. Still looks amazing and drives well despite quite high Kms, so much so we bought a second had one for my daughter's first car.

When I first got this car it was great until I had to get engine mounts replaced.
Then my Bluetooth stopped working and I was told it would be $1200 to replace the whole system.
My car actually came with a scratch in the interior and nobody did anything about it.
I paid extra for paint protection however now my paint is fading on the top and on the bonnet and around the whole car. I have called ford numerous times and have always been transferred to different people every time. The paint protection company is MING and they need a copy of the contract of sale - don’t know why because I have all the certificates and other paperwork except for that as I have thrown it out.
After calling ford 4 times I am now waiting for the archives team to look for the contract of sale.
The inside of my passenger door is starting to fall off.
I will never buy another Ford again. Overall the customer service is non existent when I have had a problem.

Bought my car new, had no steering wheel fluid cap. When I went back, dealer just rolled his eyes and gave me one.
Car shakes and jolts due to a dodgy transmission and is currently in a class action.
USB port fails in hot weather and cigarette lighter port no longer functions.
Interior is badly designed, there’s nowhere to put anything, I’m forever trying to balance my bits and bobs in the cup holder.
Boot cover snapped off not long after purchase.
Don’t think I’ll ever buy a ford again.

Last year I purchased a late 2011 Ford Focus titanium. It had at the time only done 60,000kms. It had a full service history, but hadn’t been used frequently over its lifetime. I started to use it as my main car and nearly immediately i experienced jerking, high revs and no take off speed. I put my car in to a ford dealer in January, the extended warranty had ran out the month before. They have wiped their hands clean and not given me a cent of contribution. It is really disgusting that you can wipe a car off that has done that amount of kilometres. It is now going to cost roughly $6000-$8000 in repairs and I am struggling to see that this gorgeous well looked after car is nothing but a ride off!!!!

I sadly had the Trend auto model before and after 3 years traded it back in on the 2016 LZ sport. The one exceptional thing about the Trend was fantastic fuel economy and repeatedly went from Perth to Toodyay return ( 200k's ) for 11 litres of fuel. The LZ uses 17 litres for the same trip. Not particularly good. Average for outer Perth use is between 8-9 litres per 100. I was told by Ford service it's normal and no adjustment can me made. There is also an occasional smell of petrol coming from under the bonnet but again Ford service can find nothing wrong. Those things apart it's a decent car with enough power for a 72 year old like myself and in just over 2 years and 14000 km's nothing has gone wrong with it.

Was my wife’s car we ended getting a new one out of it but not before ford blamed us for “driving like nanas “ and telling us it was our fault the dual clutch system kept breaking down to the point where I tried to pull out of an intersection and the car just stopped with my foot flat to the floor wouldn’t go at all . Nearly got t boned by a van . But eventually they gave us a new one . Sold it straight away though .

Purchased brand new in March 2015. Was a 2014 run out model, so limited on color choice. I could either pick black, or blue. I took the blue, as I’m not a fan of how hard keeping a black car clean is. At first the car was a dream to drive, however 6 months into ownership I started having the suddering and shakes when taking off from lights etc. Took the car back to Ford and told it needs to learn how I drive, and that I’m not driving it enough, as it was our second family car. Started driving it to work more often than getting the train, and it was worse in peak hour driving. Took it back again and told that’s how dual clutch transmissions more and they will do a software update. This fixed the car for another 6 months or so, however the problem came back, worse than ever. The car was now around 12 months old, and only had 9000ks on the clock. We started using the car a bit more on weekends, and it would often stall when in reverse and backing up into our driveway. My partner and I decided that we would get rid of it before it was 2 years old, thinking that we should get a good trade in price, considering it had low k’s on it and it was in brand new condition. Started looking around towards the end of 2016, and Ford would only offer $10,000 trade in, due to the “known issues with the transmission” as several reports had come out in mid to late 2016 of the issues with the transmission. Needless to say, the car was traded in on a new car, which wasn’t a Ford. Besides the issues with the transmission, the car was great to drive, had many features as standard, such as auto headlights, wipers, climate control, fog lights, reversing sensors and alloy wheels. If the transmission issues could have been resolved, I know we would have kept the car, but unfortunately there was no known fix, and I wanted a safe and reliable car.

Well when my wife suggested I buy her a new economical car to run out to her work approximately 80klm each way, I started doing a little homework and thought I’d probably buy one of the most popular brands like my favourite 4x4 because you like feeling like king of the road however after accessing it I just found it hard to go past the Ford Focus and with 5 year warranty unlimited kilometres I thought how could you go wrong, the power of the 1.5L turbo engine has also shocked me, I can now see how they became car of the year and with the 5 star ancap safety rating its a winner, my wife still smiles each time she drives it and now it’s 6 months old and already got 18000klm and not a issue and I really don’t expect any issues to arise, and it was cheaper than similar same size cars on the market at the time well done Ford.

Purchased new in 2012, car has had numerous mechanical issues and received very poor customer service from Ford. This includes but is not limited to;

1. Car acceleration completely cutting out while driving on a main road, this occurred several times and I feel very unsafe trying to get anywhere (was very lucky not to result in an accident),
2. Gear box issues resulting in poor acceleration (when it was working) and constant shuddering of the car when taking off.
3. Rubber lining coming off around the doors,
4. Engine light coming on, have taken it to a mechanic and they have been unable to find the exact cause,
5. Servicing issues - 3 weeks to get a booking to find out if any of my gear box issues can even be fixed.
6. Terrible boot design, the boot itself is OK but the width of the boot opening is considerably smaller than the width of the actual boot making it very difficult to get suitcases, or anything larger than groceries into it. Don't even think about trying to lie the back seats down to get anything through the space as there is not enough space to fit more than a very thin plank of wood.
7. Backseat and foot space is very small and cramped.

I have had numerous people tell me after driving this car is the worst they have ever driven and they are not comfortable driving it due to it's incredibly poor ability to change gears and constant shuddering.

You have been warned.

I drive my car nearly every day - to work and back, including weekends out and about in the city. It’s about 4 years old now, been serviced on time each time. Ford provided extended warranty and it is seriously needed. I contacted them about 2 years in when I heard this model has gear issues and felt that mine had the same issues I read about in the paper, however they said my particular one doesn’t have it. Ever since it’s been taken to them twice already for gear issues. Just last month it got 80,000 service and the mechanic told me to take it back to Ford as the gear box is stuffed and that’s why it makes a funny noise when driving like gear changing gets stuck or trouble changing over. I’m considering just selling it off and buying something else. Used to have a Ford Falcon with the same issue - it might be a Ford thing, so frustrating!
Considering the year of manufacture and price, I’d expect it to have a better quality screen inside and be a bit more modern but it’s still a pretty good car other than gear issues - that just put me off it unfortunately. Off the entire Ford range to be honest.