I had an 08 Focus and it was a great car, but switched to my wife's Civic after buying her a Mazda5.

The Civic is still going pretty strong but I was just thinking about replacement vehicles and was wondering if this latest generation of Focus is still a no-go? I've read all over that their transmissions are absolute junk and there's all kinds of lawsuits about them? It's a shame that an otherwise solid car has this issue and I wasn't sure if it's ever been resolved?

It's really hit or miss with the dct.

I had a fiesta with the same one and never had an issue. My stepsons grandma had a focus that got lemon law'd for it.

I can't speak to the Ford but I have owned a number of Hondas. In my opinion, the Honda cars have slipped in quality over the 3 loaded Accords I have owned.

I switched to a loaded Mazda 3 hatchback last fall and don't miss my Hondas.

Maybe you'll get lucky. Buy a new one, it might come full of weed....

The problem years are 2012, 2013, and 2014. I bought my daughter a new 2014 Ford Focus three years ago. It is still going knock on wood.

Who knows. Its all just a crap shoot at best. If you're dumb and watch their commercials, you'll see late teen girls who have never owned or bought a car before exclaim over how great a car it is. But then you realize they're paid models who are pretty much clueless over everything. And now you want to buy a car from a company who thinks its a good idea to have those girls represent them.

If you think Ralph Nader was a great man, you could read the leftist news in Consumer Reports. At least then you'd have someone to blame for your mistakes. You might/could get a better car for less at one of the Korean dealerships. Around here, the roads are flooded with them. A guy 2 houses down bought two of the Foci (whats the plural of focus?) Someone stole one, but I suspect he left his keys in it.

Your old Focus was basically a Mazda. The new ones ain't.

Get the Mazda.

I have a 2013 Focus ST and love it. Never had a problem yet. It has a 6 speed manual so don't know about the transmission problems.

Bought my daughter a 2010 focus new for graduation, she drove it 7 years and close to 100,000 miles with zero mechanical issues, still ran great when she traded it in.

quote:

Originally posted by KPSquared:
I have a 2013 Focus ST and love it. Never had a problem yet. It has a 6 speed manual so don't know about the transmission problems.

All the issues are with the automatic transmissions. I won't ever own another manual daily driver, I had a Mini with 6 speed and it was BRUTAL for our notoriously long and traffic jammed commutes around here. Never again.

Did they ever improve? Acquired a 2000 Focus from my son back in 2000 since I cosigned his loan. (Ya I know, big mistake. Thats how I ended up with it. Did a repo from my son for non payment) The pile of metal was a piece of shit. Engine ran good and had over all pep on the road but the front end was made of toothpicks. If you just looked at a pothole or a slightly rough road, the front suspension would collaspe. There was a reason this model was called the FUCKUS!

A relative has a Focus with 95k in it, about 5 years old. It now quits running for no reason, after 30 minutes it will start again. Even the dealer is unsure of the problem.

My relative says no Ford ever again. The next may have a better experience.

We are looking at small SUVs now, Honda CR-V, or Mazda CX-5.

I concur that Honda has dropped off. My mom has a new top of the line accord and the paint looks like it's ten years old. If you look at the cars paint long enough it will chip off. It's super thin compared to German paint that I'm used to.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dusty78,

Have US manufacturers ever made a quality small car?

quote:

Originally posted by SFCUSARET:
Did they ever improve?

My 08 was one of the best cars I ever owned. Very reliable, low road noise for that class of car, good torquey 4 cylinder engine and great gas mileage. The stock radio was also one of the best sounding ones I've ever seen.

I kinda think trading that in for my wife's Mazda and keeping her Civic was a bit of a mistake sometimes actually!

Based on all the replies about the newer ones, there's no way in hell I would even consider one now.

I have a 2013 auto trans. ~47K miles on it, never had a problem. A friend has a 2012, no problems with his either.

My son has a brand new one and absolutely loves it.
So, far so good with it. We had one, cannot remember the year, but we never had the first problem with it. That year though would not allow me enough room to wear a hat while driving it.
Not enough "max headroom" from where I had to move the seat to drive properly.

Our daughter has a 2014 with the Auto that has had the clutch and a few other things in the transmission replaced now twice. The dealership service manager and later the General Manager indicated that Ford extended the warranty on the trans and related to 100K miles and that with average driving the clutch (in the auto) has to be replaced about every 10K miles more or less. He also said that even brand new ones on the lot (2016's at the time) had the exact same issue so if while he (the GM) was happy to sell me another or make a trade it wouldn't solve that issue.

Obviously it's a bad issue and the cause varies depending on who you believe, but they seem to have replacing the clutch down (took them about 2.5 hours the last time). Otherwise the car runs great, gets good mileage, has good safety marks and was a good price. She will keep it another year or two then trade it in (this was a first time auto-loan deal so building her credit), in the meantime have the clutch replaced 'bout once a year....ugh!

quote:

Originally posted by SLCHemi:
in the meantime have the clutch replaced 'bout once a year....ugh!

Holy crap. That is utterly ridiculous!

I guess there is a reason why my local Carmax type place has about 50 2013-2016 Focuses and ONE Mazda3.

quote:

Originally posted by nukeandpave:
I have a 2013 auto trans. ~47K miles on it, never had a problem. A friend has a 2012, no problems with his either.

Because they're still new. Wait until you hit a 100K then get back to us.