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Comments
We have it on our ZX3 (not on our SE wagon) and it is effective in the snow and slick surfaces.
Good luck.
Also I've read a few postings about brake noise, I was told by a dealer mechanic that the reason these pads sqweal so bad is because they no longer use asbestos* in them. Is that true?
*(sorry if its spelled wrong)
Now, whenever someone says the Focus are all recalled and Civcs aren't, we can tell them to eat crow!
I've seen a few posts like these, such as the guy who had a Saturn LS and had to get a new transmission, radiator, and more within two months. He also owned a Grand Am and a Malibu at the same time with the same problems!
The Honda recall sounds eerily similar to a recall that Ford had to make on the first year Focus. Also, the Honda recall currently only affects Japanese sold cars. It is definite that the Ford recall affected American sold cars.
FWIW, the Ford Focus in the 2000 model year had six (different) recalls in the United States. Five of those could be considered recalls related to safety.
The Honda Civic had zero recalls in the 2000 model year.
The Toyota Echo had one cold weather recall in the 2000 model year.
So far for the 2001 model year, Ford has had two recalls for American sold Focuses while Toyota and Honda have had zero recalls for their American sold Echos and Civics, respectively.
My source is the recall data base for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.
You may point out recalls, but don't crow about them.
As I understand Honda recall currently affects 8,205 units of 2001 Civics sold in the U.S.
The Ford Focus had one recall, not two, in the 2001 year model year (for the seat back recliner handle spring) . Only Sedans and wagons are affected.
And where did the Echos come from?
BTW, when Ford has the recalls, it's very much expected, especially for its first year production models. The same can not be said about Honda. The most of the Honda/Toyota buyers are paying extra just for the privilege of owning the "recall free" and "bullet proof" vehicle.
I mentioned Toyota and the Echo in case anyone was wondering about the recalls on it.
Louie
Until then, I hope this helps somewhat.
Why don't we just try to stick to discussing the Focus since that is indeed the subject of this discussion.
Thanks.
Pat
Host
Sedans and Women's Auto Center Message Boards
The Focus was one of the cars I looked at before buying the car I have, but the number of recalls did not inspire confidence in me. A test drive showed that the Focus (in SE trim) was not for me.
When you spend 15-17 thousand dollars for a car and want some exchange with others who own the same car, we really don't need someone who owns a Toyota or Honda or a Subaru comparing those cars to ours and telling us how much smarter they were.
Is there no action on those boards or are they so insecure about their purchases that they need to make us feel bad in order to feel good??? This may not fall into a Terms of Use violation but I do think it is very rude and courterproductive. I already own the car so telling me how I should have bought a Honda (even if I agreed with you) serves no purpose.
Just my 2 cents!
Now you go the NHTSA site and check again. The latch recall for 2001 according to NHTSA affects the hatch/wagon models manufactured from March 1999 to Oct 2000. This recall was already posted for the 2000 model.
It seems that NHTSA screwed up and listed the SAME recall TWO times.
Also, it does not matter if a recall (for counting purposes) only affects a certain body style of a model given I did not make specify a specific model in the first place. Now if I had claimed that the 2001 Focus Sedan had two recalls, then I would have been wrong.
I spoke of the Focus in general while you seem to be trying to split hairs by talking about specific Focuses.
When you type in "2001" it comes up with 2 recalls.
The first one is from the previous year and affects the Foci manufactured from March 1999 to Oct 2000. And this recall is listed for the 2001 model!!!! If you still don't get it, I give up.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/583516.asp"
Turns out that Honda Motor Co. is recalling 52,297 Civic compact cars produced last year, including more than 8,200 in the U.S., for faulty fuel-pipe tubing.
Thanks in advance
To Randy12: It is advisable to change your oil+filter every 4 months or 4000 miles, whichever comes first. I have been following this schedule for many years with never a problem!
I base what I am saying on the fact that the site lists the model year affected as 2001.
No, if the recall for a 1965 Ford Falcon showed up in the section for the 2001 Focus, I would not count it against the Focus. They are different cars after all.
Notice that I also do not count the recalls solely listed for the 2000 model against the 2001 models.
Otherwise, I have absolutely no complaints whatsoever. (Minus the scratches and dinks I have on my car -- I hate people) I've had my 2000 ZTS since March '00, it has a smooth 27000 miles on it, and not 1 problem, recalls aside (which have been minor and done at my leisure -- usually when I get my oil changed).
I just wish I had a sunroof! Ford screwed us on that one, how can you have a "sporty/fun" car and not offer a sunroof? Arggggh.
Hope everyone is doin' well!
A "dink" is a nasty mark on your car, usually caused by some really nice person's car door. Or by someone ever-so-politely nudging your rear fender with their front fender...
Pretty much, a dink is the reason they created touch-up paint.
TELL ME I'M THE ONLY PERSON THAT USES THIS WORD???
but if someone put a dink on my car, I'd probably sell it!
You're use works just as well as they are little "dinks" and are most vexing.
Anyway, I've got a '00 wagon with all the options except the cigarette lighter, plus a moonroof that was put in by ASC. After 16,000 miles, this is what's happened:
1. The radio (If I remember correctly, I have the "mid-range" radio). Lots and lots of problems. I'm on my 3rd one now. Besides AM reception that is much worse than any car I've had, it has this annoying habit of turning on by itself. The Ford dealership assured me that this was a "feature," so that you could listen to the radio or tape player with the car turned off. Except MY radio turns itself back on sometime after I turn off the engine, lock the doors, and walk away. The last radio (about 6 mos. ago) I THOUGHT had fixed that problem, but it did it again last week.
2. The moon roof. Not Ford's fault, since it was installed by ASC. It quit working after a year, and was fixed under warranty. It still gets confused every once in a while, and one of these days it's going to stay open when I think it's closed, and I'm going to get very wet. But I love that thing. Tell me why Ford doesn't offer one?
3. Clunking in the back of my wagon. If you have clunking, please, PLEASE add the extra two screws in the license plate, because that's what it is. And tell me why the Ford dealers don't head off this problem and add the two screws. I asked them to do it at my 15,000 service. They didn't.
4. Folding seat "breaking": turns it it didn't break. When you fold the seat and pull on it, the hinge pulls loose. They designed it that way. They had a recall on it. They fixed it.
5. Various recalls (3, I think. Or was it 4?) All taken care of at 15,000 mile service.
6. Gas mileage. Really, really, REALLY sucks. My 6 cylinder Ranger (with a 5 speed) did better. I get 17-19 in the city, and maybe 22 on the freeway. And I am not a "jack-rabbit" starter. I'm going to have to keep close track for a while and take this problem to the dealer.
7. There are two square access panels cut in the carpeting on either side of the wagon load area. The one on the driver's side will NOT stay closed. Dealer has tried to fix, to no avail.
8. Driver's side electric window squeaks going up and down from time to time.
And that's pretty much it. Nothing huge, nothing that has kept me out of the car for any length of time. I love the way it drives and the room. I DO wish, though, that Ford had been smart enough to know that there are people (me) who would like an up-market wagon. I want a chrome piece above my license like the ZTS. I wanted leather (which Ford wouldn't give me). I wanted a black interior (not surprising in a wagon, but Ford only offered puke brown and gray. I got gray). The only reason I can think of for NOT offering these things is to force you into the money-making Escape/Explorer horrors.
If you're thinking about a Focus, I'd say do it. Just remember that this is an entry-level car, so you can't abuse it and expect it to bounce back.
Ford now offers a ZTW package for the wagon, which is like the ZTS sedan package.
And it comes with the chrome piece above the license just like you want!
Maybe you can order the part.
I bought a 2000 Ford Focus ZTS with an automatic last December. Since the 2001s were out at the time, all of the recalls had been fixed already. So I didn't have to deal with that.
I have almost 9000 miles on mine so far and have absolutely no complaints. I am a die hard Ford fan. My other car is a 92 Ford Mustang GT convertible that only had an alternator go out in about 107,000 miles. I then (by choice) replaced the engine and transmission, along with just about every other component of the car. This is because I am a gearhead, and put a 500+ horsepower motor in it, a T56 6-speed, got it repainted, etc.
The Focus has been good to me, especially for a $15,000 car. The ZTS is the top of the line model, and makes a great commuter. I only average about 24-25 on the freeway in rush hour, but part of that is because I commute over the Santa Cruz mountains to work every day. I'm sure this will wear the brakes out pretty quickly as well. I got a little over 32 mpg on a recent road trip, which was not bad.
Sorry to hear about the bad luck some have had. Mine has been great! Nine thousand miles is not much yet, obviously, but I expect it to be a good car.
Want a long long Focus story? Here goes.
I bought a 2000 ZTS in July of 2000. It broke 3 times in less than 24 hours. The dealer took it back without any trouble. Lee Motor Co. in Wilson NC.
They found us another Focus in a few days. I had the oil changed in the next one after only 100 miles to catch any contamination that may have been still in the engine. The oil change didn't go well. The filter was difficult to remove and the technician forgot to replace the filler cap. Oil was all over the hood and the engine after only 5 miles of driving. Though there wasn't enough oil lost to need extra added to bring it back to full. They wiped it up as best they could.
A few weeks later it lost oil pressure and shut down. The dealer replaced the oil pump with a new one that leaked. Finally back to normal, this oil smell emerged. It always smelled after a 10 minute or more drive then stopping at a red light. I was concerned the smell was the result of running with the filler cap off for one thing. Perhaps the vacuum sucked the smell into the heater controls or something.
My wife is a little testy over all this by now. Then the recall notices started showing up. The wheel might fall off and the gas pedal might stick to the floor. The camels back was broken now. So she wants a new one. And she still wants a Focus.
So we order a 2001. ( you know, the 2nd year out with all the bugs worked out ) We order late Oct.2000. In Jan. we hear it got shipped to the wrong place and had to be returned to the factory shipyard to be re routed. Anyway, it comes in Feb. and now it has a 1000 rebate ( hurray )
Ford did give us 2000 for all the trouble we had with the first 2 Focus' THANK YOU FORD !
So all in all we did pretty good. The new one does have that same burning oil smell though. Something that made me think the 2nd Focus had serious problems. The smell is worse since last weeks oil change.
I did see on the 2000 that the filter was horizontally mounted causing it to spill oil down the engine block and on the exhaust pipe when changing. So Ford, if your listening, perhaps a 90 degree angle on the filter mount might help this. The filters are notorious for being to tight from the factory also. And while I'm at it. Why don't you put the wheel torque in the owners manual. Some of us do have torque wrenches.
All in all, the Focus is nice to drive. The only other improvements I can see some use for is a better place to rest the left elbow on those long trips and less slope on the windshield to make it easier to see in the rain.
PS: All 3 where ZTS
Thanks for listening!
I bought the car about a year ago as a demo... it had about 1800 miles on it when I picked it up. it now has about 28,300 miles on it and I have had some pretty major things replaced or fixed on this thing.
so far, in the 25,000 or so miles i've put on it, i've had to replace the coil pack, fuel pump, sending unit, front passenger wheel bearing and half shaft, and front brake rotors. and tomorrow i am putting new brake pads on it up front. now i always told myself that i would never buy a car the first year it came out, and let me tell you i won't make that mistake again.
not all is quite so bleak with the car however...i will agree that the car has good handling, a good ride on the highway (a plus when i bought it, seeing as i was doing about 100 miles of highway driving to and from work every day), and the car has decent power too. i currently work for a rental car company, and i will agree that the foci with automatic are not nearly as peppy as mine is with the 5 speed.
one more point i would like to point out is that i was NOT impressed with the car in the snow. i live in syracuse, ny, and we got our fair share of snow this past winter and then some. this was my first winter with the focus and i was not impressed at all. the car spun leaving just about every light or stop sign, it liked to skid and understeer on snow-covered streets, and the worst part, brakes! granted, my car does not have ABS on it and let me tell you, anyone looking to buy a focus, if you live anywhere where you get a lot of snow or rain, spend the extra bucks and get the ABS, cause those brakes lock up at the drop of a hat without it, lemme tell you. i can't even begin to count how many times i either slid or nearly slid through an intersection due to locked up brakes.
well, i just wanted to post my viewpoints on the car. overall i guess it's a decent car, but due to the problems i've had with it, in addition to the problems i've run into with my local dealer has left me with a sour taste in my mouth for ford in general right now, and seeing as i have never been fond of chrysler or GM vehicles, sadly enough, my next vehicle may have to be an import.
I bought my car back in late September, so I can well attest to the bad steering in snow. I did adjust my driving and I always make sure that there is no snow in the wheel wells when I drive - hard to do when the roads aren't plowed. When I watched my speed and checked the wells, I found my braking to be much better and I didn't loose traction or have the wheels lock up on me. I also don't have ABS as I bought off the lot, but would agree their worth the extra $$.
Also from what I understand, if you get the molded mud flaps the amount of snow in the wells is reduced. Unfortunately they don't make them for the ZX3 in the front - where I have the most accumulation.
although I wish it would open more than it does=0(
Now everything was fine until I hit my 22,000 mile and then my axle seal broke I had to have the car
towed which ford paid for but they did not have the part in so I had to wait for the part and the worst thing is they have no rental cars available
because of the holiday..... Hoping everything would be fine I got my car back Thursday evening..
only for it to start leaking again that same night... Called the dealer but because the service
kept is not open on the weekends I had to wait until Monday to get the car towed again.... The tow truck driver same one who towed it just 1 week ago looked at me and laughed... said to get rid of the piece of junk.....=0( So now I am waiting once again for the part to come in and hopefully don't leak again..... Does anyone know if it happens again if it is considered a Lemon or is my car too old to be a Lemon????????????????
Also if it is a Lemon will I get reimbursed for my sunroof i had installed for 1000-...Thanks too everyone who responds..But other than that I Love my car....=0)
How bout looking into the quality of the dealer's service?? Besides, do you get all your advice from tow truck drivers????
It does not matter how short of a time he has had the car; it does not matter how little he has driven it; what matters is how many times the same problem has occurred.
But like I said before, anyone wanting to invoke the lemon law should check with the state agency overseeing lemon laws.