hi everyone! recently had the good fortune to take a trip to ocean city, maryland. on the highway, 5spd, using a/c all of the time we averaged 30.31 mpg ... 288 miles on 9.5 US gallons. we have just over 6000 miles on the projectzx3 and are extremly pleased thus far. our only trips to the service dept was for the recall repair and for our inside hatch release button that was faulty and replaced. we are using castrol syntec so maybe that has helped our mpg a little. all i know is the motor sounds quieter and happier since we switched to synthetic oil. it was a comfortable cruise to the beach with many heads turning! we usually drive 90% city type driving and get 23-25 mpg that way. it was good to see the zx3 crack the 30 mpg barrier on the highway. our mileage seems to get better the more miles we put on the motor??? will it keep going up and for how long???:) well anyone out there considering buying a zx3... i say do it! but i think i'd wait for an 01 model if the wait took me into mid august or later. have fun everyone!
ok if we must post a complaint i would say its the 'mystery' hesitation or 'motorboating' feel at 2000-2300. still haven't figured that one out. but it doesn't affect drivability or performance that we can tell. many say its just a quirk of the 2.0 zetec. wierd... that would be my complaint... oh and oil overfills done by dealerships.
there must have been a huge sale on ZX3's in tha past week because i would have to say that in the past few days about 50% of the foci i have seen have been ZX3's. I was right next to my twin last night another black or maybe twilight blue at 11:30 last night. The other ZX3 owners in my area are not like you guys have been. I try to wave to say "nice car" but they just ignore me. There's no club mentality in my area.
I dont recall if anyone has mentioned this but i saw a commercial for honey bunches of oats cereal and thay had a fleet of ZX3's crusing around town giveing out samples of cereal. And guess what they were all in Zinc Yellow with the cereal logho on the hood. That Yellow looked beautiful on the ZX3. Keep your eyes out for the commericial gang.
Was coming out of our 7-11 store today and heard the end of a conversation , kid looking back at my ZX3 and saying excitedity ,"yeah,I think it is one .." When I approached I asked "What is? Turns out he thought it was one of the new hybrid electric cars.
After I logged about 3000 miles, I finally noticed a substantial improvement in my mileage which just seemed to get better and better right up to 5000 miles. Then last week at just about 5K I was finally able to get the recall (fuel injector sensor) work done (yeah, I had made 2 previous appointments starting in April but...they didn't have the parts...). So I got my first oil change, tires rotated and the recall done - and now my gas tank is emptying like a sieve again - I can't believe it. I'm seriously depressed (but I still love my hatchling). m.p.
Hi everyone. I've enjoyed reading your posts the past couple months--they've kept me pacified while waiting for my car to arrive. Thanks to all of you, I wasn't shocked that it took 11 weeks for the car to be built and delivered.
The cost for my white 5-speed ZX3 with air, tilt, convenience, power locks with remote, mats and destination was $13,003 (sticker: $13,960). I was able to get a good price by asking one dealer to beat another's price, and by leaving out a trade.
Here are my initial impressions after having driven the car for about 200 miles: Pros: --Smooth, quiet ride (Goodyear tires). --Smooth shifting; although I wouldn't have been able to shift into reverse without reading the owner's guide first. --Fit and finish good, although I noticed a dirty footprint under the passenger seat while I was installing seat covers. --Stereo sounds good, but not great. Reception is at least as good as my old car, but I haven't tried any AM stations yet. --At 70 mph, the car doesn't strain in the least (that's the fastest I've driven it so far). --Seats seem comfortable, although my back is usually screwed up, so I can't tell for sure. --AC works well.
Cons: --No fault of Ford, but I wish now that I'd bought an automatic. After not using a stick in a while, I find the fun is gone (plus, it makes it harder to eat a hamburger). I was trying to save money by getting a standard transmission. --The upshift light is driving me nuts. I'll be using the "Car Talk" solution of covering the light with black electrical tape. --The driver's inside door handle is in the way of comfortably using the window crank. --An armrest and more cubby holes would be nice. The cup holders are in an odd position.
Misc.: --I've been looking for people to notice the car, but I haven't seen any double-takes yet. I was a little distressed tonight when some people called the car "cute" and "perky." Oddly, my pickup-driving buddies have liked the car the most. My 75-year old mother didn't outright call it ugly, but she wasn't impressed. --Overall, it seems like a well-made car for the money, but the thrill-factor is nothing special.
I'll report back in a couple hundred miles to give some input for future shoppers. Again, thanks to everyone who has posted. I'm off to get my chrome exhaust tip.
I bought my car a Lake Ford in Lewistown Pa. The salesman was Bill Orris. No games, no unpleasant surprises, even though I was expecting some. I'm a satisfied customer--and no relation to anyone there.
fgaydos- i took your previous advice regarding a/c after cooling down interior i switched to interior re-circ. with air on.it came out with more force and was much cooler.-thanks!also,how did you ever make out with that scratch?
Scratch... I just duabed some silver touchup paint from Ford and it looks better but may one day get it done right. Hoping to move out of city so no use fixing it till I do.Actually, think it happened in work parking lot. Not sure.Pretty sure a kid crashed into on it's bicycle on the other scratch.
Was paying $1200.00 a half year for auto insurance in the city. Started shopping around and Travelers came down to $900.00 for same period. Pays to yell and scream a little and let them know you are shopping around. Seems to be a buyers market lately.
Our cars are exactly alike! I have the white with everything too. (except the tilt) I do not see too many white ones around so they really stand out when I see them. The main reason I got white is because it is cool in the summer. So is silver, but I figured that silver is too popular and thought the white looked nice anyways. I am suprised that you wished that you got an automatic now because everyone I know does not like autos. Everyone keeps asking me why I got the automatic. Because I like it!:)
Did anyone here buy their ZX3 off of the lot? I did but it seems like everyone has to order theirs and wait and wait. I am in South Orange County,CA. Are they harder to get in other states?
My fiancee and I each bought a car off the lot. Around here (Houston), dealers seem to stock nothing but basic-equipped cars (A/C, mats, smoker's pkg.), so a special order seems to be the only answer if you want a ZX3 with more options. Neither of us wanted more equipment, so we drove our cars home the same day we bought. To your typical car dealer, a loaded ZX3 makes little sense - they figure if you want more features, you have more money, so they work on moving you up to a Focus sedan, Contour, or Mustang.
I bought my zx3 off the lot, with auto, a/c, antilock, side airbags, remote locks in Rockville, MD, just outside of Wash. DC suburb. There are few zx3's on the lot, but most that I see have most of the options. Maybe the basic-equipped ones move fast. The automatics may sell well here because of our traffic.
Mine is an autumn orange, a color that doesn't seem to be as popular as the silver, black, red or green. I haven't seen any white ones yet, though. A check of a few dealerships here yesterday morning showed few zx3's available, and only one with a stick. The rest were all automatics with power everything.
I bought my zx3 in Dec. 99, off the lot. Or rather, they scouted their area and found one on a lot in West VA. It took a few days to get it, and they drove it to Richmond. If I had been thinking more clearly, I would have insisted on them taking some money off the sales price, because the car had 300 miles on it when it arrived. But it was the first new car I ever bought, and the first car I bought at a dealership, so I didn't know any better.
My brother will soon be joining our ranks. He has found a black zx3 (Philly area) at a dealership that he'll probably buy, even though it doesn't have power windows. He said they couldn't find anything in the area with power windows, so if he doesn't buy this one he'll have to order. Since he needs a car NOW, I think he's going to sacrifice the power windows. I told him to check out this forum for any and all advice he'll ever need!
P.S. My interior hatch release appears to be broken. Project, did they fix that for you pretty easily? Also, I have to try (again) to have the recall done. The part is always on backorder. Anyone else have that trouble?
When I went to get my ZX3, there was only one on the lot..a pitch black one. It was the one inside the dealers showroom that everyone sat in and played with. Then the day I went in to give the deposit there was a truck unloading about 5 ZX3's. They had silver, orange, infa red and the beautiful sagria red. That's the one I chose. I was only looking for auto and air. that was Saturday. That Monday I had the car and been in love ever since!
As to my earlier pst on finance incentives, I doubt seriously that Ford Credit will extend incentives past the next "refresh" date, July 5. In fact, in light of fuel costs, I'd be purprised to see any incentives at all (though I may be wrong).
I believe my wife got 4.9% on a 36 or 48-month note. Since she probobably won't take delivery until after 7/5, she called the dealer and wrote a letter to confirm that they would "grandfather" the deal past the deadline.
spdplay, Thanks for the offer, but rubberban was kind enough to temporarily donate his factory knob for measurements. The knob is in the mail to Central Manufacturing, and I suspect that the Flameball knobs will be available for the Focus this week. I'll post again when they're officially available in case anybody's interested.
towcrazy2, Please don't say that the incentives will disappear! That would be bad news for me. I'll have to talk to my dealer to see if they will "grandfather" the deal for me as well. I know now never to give a deposit without specific conditions that would make it refundable.
skater4- had same problem- catch was hanging-up minor adjustment + white grease done in jan. by dealer- has been working fine.dealer ordered new post which was slightly chewed-up from closing hatch when the catch was hung-up. replaced more for appearance than for function. part took about 2 wks. mileage-that 16 mi.per -seems awful light avg.25 to 30 air on hwy./ city-mostly stop+go
Re seat covers. I installed some $20 el cheapos from AutoZone. Nothing special--just something to keep the spilled drinks and donut powder off the original covers.
A few varied observations for everyone: I had problems with the dealer overfilling during oil changes too. Twice in a row, the dealer overfilled the engine, I pointed out the error last time, and the service guy said that "the computer says 5 quarts" ..(not the correct 4 1/2). Lets see if he remembers it next time.
Several owners have commented on gas mileage. When my automatic ZX3 was quite new, I got only 19-22 mpg. I was bummed, but previous posters had observed that mileage would increase as the engine became broken in, Exactly right. The mileage increased to about 25-27, despite identical driving conditions. Some of the early mileage was in the winter, which didn't help. It sounds like my experience was much like togetners, so hang in there jjk82!
Everyone should periodically check the 'blueovalnews' web site. Besides detailing the latest changes for 2001, don't miss the May 29th article about 'Fighting for Product' Briefly, it indicates that the ZX3 inventory is only 30% of what it should be! So for every 10 ZX3's that Ford could sell...they get 3. No wonder there is a waiting list, and delays.
I agree wholeheartedly about the stupid passenger seat design. I will think twice about buying another Focus if they don't correct this awful design. You have to adjust three different handles to get in the back seat. Terrible. The PT Criuser is looking better and better. Adjustable back seats and 150 horses. It is one thing to make a design flaw and another to ignore it in future releases. Even my lowly 323 had one touch auto seat forward. Another stupid design flaw is the window crank hitting anything you place in the door slots. Except a folded up map on it's side, it JUST clears the handle.
Well it seems everyone is raving about these new zx3's. I recently took one for a spin and it just seemed to have no pep what so ever. Anyway my question is that i had a dealer try and sell me a ZX3 and the price was only $13,500 with no money down. Is this a good price on a 2000 with auto, air, tilt, cd etc? Any input would be appreciated.
Not to be mean or anything but if you tend to have alot of passangers why didn't you go for a sedan or wagon? My previous car was a sedan and hardly ever drove people around, so I was positive that I wanted a coop. It would have been nice to have the seat slide forward but I wouldn't let that be the reason not to buy a ZX3. I am usualy the only one in the car. Now I dont like that the rear seat backs dont fold all the way when the seat bottom is not folded forward. That was a half assed design if you ask me. I remember someone saying that if you put too much pressure on the seat back without the bottom folded down then the clips break, which makes that commercial where the people climb out the hatch a false advertisement. Of course maybe they didn't want to show the people struggling to get out the normal way.
Thanks for reminding me.....Back seat design is also very stupid. Why would you have the seatbacks split and not the seats??? Duh. I always hit the seat in the up position when loading my bike in the back. Have to go around to the passenger side door, reach in and lift the wheel over the upraised seat. Gets old after awhile. This is disappointing when I realize all the raves the car got for great interior design. I do like the front dash but the seating is from hunger.
I still don't understand, why Ford did not install the "easy-entry, one touch slide forward" type of seats on our ZX-3's? Don't tell me that they were cutting the costs down. Ford should sell some kind of front seats modification kit that we could install, to get more civilized access to our back seats!!! To me it's a design flaw, something that does not fit to the overall picture of ZX-3.
fgaydos- with all due respect,i wouldnt put the pt in the same class as z.ive driven a pt out of cur- iosity.it is no fun mobile.in fact,i found it a labor to drive, 150 horses is underpowered for this vehicle.the one i drove had the cruise contol in- stalled upside down.a factory quality control over- look i was told.the power window buttons are located in an odd position.the hood is too bulky to get good vision of the road.the steering + road feel is vague. the engine is not responsive, im referring to get-up + go.it also is overpriced. style it has,substance is another story.as far as z -front passenger seat,i personally like the simple large pull handle.i view it as a design that was decided upon for sake of simplicty.i think it works quite well.ive had those glide seats + i dont miss it.for the infrequent times i use it, not much of an inconvenience.same goes for rear. grant it,im a big fan of the z,but if you consider the total whole+not the sum of the parts,the z comes out on top.the cruiser is a mini-mini van not a drivers car.if you factor in dollars spent and the price/performance ratio,one would be hard-pressed to find a better value than the focus. to smokeyburnout-if you want more pep,give the 5spd.a spin.
Points well taken. I should not speak till I actually drive one. I just get frustrated when designers do not do their homework. If the easy entry seat was available as an aftermarket choice I would buy it pronto. I do use it a lot. Every time I load the bike in and every time I drive more than one person. I actually get embarrased when I have to help with the seat going forward, I actually apoligise for the clumsy design.
Well, I did it. I got one & I thought I'd join this fun group. I had been researching & surfing for a car til my eyes where numb & the zx3 won!! On 11 Jun, Sunday, I bought an Autumn Orange with just about every option available (they should have a sun-roof option) This is a great color! Paid 14,500 without taxes,fees. Hawaii's prices are always higher than on the mainland. Thought I got a good deal. I can't believe that there are folks on the mainland having to wait weeks for a car to be delivered. I have about 100 miles on the car. I drive up a curvy mountain road daily to get to work & it took it very nicely, both up & down. Always pretty warm here in paradise & the air works great!! Very early but am enjoying it so far. Oh! Several folks have already done a double take at the car. I think it's funny.
My problem with the Crusier is that it looks like a milk wagon. Plus, it's built on a Neon platform...please.
I will look into seat slide mods and let you all know what I find. I didn't mean to kick off a maelstrom, I just wanted to know if anybody had found anything.
I also hardly ever use the rear seat, but when you need to drive people home after a night of libations (them, not me) the rear entry become particularly confounding... =]
Have you taken delivery of your car yet? Based on the above, it looks like a retrofit "kit" to install a slide-and-tilt option into U.S. spec ZX3s would be well received. Maybe this can be our first parts import project?
Just read the Edmunds Road and I say no thanks. Is it a truck or a car? NTHSA says it's a light truck and the EPA says it's a car, Go figure. I think it's a short time fad. No room in back seat, overtaxed 2.4 litre engine and 1/5th Neon. 0 to 60 is 9.5 with the manual.
Love my ZX3. Doesn't share with anything else Ford, and I know it's a sports coupe hatchback. Plus she will go 0 to 60 in just under 10 seconds with the automatic.
Comments
I dont recall if anyone has mentioned this but i saw a commercial for honey bunches of oats cereal and thay had a fleet of ZX3's crusing around town giveing out samples of cereal. And guess what they were all in Zinc Yellow with the cereal logho on the hood. That Yellow looked beautiful on the ZX3. Keep your eyes out for the commericial gang.
The cost for my white 5-speed ZX3 with air, tilt, convenience, power locks with remote, mats and destination was $13,003 (sticker: $13,960). I was able to get a good price by asking one dealer to beat another's price, and by leaving out a trade.
Here are my initial impressions after having driven the car for about 200 miles:
Pros:
--Smooth, quiet ride (Goodyear tires).
--Smooth shifting; although I wouldn't have been able to shift into reverse without reading the owner's guide first.
--Fit and finish good, although I noticed a dirty footprint under the passenger seat while I was installing seat covers.
--Stereo sounds good, but not great. Reception is at least as good as my old car, but I haven't tried any AM stations yet.
--At 70 mph, the car doesn't strain in the least (that's the fastest I've driven it so far).
--Seats seem comfortable, although my back is usually screwed up, so I can't tell for sure.
--AC works well.
Cons:
--No fault of Ford, but I wish now that I'd bought an automatic. After not using a stick in a while, I find the fun is gone (plus, it makes it harder to eat a hamburger). I was trying to save money by getting a standard transmission.
--The upshift light is driving me nuts. I'll be using the "Car Talk" solution of covering the light with black electrical tape.
--The driver's inside door handle is in the way of comfortably using the window crank.
--An armrest and more cubby holes would be nice. The cup holders are in an odd position.
Misc.:
--I've been looking for people to notice the car, but I haven't seen any double-takes yet. I was a little distressed tonight when some people called the car "cute" and "perky." Oddly, my pickup-driving buddies have liked the car the most. My 75-year old mother didn't outright call it ugly, but she wasn't impressed.
--Overall, it seems like a well-made car for the money, but the thrill-factor is nothing special.
I'll report back in a couple hundred miles to give some input for future shoppers. Again, thanks to everyone who has posted. I'm off to get my chrome exhaust tip.
Jay in Pa.
after cooling down interior i switched to interior
re-circ. with air on.it came out with more force
and was much cooler.-thanks!also,how did you ever
make out with that scratch?
Mine is an autumn orange, a color that doesn't seem to be as popular as the silver, black, red or green. I haven't seen any white ones yet, though.
A check of a few dealerships here yesterday morning showed few zx3's available, and only one with a stick. The rest were all automatics with power everything.
My brother will soon be joining our ranks. He has found a black zx3 (Philly area) at a dealership that he'll probably buy, even though it doesn't have power windows. He said they couldn't find anything in the area with power windows, so if he doesn't buy this one he'll have to order. Since he needs a car NOW, I think he's going to sacrifice the power windows. I told him to check out this forum for any and all advice he'll ever need!
P.S. My interior hatch release appears to be broken. Project, did they fix that for you pretty easily? Also, I have to try (again) to have the recall done. The part is always on backorder. Anyone else have that trouble?
I called, and they said the car hadn't been built yet, so they could still change it. They did. No problem.
So...yes, they can change your specs.
Of the 100 total that I counted over the past few weeks, 18 were ZX3s. That seems about right to me.
Beast we are twins, did you check out my car pics on yahoo focus clubs?
I believe my wife got 4.9% on a 36 or 48-month note. Since she probobably won't take delivery until after 7/5, she called the dealer and wrote a letter to confirm that they would "grandfather" the deal past the deadline.
Thanks for the offer, but rubberban was kind enough to temporarily donate his factory knob for measurements. The knob is in the mail to Central Manufacturing, and I suspect that the Flameball knobs will be available for the Focus this week. I'll post again when they're officially available in case anybody's interested.
towcrazy2,
Please don't say that the incentives will disappear! That would be bad news for me. I'll have to talk to my dealer to see if they will "grandfather" the deal for me as well. I know now never to give a deposit without specific conditions that would make it refundable.
Maybe you should check your math...
Has anybody found a place where with seat rails that we can retrofit outr cars with?
minor adjustment + white grease done in jan. by
dealer- has been working fine.dealer ordered new post which was slightly chewed-up from closing hatch when the catch was hung-up. replaced more for
appearance than for function. part took about 2 wks.
mileage-that 16 mi.per -seems awful light
avg.25 to 30 air on hwy./ city-mostly stop+go
Several owners have commented on gas mileage. When my automatic ZX3 was quite new, I got only
19-22 mpg. I was bummed, but previous posters had observed that mileage would increase as the engine became broken in, Exactly right. The mileage increased to about 25-27, despite identical driving conditions. Some of the early mileage was in the winter, which didn't help. It sounds like my experience was much like togetners, so hang in there jjk82!
Everyone should periodically check the 'blueovalnews' web site. Besides detailing the latest changes for 2001, don't miss the May 29th article about 'Fighting for Product' Briefly, it indicates that the ZX3 inventory is only 30% of what it should be! So for every 10 ZX3's that Ford could sell...they get 3. No wonder there is a waiting list, and delays.
More later. Any late club news?
It is one thing to make a design flaw and another to ignore it in future releases.
Even my lowly 323 had one touch auto seat forward.
Another stupid design flaw is the window crank hitting anything you place in the door slots. Except a folded up map on it's side, it JUST clears the handle.
I always hit the seat in the up position when loading my bike in the back. Have to go around to the passenger side door, reach in and lift the wheel over the upraised seat. Gets old after awhile.
This is disappointing when I realize all the raves the car got for great interior design. I do like the front dash but the seating is from hunger.
Don't tell me that they were cutting the costs down. Ford should sell some kind of front seats modification kit that we could install, to get more civilized access to our back seats!!!
To me it's a design flaw, something that does
not fit to the overall picture of ZX-3.
in the same class as z.ive driven a pt out of cur-
iosity.it is no fun mobile.in fact,i found it a labor to drive, 150 horses is underpowered for this
vehicle.the one i drove had the cruise contol in-
stalled upside down.a factory quality control over-
look i was told.the power window buttons are located in an odd position.the hood is too bulky to
get good vision of the road.the steering + road feel is vague. the engine is not responsive, im
referring to get-up + go.it also is overpriced.
style it has,substance is another story.as far as
z -front passenger seat,i personally like the simple large pull handle.i view it as a design
that was decided upon for sake of simplicty.i think
it works quite well.ive had those glide seats +
i dont miss it.for the infrequent times i use it,
not much of an inconvenience.same goes for rear.
grant it,im a big fan of the z,but if you consider the total whole+not the sum of the parts,the z
comes out on top.the cruiser is a mini-mini van
not a drivers car.if you factor in dollars spent
and the price/performance ratio,one would be hard-pressed to find a better value than the focus.
to smokeyburnout-if you want more pep,give the 5spd.a spin.
europe, how about our european friends check-in
with their views?
I just get frustrated when designers do not do their homework. If the easy entry seat was available as an aftermarket choice I would buy it pronto. I do use it a lot. Every time I load the bike in and every time I drive more than one person. I actually get embarrased when I have to help with the seat going forward, I actually apoligise for the clumsy design.
I will look into seat slide mods and let you all know what I find. I didn't mean to kick off a maelstrom, I just wanted to know if anybody had found anything.
I also hardly ever use the rear seat, but when you need to drive people home after a night of libations (them, not me) the rear entry become particularly confounding... =]
(rs)
Love my ZX3. Doesn't share with anything else Ford, and I know it's a sports coupe hatchback. Plus she will go 0 to 60 in just under 10 seconds with the automatic.
Pat