I've rented a Ford Focus to binge drive on a long trip. Running 75 mph I was getting 37.5 mpg--pretty good.
Everyone brags so much about the Honda Civic, and I've had a couple of SI models. I actually like the way the Fiesta drives just as well if not better. And they can be bought used for a much better price.
Any owners of Ford Focus or Fiesta 2012-2016 out there? Any horror stories you might want to share?
My first new car was a 1980 Ford Fiesta Ghia. Basically Euro Ford's version of the highly popular VW Rabbit. Very fun car to drive.Not here... but DW's first car when we were married was a first generation Ford Fiesta econo-box... it was somewhat of a go-kart with a body in it... a very fun car that I miss.
Can they only be horror stories? I bought a 2011 Focus new (admittedly outside your rather narrow window). 8 years, 133k miles and counting. Replaced the front struts 3 months ago. No other repairs in 8 years, just scheduled maintenance. And thanks to the Civic fanboys on this forum, I can now calculate that the Honda Civic lifespan is at least 32 years and 532k miles. Way to go, Honda!
I bought a 2014 Focus for my daughter. Unsuspecting to me Ford was selling these cars knowing they had clutch and transmission problems. We will be taking it in for the 3rd time now. Even though under warranty for 7 yrs or 100k miles they can't seem to fix it. The car is a POS.
Ironically, the problem with the brakes is most likely caused by letting it sit so much. Rotors rust and caliber slide pins seize. This causes shudder and brake dragging or uneven wear side to side................But, the past three yrs I have had to do something with the brakes costing many hundreds of dollars EACH TIME. OK maybe it's just a confluence of unfortunate circumstances? I only put a couple thousand miles on it EACH YEAR! Hardly running it to death. I shudder to think what the hell this car would be costing me if I actually put normal mileage on it.............
Ironically, the problem with the brakes is most likely caused by letting it sit so much. Rotors rust and caliber slide pins seize. This causes shudder and brake dragging or uneven wear side to side.
I rented a fusion hybrid recently for 9 days and liked it. Decent acceleration, good visibility, Android auto worked flawlessly.
In 2007, I had one of the early fusions for a year (company car) and loved it.
I have a few antique cars that sit around, and probably don't go more than 1,000 miles per year. However, I keep them garaged, so that might factor in.
One of them, a 1979 New Yorker 5th Avenue, I bought back in 2001, with about 85,000 miles on it. Around 2002 or 2003, it did need some fairly major brake work...being close to 25 years old will do that to a car! But, I haven't had to put a thing into it, brake-wise, since then.
My mechanic told me though, that while cars are better for the most part these days, one area where they actually HAVE cheapened out, is in brake components. Rotors are thinner, brake lines more prone to rusting out, calipers and such have a lot more plastic in their components, and can't take extreme heat, and so on.
Any owners of Ford Focus or Fiesta 2012-2016 out there? Any horror stories you might want to share?
I bought DW a Focus a few years back. The model year would’ve been an ‘08 or so. It had a sealed tranny, which means you can’t switch out fluid.
Yeah, but once the 7yr or 100k miles is up.....then what.You are correct.....although, Ford won't admit it!
Its been about 8 months since they last changed the clutch and trans control module, so if history repeats itself, in about another month Ford will need to replace those parts once again for the fifth time. When my son calls and gives them his VIN they just order the parts and schedule a repair time. There is always a nice new loaner vehicle waiting for him when he gets there!
Mike