Fed up Owner sells new Focus.... - Page 3

zetec · 01-03-2006, 10:51 PM

Nobody is building the Focus up to be something it isn't, quite the contrary, it's an honest forum with a fair share of negative feedback and positive praise from owners. If only people were so honest about the Toyota as they were about the Focus in public. Nobody pretends the Focus (at least nobody here) is something it isn't, yet the Toyota Corolla is seemingly unvincible, unbreakable, eternally reliable and unbeatable, with little attention to its obvious shortcomings and flaws by those who write for the magazines on behalf of all car owners, enthusiasts or not, with the aim of informing them. There are no reps from Ford here in this thread, just owners and enthusiasts, all of us with a point of view. Good points are made that we may or may not see a similar atmosphere on a "Corolla forum" if such a thing erxists. Maybe. Hopefully. Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing!

What some people here (clearly on a Ford enthusiast forum granted) are simply doing is refusing to believe the Toyota mantra of reliabe reliable reliable reliable until the cows come home. Sure there are some examples to back up both sides of the debate. However this thread has become a pointless fight and is going too far, it's not in the spirit of the forums once it gets so heated, I claim no innocence in this matter and so I will take my leave as I wish to no longer be confused with anyone other than a very passionate Focus owner, which is all I am. I don't wish to make this any bigger, at the end of the day we're all here to be informed and it's not doing any of us any better to argue, we're preaching to the mostly converted anyway! So let's agree to disagree from our various vantage points, experiences and opinions.

I do not disagree that the Corolla is hugely successful, popular and well known. I merely raise a question that doesn't seem to really be supported in the general public's eyes - Just becasue McDonalds sells the most hamburgers does it make them the best hamburgers money can buy? Thousands of Corolla owners can't be clinically insane, however this is more of a question to the status quo rather than an attack on some of the portions of society. Let's just leave it at this and go and enjoy whatever car it is we drive!

zetec · 01-03-2006, 10:57 PM

Out of interest, I thought I'd add a little external opinion to balance out this thread and make us all happier to know that the world is a normal place after all, the following thread which I found within 30 seconds on google is about an issue not unlike those we randomly come across with any car and scarily alike one that a member here has with an LS Focus - starting issues. For a so-called reliable car that doesn't even start. Guess it can't break down if it doesn't run to begin with!! :monkes: (tongue in cheek) Bad service (possibly unreasonable customer however in the Dealer's defence!!) and an issue that more than one person is suffering. http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t60965.html

The world is normal afterall!!

This by no means serves to obliterate the credibility of the Corolla, but simply to show that the posts of Toyota enthusiasts on a Toyota forum are not unlike (scarily identical to) those of us Ford fans here!! Phew!

omg · 02-03-2006, 02:50 AM

No-one ever said the corolla has no problems, only that it is significantly more reliable than the focus. You judge reliability based on forum posts, I judge it on actual maintenance costs from the largest possible sample set of vehicles. We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

zetec · 02-03-2006, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by omg

You judge reliability based on forum posts, I judge it on actual maintenance costs from the largest possible sample set of vehicles. We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

We wil and I'm glad we do! Bbut don't mix sarcasm with truth, I never judged Focus or Corolla by forum posts, I'm far too smart to be that shortsighted.

Martyvan · 02-03-2006, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zetec

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t60965.html

The world is normal afterall!!

This by no means serves to obliterate the credibility of the Corolla, but simply to show that the posts of Toyota enthusiasts on a Toyota forum are not unlike (scarily identical to) those of us Ford fans here!! Phew!

Thats one huge thread that has been going for over 12 months!
You are right, nice to know that the earth hasnt tipped out of balance.

murcod · 04-03-2006, 11:18 AM

So, it's justifiable for the Focus to have quality issues, because some forum posts show the Corolla does too?!

:

I would be extremely mad (to put it politely) if any new car I'd bought would intermittently not start, and the dealer was not able to fix it. BTW if things like that aren't fixed in the warranty period you'll have to start paying out of your pocket to fix it later.

amlohac · 06-03-2006, 04:48 PM

I own a 2003 focus, and from the day i took it back for its first service it had been nothing but a bucket of crap. Turns out it wasnt the car, it was the moron who serviced it. For some very odd reason they decided to put new trannie fluid in (to a car with 1000km on it?) anyway, they used the wrong grade fluid, it ate my trans to peices. I took back at least 12 times to say "theres something seriously wrong with my transmission for christ sake just fix it!" they kept telling me it was because it was a new car, it was the parts wearing it, they even at one stage said it was my fault for flogging the car over the first 1000kms or so (im not that stupid) They also said if you wanted relyability i should have bought an XR not a granny wagon.

So by this point i was about to take the recipt spike on the desk and put it in the guys eye. Instead of doing that i took it to a mate who works for ford in another town, he found the problem in about an hour, called me up and said i needed a whole new transmission! It took a month to get it from germany and to re-fit it.

Then i had a problem with the car going into its "crawl home mode" turns out some sensors were covered in oil, i cleaned them works great now. Also dont put a pod on your focus without a decent heat sheild and cold air induction, when you get a nice hot aussie day the car thinks its over heating and goes right back into that crawl mode.

Another thing, its not just ford dealers who put you down for having a "cheaper car" its everyone. Im in the process of modfying my focus and every performance house i go to look at you weird and say "focus? you mean falcon right?" The focus in this country is seen as family run-about, or a chicks car so thats why noone gives a rats bunghole about it.

But now, after 3 years of ownership and about 60,000kms the car is fine, but it took alot of ИИИИИing on my behalf to make ford see what i was seeing. Ive learnt that you kind of have to know what your talking about or you get treated like a total tool.

MeestaNob! · 07-03-2006, 01:05 PM

I assume you got refunded for the umpteen thousand botched services?

amlohac · 07-03-2006, 03:17 PM

services were within warranty, so didnt cost me a cent. The new trans and install also cost me nothing cos the ford dealer i ended up takin it to felt sorry for me

midgiefocus · 21-09-2014, 10:45 AM

Hi this is my first thread . I joined to ask for guidance when all keys have been lost .this was due to a house fire where my daughter was lucky to escape without injury however was unable to grab any of her personal items .luckily the car is unlocked so is able to be towed to a repairer .
my question is how do we get new keys for this vehicle
we live in Coffs Harbour so slightly isolated from major specialised lock smiths
any info would be welcome
regards Ray (midgiefocus)

pajoda · 23-09-2014, 08:16 AM

Unsure what a generic locksmith could do but if you supplied the VIN to Ford I am sure they could supply keys, it would be at a premium price though.

Yellow_Festiva · 23-09-2014, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by midgiefocus

Hi this is my first thread . I joined to ask for guidance when all keys have been lost .this was due to a house fire where my daughter was lucky to escape without injury however was unable to grab any of her personal items .luckily the car is unlocked so is able to be towed to a repairer .
my question is how do we get new keys for this vehicle
we live in Coffs Harbour so slightly isolated from major specialised lock smiths
any info would be welcome
regards Ray (midgiefocus)

Could this be included in the house insurance claim? Assuming you had insurance of course.