New Focus - Joys and Heartbreaks

[New2Focus]

I've been given heart by the experiences of other new Focus owners!

I took delivery of a new Pure Silver LX sedan (manual) 4 weeks ago - from dealer stock (this is a true story!) - and it's been back 4 times. In this case, it's mainly dealer incompetence - apart from that, the car is brilliant. To those still waiting, just be assured that it's worth it.

My car is a very early one (June, I think), which may explain a bit. The boot fit was appaling, and I made a point of requesting it be fixed before delivery. It wasn't. Also on delivery the power steering was making a high-pitched whine at standstill and walking pace. How these chronically obvious faults got through (a) factory quality control; and (b) dealer delivery ($1,495) is breathtaking.

Taking the car back for both problems, I was told that "You have to remember that this is a new steering setup, and take that into account." I objected that no other Focus I'd driven had it, so they agreed to look at it. A new pump and reservoir was ordered from interstate and later fitted. So that's fixed.

Like ShockWaveXR6na, my boot lid was so poorly aligned that it was scraping paint off the bumper in one corner. The dealer, on not being able to fix it, booked it in to a paintshop (for 2 days), and handed it back to me with "they've done a great job", which was only partly true - a two-second glance showed it still wasn't right in one corner. So it's booked in again. A half decent crash repairer can get panel gaps almost perfect on a near write-off, so I don't know why this is so difficult.

ANYWAY.... two seconds behind the (chunky leather-wrap) wheel is enough to forgive all. Especially at night with those quality green instruments. If I didn't know better, I'd put money on it having a small '6' under the bonnet. I'm not pushing it too hard, but it's just so sweet. Passing a truck or something noisy, you have to look at the tacho to see when to change - there's just no vibration or harshness through the seat / wheel / pedals / gearshift (contrast to Mazda 3 which I was going to buy before the Focus was released - only minor kw difference, but much less refined).

What I can't understand is why no-one is raving about the manual gearbox. What a honey! The change is so short, quick and precise - particularly 3-4-5 - it really makes the car. Although there's ample torque for less gearchanges, I find myself changing just for the sheer fun of it.

So, yeah, I'm browned off with the dealer, but just love the car.