Ford Focus Problems

I would have an independent automatic transmission mechanic assess it and if that confirms that your fears are correct take it back to Ford. But if you do that you need to be prepared to argue because Ford will not roll over easily. You could also contact your state consumer affairs department and seek their advice. We have been told about a case of an owner taking Ford to VCAT in Victoria over a different issue, but similar to yours in that Ford was rejecting an owner’s claim and the owner won.

We'd like to think that our cars would last longer and not give us trouble, but the reality is quite different to that. The ZF 6-speed gearbox is a troublesome one that can fail, as yours appears to have done. But as Ford has pointed out to you your Territory is out of warranty, although that doesn't end Ford's responsibility to back the product. You could pursue a full payment for replacing the transmission from Ford, but I doubt you would have any success. Should you choose to do that contact your state Consumer Affairs people in Perth for advice and support. But in my view your best course of action would be to accept Ford's offer of part payment.

The Focus convertible holds its value quite well, but the market value of a car hinges on a number of things, such as age, mileage, condition, history etc. A car that has low mileage, is in good condition with a good service history will carry a higher value than one that has done a lot of kays and has been neglected.

We asked Ford to confirm the claims of your Ford salesman, and while we were told they would get to us after checking with their technical people they haven't. It's a tricky situation given that there is an on-going class action suit over the transmission, so I'm not surprised we didn't get a response from Ford. I doubt the claims very much, I suspect there's no truth in them, and the salesman was spinning you a line hoping to land a sale.

The Focus is a great driving car, but there are serious issues with its dual-clutch automatic transmission, so serious you should avoid it, or buy a manual. Consider others like the Mazda3, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Kia Rio, etc.

It's probably easier to eliminate those that don't stack up, those being the VW Golf, Holden Cruze and Ford Focus.

All have transmission questions over them.

The best options would be the Mazda 3 and the Hyundai i30.

The Focus is a good car with a serious flaw; it has a dual-clutch automatic transmission that gives trouble. I would happily have a 2012 Focus with a manual gearbox, but I wouldn't buy one with a dual-clutch auto. I'd be looking at a Japanese or Korean brand and going for something like a Mazda 3, Honda Civic or Accord, Hyundai Elantra with a good record of reliability.

That's a tricky one. Vicroads won't allow the vehicle to be transferred to a new owner until they can verify that it isn't dodgy, and that's fair enough, but I can't see why it should take weeks or months for Ford to trace the other car. All you can do is to try and keep the pressure on Ford to sort it out.

I can only assume your car has the dual-clutch automatic transmission. If so the bearing problem could conceivably be related to the transmission issues.

Both are good choices. The Mazda is more restrained, the Ford sportier. If you want a sporty drive I would go for the Focus.