Ford Focus Estate (2014-2018) | owner reviews: MPG, Problems & Reliability

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Problems: sqeaky driver seat- fixed, not had any repeat so far. Vibrations on heavy braking- wheels not tightened enough. The disc is held loose on the wheel bolts, tightening unevenly/not tight enough = judder/vibration. THe acceleration is oustanding, cornering/road holding are excellent. the many buttoned console I quite like- I have rented vehicles with touch screens & generally they are to be avoided. Bootspace is just about adequate. Cabin noise is very low, suspension excellent. Fuel use at around 31 in town, 36-38 on the motorway at 70mph. I feel the headlights are not very good compared to my old 406, but love the cruise control, heated front screen & auto brake feature "ACS". have not used the parking assistant or the "stop/start" feature ever, feel these are not essential. Never had a Ford before - I feel it was a good buy.

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This car has been great from the start. Super smooth engine with a very distinct 3 cylinder noise under acceleration a slick positive gearbox and it's full of neat touches and clever electronics that work really well including the self parking. A great drive with the added benefit of an estate body. You also sit in the car which I like, when compared to people carriers where you sit more on like a van.

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At speeds in excess of 60mph my Focus is inclined to drift within the lane. Perusal of 'Ford Focus steering problems' on the net indicate this to be a well established and widespread problem. You cannot take your eye off the road for a milisecond for very real fear of drifting from lane and side swiping another car or worse. Anyone driving behind me could be forgiven for thinking I am driving drunk, weaving about the lane and road, trying to "keep Focus" in the centre of road. Have tried to convince ford to do a recall as have noticed this to be a major problem with other 2013 and 2014 focuses. Couldn't be more shocked by attitude of Ford, to my mind extremely negligent. Several attempts by dealer have very marginally reduced the danger, though still far from satisfactory. Constant and worsening rattling from within dashboard at 15,000 mile mark is v annoying, and apparently not covered by five-year warranty even after only 18 months. MPG very poor at motorway 60mph speed, less than 50mpg. Again not covered by warranty. Am made to feel very unwelcome at and by main dealer when I try to have these matters addressed. Car is comfortable when not being driven. Build quality in terms of premature rattles very surprising. Ford head office person tried to convince me that buyers' lane drifting issue placed on net by competitors of Ford. Massive recall overdue. Insist on 48 hour test drive and get signed letter from dealer that rattles, poor mpg covered by warranty. Extreme caution is best.

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No Red thumbs down

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Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

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No Red thumbs down

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No Red thumbs down

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Yes Green thumbs up

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Yes Green thumbs up

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no problems

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Yes Green thumbs up

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No probs so far other than I pod connection, now sorted.

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Faultless so far

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This is the worst car we have ever had. First it stopped on the M62 – luckily we were in the left lane. After 10,000 miles it stopped on a busy junction on the M62 – but this time in the middle lane. After Ford's failed attempt to fix the problem the first time around, our 11yr old has now said he doesn't want to get in it again. I'm not confident that the dealer knows how to fix the fault.

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No Red thumbs down

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A reasonably sized car and very practical. There is very good boot space which is a handy size - we used this car for several camping trips and was able to squeeze a lot of kit in. We enjoyed the way it drove, handling is probably the Focus's best feature. The rear reversing camera makes parking much easier. The infotainment system worked well with my phone and the SAT NAV was as good as any I've used. It's a shame the dashboard is laid out so badly, it would be easy to crash looking for the button you want. The interior quality of the Focus feels cheaper than a Golf but still wouldn't say it was bad. I got an average of 50MPG commuting to work but struggled to get anywhere near 60MPG even on long runs and when driving really carefully. There are a few things that really let the Focus down; the brakes are terrible and just not good enough for a car like this. The acceleration is pretty poor and you'll struggle to overtake anything. The joins on the body panels had larger gaps than I would have liked. When the engine was cold the car would judder horribly when you changed up to 3rd at lower revs. Overall I would say the focus was OK and didn't let me down, but it isn't a "great" car - better than an Astra, worse than a Golf, but you pay for what you get.

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I will start with the only downside; rear legroom is quite poor but then i am 6ft4... Otherwise it is a pleasure to live with. Super smooth on the road, very comfortable and a real joy to drive. Engine is better than I expected. It doesn't set your heart on fire but it's all very usable. With a car full it's not under-powered either. It is also very refined; one of the best diesels I've driven. Sat nav is pretty good and I like the various screen options along with the directions coming up in the screen between the dials. My personal fav bit of this car is a very squidgy steering wheel, so comfortable in the hand. Stereo is pretty good aswell, good sound quality and the system is easy to use. The tough decision was to go for this or the Titanium X, however the spec on this is good BUT it comes with 16-inch wheels which I was worried would look too small for the size of car however it looks just fine and the extra rubber most likely helps. All in all I didn't want to give it back and get back in my BMW; going from really super sensible car to, well, not very sensible poser car.

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The car in itself with regard to finish and refinements is adequate. This is a 1.6 automatic transmission. The engine is underpowered and revs too high in my opinion giving poor MPG. Even on a long run its best is 34 mpg whereas Ford claim 48. It now developed a transmission problem. It hesitates before pulling away after approaching a junction or roundabout. It also rolls back on a slight hill occasionally despite being in drive. It also judders when crawling forwards on tick over. Its booked in to checked over on June 1st. To my surprise the dealer was fully aware of the problem and Ford have issued a computer update. Nice of them to advise their customers about a recall. I wont be buying Ford again. Japanese or German next year

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Yes Green thumbs up

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Yes Green thumbs up

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nothing to tell

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This car is really a poor car, it's the worst car I've ever driven and I drove a Reliant Robin for years . At 70 mph it wanders all over the road, giving the impression it isn't safe to drive. Follows every bump in the road at 30 mph. When using the clutch it far too easy to get your foot caught on the left foot rest. Accelerator pedal is far to low and hard to keep pressed down. The buttons on the right side of the steering wheel control the screen in the centre consul while buttons on the left side of the steering wheel control the dash board screen, would have been better and less confusing the other way around. While driving the lump in the floor beneath the pedals is annoying. It came fitted with the wrong mats. Only one of the locking holes could be clipped in place on the drivers mat. The problem is that the mat could move and get caught up with the drivers feet. SatNav isn't very good the routing is far to small to see properly and when voice is used it often cuts out for split seconds. Very complicated to use. On a recent journey I used a portable SatNav and not the in car one. There are far too many buttons searching for the right one while driving is very dangerous especially as the car wanders. The speed limiter is difficult to reach it can't be reached to alter with the thumb, one has to take a hand of the wheel to press with a finger. If it's raining the rear view camera suffers with condensation and it looks like the car is belching smoke. When putting the car in the garage the front sensor sounding the warning is off putting. Indicator levers are too high up for my liking. Has trouble pulling away on steep hills. The clutch smells like it's trying to burn out. Engine lacks power. All in all a very poor car. Since it requires a rating I gave it one star pity this review wouldn't accept my leaving the rating at zero stars.

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Only had it three months and I've already got a cooling fan problem.

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Never had any faults or problems.

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only problem in just over a year is tempremental central locking, dosen't always unlock correctly

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Bought this car a month or so ago this Focus estate is brilliant. The drive is lovely, entertainment system is awesome, in car calling is a godsend send and works perfectly. I've often hit 80 on the motorway without realising its that smooth, and the pull in 2nd gear is better than the 1.8 MX5 I used to own. This car drives so well you don't even notice it's an estate and rather long. I can't wait to do a long journey in it!

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Bought new on PCP, seemed a good deal at the time, traded in a 3yr old (car not person). Car was ok, stereo was the best bit integrating well with my android phone over Bluetooth allowing music to be played from the phone etc. Impressed me anyway. Then it started having random engine management issues... you would pull off and it felt like the turbo wouldn't kick in, engine management light, then abs light, traction control light, battery charging light etc. Stopping, turning it off and then restarting usually cures, but tends to happen when puling onto motorway or at junctions which are not usually the best place to stop. All cars can develop issues but what shocking it the way in which the dealership, Ford UK, and Ford Finance deny its their issue. If they could deny it had a ford badge on they would. Multiple repairs, and the latest stint resulted in 13 weeks in garage without a courtesy vehicle. Tried to reject vehicle, but as I've owned it 3 months this is apparently impossible, currently perusing the Ford Finance through ombudsman as car is not fit for purpose. If car worked it would get 4 stars as when working its ok, but all cars have issues at some point and how dealerships deal with this issue is really an important part of car ownership.

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No Red thumbs down

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I have no issues to date

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Yes Green thumbs up

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No Problems so far

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Yes Green thumbs up

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No issues yet

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No Red thumbs down

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Dose every thing i ask of it, when i ask it, cruses though town in top gear, when you want to be sport it handles like its on rails, over all its just plan fantasic value for the money, simple.

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Diabolical economy. Probably the worst car i have ever owned. Clutch went at 18,000 miles. Rear seat rattles. Main Dealer fit front/rear parking sensors worse than useless. Cant wait to get rid of it. Unfortunately had to buy it for practicality, how i hate that i had to make that decision

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No Red thumbs down

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I have owned this car from new and it has definitely been the best car I've ever owned. It's now done 37k miles during which time it has been faultless. I knew when I bought the car it'd never achieve the claimed 67mpg average so it was hardly surprising I get around 55. 1st and 2nd Gear can sometimes feel a bit jerky but thats my only gripe about the way the car drives.

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Yes Green thumbs up

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Only 6 months old but so far can't fault it's performance

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Yes Green thumbs up

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nothing has gone wrong at all

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Anyone who is thinking of buying this car don't fall into the trap. We have had trouble from day one. The car was supposed to arive 2 months after order which was in December but it did not come till march the year after. Plus after 5 months and 4000 miles into the car it had an engine fault on it. It is laughable really on a brand new car and the engine has failed. Ford said they fixed it but they had not and it took about 2 week to fix in the fords garage. Fords offer a poor service and to top off a great car they said 'oh yeah you will be getting 70 odd mgp when we struggle to get 40. If you want my advice never buy a ford car go for a BMW where customers are treated with care.NEVER BUY A FORD!!

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No Red thumbs down

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I bought this car on 1st September 2015. This is the Titanium X Estate, my second Titanium X. The problems started on Sept 2 nd when the passenger air bag warning light came on. I took the car back to the garage and they did something and the light went off for a few hours and then came on again. In all, it took 12 days to solve this problem. After about 2 months, the screen blanked. It came on again but blanked another two times. I took it back to the garage and again they solved the problem. At this time I decided to involve Ford customer service. What a waste of time that was. The lady I spoke to lied on three separate occasions but she did give me a free service. They tried to blame my garage, who incidentally, had been totally supportive. I had a deal with the garage which involved Ford finance. I asked them whether the car should ever have left the garage.The chap I spoke to agreed that it should not have but then he was great at apologising. Bay this time, the engine management light came on after I had given a stricken motorist a jump start. Back to my garage! The code came through from Ford and the light went out, only to come back on again. Another code from Ford. The head mechanic noted that this was a different code for the same fault! It was decided that the problem was the computer. The car is now, more or less, running smoothly. I did forget to say that at 9000 miles I had to have a new clutch. I have been a Ford man for over 40 years but after this experience, No More! i've been given a second free service and Ford Finance offered me £100 in compensation on a take or leave it basis. I left it AND Ford.

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No Red thumbs down

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excellent

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Yes Green thumbs up

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up

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Yes Green thumbs up

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no real issues, just the odd what i can only describe as an old fashion miss fire/hesitation when cruising on motorway at around 70mph

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No Red thumbs down

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Very good. Works every time. Everything works and feels solid.

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No Red thumbs down

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very good nothing has gone wrong

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Yes Green thumbs up

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No problems with it at all. 100% reliable

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Yes Green thumbs up

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seems very good

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Yes Green thumbs up

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Yes Green thumbs up

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Yes Green thumbs up

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Had the car since it was three months old and have taken to the same main dealer in Sutton Coldfield for all of its servicing. Fantastic handling and fabulous 1.5 diesel economy and mid-range performance, no issues at all with the car and it still drives the same as when it was new.

What's the one thing you like most about your car?

Secure handling and fuel economy.

If you could improve one thing, what would it be?

More leg room in rear but this has been rectified with new model.

Would you recommend the car to a friend?

Yes Green thumbs up