2012 Ford Focus consumer reviews

The Ford Focus is primarily a good vehicle as a whole but the problem lies with the so called automatic transmission. First let me say I'm a retired auto technician and owner of an Automotive shop servicing all makes and models. I purchased this car for my wife as our other car was approaching 11years old. This Focus is far from an automatic. The only big issue is the transmission which in real life is a 6speed standard with a bunch of servo motors doing the shifting and clutch workings for you. Ford has not really made this a smooth operation, it jerks,stumbles and rolls backwards on hills for most part. If you use the cruise control in the automatic position be aware that if your going down hill @ 65 mph and it (thinks) your going alittle to fast it will keep downshifting to keep you @ 65 mph,the only way to kep this from happening is to shift the car into manual mode and push the upshift button. This downshifting problem really wreaks havock on your gas mileage since it has increased the rpms to possibly 5,500 rpms. Ford should leave the shifting to somone who likes to shift and not sell you an option which costs approx $1,100. would'nt BUY!If you don't mind driving a car that does'nt know what to do at any specific time than this is just for you. This car was purchased at a Dealership in East Hartford Ct. They seem to think that this is O.K.

...it'll fall apart on you quickly. The interior layout is exceptionally nice and it LOOKS really nice. The whole car LOOKS real nice. And when you first drive it, it FEELS real nice. But then about 4 months after you drive it off the lot brand new, the usual sub-par American build quality becomes prevalent. Most, if not all, of the interior plastic panels rattle constantly. The fit of some of the panels is terrible, leaving gaps and causing rattles, creaks, snaps, and other obnoxiously loud noises. The front suspension is sub-par as well and is already falling apart. The sway bar links were prematurely worn after 4,000 miles. This was due to what was later discovered to be a faulty sway bar bushing, which was merely lubricated to shut all of its car-jarring creaking/squeaking up. Perhaps I was misguided but I didn't know I was buying an entry level car that wasn't built to last when I bought this thing. For the price, I expected a car that was aimed at grown adults, not kids buying their first brand new car.

The focus is the most gas friendly car i have ever owned.before my focus i used to drive my dodge durango which was costing Me $150 weekly ,now its costing me $32 weekly. Thanks ford

11,000+ miles and averaging 34.7mpg! per the computer. I am very happy with this Focus SE Hatchback. I have an SE with sport pkg, winter pkg and convenience pkg. sunroof. Sporty look and feel to this car. The sport shift is a blast once you get to know how to really use it. One thing is I wish there was more room in the back seat area, along with a few more cup holders for rear passengers. Quality interior fit/finish.

My 2012 Ford Focus has been at the dealer for a week now, besides several other times for transmission problems. It started with a noise when I hit between 40 and 50 mph. The car had to be driving for an hour or so before it happens and then it keeps getting louder. The tech I drove around said sounds like the transmission but they have no idea what it is. Got a call from the dealer today and he told me Ford support was sending them a service program, I assume it is a computer program, which should help. He said they would try that before they ripped the transmission apart. He also said when the car was on the lift it had a burning smell so they took some transmission fluid out and found slivers of metal in it . This problem goes along with the car rolling backwards after putting the transmission in drive on a hill and the transmission chattering in low speed changeing gears back and forth. If I knew any of this I would not have bought a car with an augmented standard transmission which they say is an automatic. Ford did this new transmission to get better mileage on the vehicle. The mileage was good but it keeps going down from 35 to 40 when the car was new in March of 2012 to high 20's to low 30's now in December 2012. I cannot wait for the lemon law to kick in on the car so I can get my money back, I hope.

This is our second 2012 Ford Focus in less than 8 months. The dealer bought back the first without any help from Ford. The first Focus had a chattering transmission, misaligned body panels and front end noise. Now the second 2012 Ford Focus has many of the same problems as the first with a couple of new ones. The second Focus likes to lose power for n apparent reason. After many seconds power comes back. And of course our friends at Ford have never heard of any of these problems. The long and short of it is this, BUY SOMETHING ELSE. Anything else. Our Focus both Focus depreciated by apron. 40% in mere months. WOW Ford, good job. NOT!

WE JUST GOT IN ANOTHER FOCUS TITANIUM EDITION HATCH HERE IN GLENOAK FORD,VICTORIA CANADA. IT'S TUXEDO BLACK METALLIC AND IT'S GOT THE TITANIUM (CHARCOAL BLACK & ARTIC WHITE) LEATHER INTERIOR!<3 :)

I've had my Titanium Sedan for a couple of months now. I am shocked that they still call this a Focus. I've driven Focus rentals from the past and this is not the same car. The touch screen, the leather, the tight sport steering, the road hugging handling, the soft ride and the fantastic mpg make this car step out of the "cheap economy car" stereotype. Im 6-2 so its a little tight but its still very comfortable. A bit pricey too but it aint the Focus from the past. I've read complaints about the new automatic 6 speed clutch but I dont feel the same. It shifts differently than you are use to but you adjust fine and now I kind of like it. I wish it had more power but it has good highway acceleration. Its my first economy car ever and I made the right choice.

Problematic...from the start. Purchased on Labor Day of 2011, new 2012 model. Test drove, and liked how it drove and the road feel/feedback was akin to my wife's 05 BMW 325i, very sporty. Plus, it was a new style and very nice looking. My wife wanted it for the advertised fuel mileage. After a week, it began making popping noises from the front end, but we decided to wait for first oil change to see if any other issues came up. Much to our surprise, there were a couple of recalls within a couple of months. Took the vehicle in for recalls, and asked that popping noises from front, and window whistle be checked, along with an acceleration lag my wife had noticed. It seems that sometimes she would pull out from a dead stop and the car simply would not accelerate. The car was returned with recall performed, and a note stating no other issues were found. A few months later, with only 2500 miles on the odometer, we took it in for it's first oil change, and asked them to check it over again, especially the front popping noises. They kept the car for 8 days this time, but did provide a loaner. They had ordered front struts to relieve the popping noises from the front. Those noises were indeed gone but the sporty feel of the car was also gone. A few months later after taking the car from Texas to KY, on the way home, driving west on I 40 just west of the Missippi river, my wife informed me she thought she had a flat tire. (I was driving a separate car ahead of her) This is an area in West Memphis just prior to the I 40/I 55 split, and is rather dangerous. She called AAA to change the tire, and in the meantime an Arkansas State Trooper had shown up to protect her from traffic. It was dark, and raining, and he walked around the car with a flashlight and advised her no tires were flat. AAA arrived and changed the right front tire because she felt it pulling to the right and could smell rubber burning. The inside of that tire was completely chewed off, but was still holding air. After spare was placed on car, she tried to pull away, but something was obviously rubbing. I finally arrived back to her location and with the help of the officer, found the right front strut bolt had backed out an inch or so, allowing the strut to slide all the way down to the axle, and caused the lower spring perch to kick out and grind the inside of the tire off. Two days later the local Ford dealer had replaced parts and we were on our way again. However, the repair was shoddy, and my wife continued to hear noises from the front. We stopped near Little Rock and I drove the vehicle a ways and indeed it did have a noise every time the steering wheel was turned in either direction. It looked safe enough to drive so we continued our trip home to DFW and I returned it to the Ford dealer the following day. They were very sympathetic to our cause, and offered to repair the existing noise, which was a bent backing plate on the right front axle. My wife had lost all confidence in this car and since I was leaving town to work a couple of weeks in Toledo, insisted we trade it in...It was barely a year old and had 6700 miles on it, and needless to say, we lost our butt on it...

Titanium model is very sporty and responsive. Getting about 32 MPG average. We really like it. Buy one.