2012 Ford Focus consumer reviews

I'm currently driving (as a loaner/rental) a 2012 Ford Focus SEL 5 door (hatchback). It's the "basic" SEL model with just the added moonroof. Has the SYNC, dual zone A/C and the 6 speed Auto transmission, cloth seats and all the "standard" power features. Regular car is 2008 Mazda 3 Sport 5-door (being repaired). That's the comparison for this Focus. Handles very well around town - just like My Mazda3. Sporty, confident, able. Brakes are great, steering is great, power is ... mostly great. I've heard/read people talking about the transmission "oddities"... yes, it's kind of odd and lurching when just starting out... and for some reason, it allows the car to roll at idle in gear when on a slight incline. I back into My driveway and often have to feather the gas & brakes to get in without hitting the other car. Ford needs to remedy the transmission and it's ability to roll in gear. The dual zone A/C system is great... Cools down the black interior quickly - black car, black interior, desert location - and allows a better control over temps... Somewhat finicky controls to get air flow to both the face & the feet, but once it's there, it's good. Most others have a button or a marking for bi-level. With the Focus, you have to push the button for face and the button for floor/feet. The equipment for the price is outstanding! Great sound from the stereo, easy to plug in and control the iPod (Mazda only plugs in, no controls!), excellent A/C (Mazda seems weak), all windows are one-touch up & down.... And all of this for the low $20K mark...! And the equipment you can get - even better...! There are very few cars out there in this price range where you can have leather seats (including some great dual-tone styles!), power seats, heated seats, dual zone AC and so much more. SYNC system is great... works & controls the iPod very well - although sometimes, the voice recognition isn't too great, confusing some artist names. But the stereo sounds excellent and is easy enough to operate. Some of the controls are finicky and difficult to work - too many buttons, levers, paddles, etc.. But once you learn them & get used to them - they're not so bad... But having 4 different sets of switches & buttons on the steering wheel is a bit busy and a bit much.... But, again, once you learn 'em, you'd good to go. Car is pretty solid & well put together. Have an odd on-again, gone-again rattle from the headliner - right where it opens for the roof. Not so well stuck together there, Ford. But the doors close with a solid "thunk" and most else seems tight and trouble-free. Easy to see out of - big windows and BIG mirrors make it easy to drive and see where you're going. The mirrors come with "extra" convex mirrors to really help you see.... Some changes I'd make? * Allow the sun visors to slid a bit more and to be more movable - shorter people get blinded by the sun with the limited movement. * On the Tuxedo Black exterior, the front fascia is just TOO black with the big plastic grill openings and pieces. Makes the nose look like a flat black shovel. Don't seem to notice this in other colors. * Offer some kind of body-side molding. The doors are flat and are easily marked, dented, scratched by others. A little protection would be nice. * Cruise Control - make it so that I don't have to turn the Cruise Control system on EACH and EVERY time I start the car. My 08 Mazda3, 01 Chrysler PT Cruiser - even our 94 Chrysler Town & Country have buttons to turn the Cruise Control "ON" and then buttons for Set/Coast & Resume/Accelerate. With the Focus, you MUST turn it on each time and then set the speed. And it's often easy to hit "set" again instead of "resume" * Console drink holders. Something needs to be done. With a bottled water, there's no problem. But if you get a cup of soda (with a lid), the armrest cover is always in the way and hits the lid anytime you open the armrest. And if you drink out of a "bigger" cup, forget it. Just hold it in your lap. * Parking brake handle. On the SEL, the handle is badly placed (forward and left of the gear shift). My leg is always hitting the brake handle. * Add a "bi-level" button on the A/C system for easier operation. This Ford Focus has really gotten Me to - well - focus on a possible Ford in My future. When I bought My Mazda 3, it was a the top of a short list of choices. The Focus has easily supplanted the current Mazda 3 in that list... Wow....

Ford has really upped their game this new vehicle. The new focus provides a perfect balance between being a ?fun to drive? sporty car and a practical fuel-efficient vehicle. The focus is not as fun to drive as a Mazda 3, but gets much better gas mileage. In turn, it does not get as good gas mileage as a Prius, but is much more fun to drive. The focus finds the happy medium. The handling of the car was much better than I anticipated. It holds corners well and the steering is very responsive. I recommend you get the select shift transmission which will give you the typical driving mode (for best fuel efficiency), ?sport? mode and the ability to shift the gears yourself (for having fun). The interior fit and finish is truly the best in its class. When searching for a car, I looked at the Chevy Cruze, Hyundai Elantra, Mazda 3, and the Ford Focus. I did not bother with the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla for obvious reasons. The Ford Focus had the best quality interior of all not to mention the best looking. There are no squeaks or rattles to speak of. Interior space is a bit on the smaller side, especially compared to the Cruze, (somehow I felt more comfortable in the Focus) but the smaller space is worth all the extras you can get in the Focus. I got the SEL model with the MyFord Touch (MFT). Many people are having issues with the system and there are several articles and blogs about it. I had one issue trying to index music with my iPod but after a brief hiccup, it performed well. While I believe there are some legitimate issues with the system, I think that most of them are user error. And now for the most important part, the fuel mileage. City ? 30; Highway ? 37-38; Combined 34. Coming from a Jeep Liberty which got 17, I am a happy camper!

I rented this car for 4 days. Everything was good except the interior design. I felt entombed by the center console. The door handles were uncomfortable. The gear shift (automatic) had a bulbous handle that made it difficult to see to shift properly. The emergency brake design was aweful; difficult to pull, difficult to release. The position of the speedometer made it impossible to see speeds over 60. I never could figure out the light stalk. The center console was almost impossible to figure out since no driver manual was present. I had a most uncomfirtable experience.

Traded in saab 95 turbo. The focus gives up little in performance, handles better, is quieter, and more comfortable. Reliability has been perfect in first 6 months. I have owned a wrx, Saab 95, and several other cars. Focus is the best so far

I purchased the SE Sedan in March and I love it. I'm having no issues with the SYNC system, it works every time for me. The 6 speed auto transmission takes some getting used to, if you are smooth on the accelerator it will usually not jerk, but if are not if will jerk a little but so as to be intrusively annoying. I have gotten used to it and it does not bother me. Driving 65mph on the freeway I was getting 40.8 mpg last week which is impressive. The 160 hp is adaquate unless you just came out of a Mustang. The interior is nicely done, the seats are comfortable and well bolstered. Ihave had no maintenance issues since new and would buy another Focus,

I got a 2012 Focus SE. There are three problems with the car, two are easy to fix. First problem. The Ford Sych radio system. It bluetoothed well with my three year old Casio GZone but poorly with my Samsung Charge. I was told they have problems with the Droid system. It is such a poor system that I have disconnected the system and just use my phone on my lap as a speaker phone. As far as the rest of the radio system, I just load in CDs. May as well as they are pretty much antiques anywhere else. So easy fix. Second problem. The Continental all season (M+S) tires that came on the car. The car is so quiet all you hear is tire whine. Whine all the time. Easy fix. Got new tires. (And NOT Continentals.) Third problem. The automatic transmission. To say it shifts poorly from a dead stop is being nice. You have no option as to selecting the gear, you got Low and Drive. That is it. It is so bad that if you are on a hill you actually can roll backwards before you go forward. You may as well have an clutch with how it acts. Maybe Ford can reprogram the transmission. I hope so. I will ask the next time I go in for service. Other than those three problems...I love the car. 38 MPG on the highway, 32 in town. I would recommend this car but not the radio system and not the tires. If you can, get a stick shift. At least then you know why it rolls backwards on hills and you can control the shifting when you start out from a dead stop.

I bought a 2012 Focus S about 3 weeks ago and love it. I test drove several models including the 2012 Hyundai Accent and Elantra, the Chevy Cruze Eco, Ford Fiesta, and Honda CRZ. I thought that all were nice cars, however when I drove the Focus, it felt responsive and sporty. When I returned to the dealer I realized that I had a grin on my face(a good sign). The 2.0 liter/ 160 hp engine is energetic and revs willingly up to the redline. It has a nice sound when accelerating but is quiet most of the time. IMO this engine is a really nice fit with the 5-speed stick. The stick has very nice shift action, and so does the clutch. The car would get better highway mileage if the manual transmission had a 6th gear. As for the body/chassis, the car feels very well put together, the doors close with a nice "thunk", and cloth seats are attractive and provide good support. Also, the car's dashboard and gauge cluster are very nice. I cannot speak about Sync as this car is not equipped with it. Fuel economy is a priority, and during the first 2 tanks I have averaged about 34 mpg in about 30/70 City/Hwy driving. This was driving fairly efficiently but with the A/C running most of the time. The 5-speed is rated at 27/36 mpg which is a bit lower than some of the competition, but the car has 15 to 18 more horsepower than the others mentioned above, and that made the difference for me. I definitely recommend this car, but if you are looking for 40 mpg or more, you should look elsewhere.

I was looking to downsize from my Acadia for my daily commute. Didn't think I would find a "car" that I would actually like, until I saw the 2012 Ford Focus. I purchased the SEL hatchback with Sync and MyFord Touch, Sony radio, leather seats... I have to say I have been very pleased with this car. I actually get the advertised fuel estimates of 38 mpg on the highway and I'm averaging 34 mpg combined city and highway. I was concerned about the overall size of the car for a family of 4, but it's been fine. I can fit a ton of groceries in the trunk without lowering the back seats and the hatchback opens up easily and even though it doesn't close at the touch of a button like the Acadia, it has a handle on each side so you can pull it down easily to close. My Focus feels very safe on the road and handles great, especially around curves and corners. The only thing I'm not impressed with is the Sony radio, but that is because I compare it to the Bose I had in the Acadia. It may be unfair to compare the two, but the sound quality just isn't there in the Sony. Other than that, I have been extremely happy with my Focus. Love the voice commands that control just about everything from climate to cell phone to even my music from my iphone, also must add that using the voice commands on the navigation system also comes in handy while driving and I've used that feature a lot considering I get lost turning every corner! I almost forgot the MyKey feature is great also for my teenager. It's like parental controls...doesn't let them drive over 80 mph and doesn't let them operate the radio until they put their seatbelt on!!

I have a 2005 Focus hatchback So glad I decided to get this car in 2005 This vehicle has been trouble free and I have 92,567k on it. I will wait for the 2012 to come in and test drive for another possible purchase.

This new 2012 Ford Focus has a lot of similarities to my 2009 BMW 335i. There is a lot of German/European influence on this new redesigned car. For about $24k you can have all if not more options than a Mercedes/BMW for half the price. If you are looking for a well rounded commute car for not a lot of money, look into the Ford Focus Titanium. You will be very impressed with it. I have the 5-door Focus Titanium in Tuxedo Black (very cool color!!!) and I am very happy with it. The best part is I get close to 38 miles per gallon!!!