Chrispy

The Focus isn't all peaches and cream as I say - it has had issues and I agree the quality of the plastics inside does leave a bit to be desired but my main aim was a change from VAG after the Octy II. I don't think Skoda are a bad brand per se as the Fabia I was excellent and I've still got a soft spot for the Yeti (from certain angles) but the Octy II I think was an opportunity for them to cut corners a bit. 2 year old cars should not rust like that.....or have steering racks fail......or have the paint fall off the wheels..... When it came to the dealer they were really no better or worse than anywhere else, it was just that I was there almost weekly with something else going wrong, and then they started to get sloppy, handing me my car back half re-assembled. That really got my goat. Ford dealer wise, Polar were terrible, abysmal showers of human excrement - their attitude and ineptitude seemingly knew no bounds hence I will not go back there for anything other than parts. Stoneacre in York haven't been bad to be fair - communicative and fairly on the ball but will try the one in Tad next time.

Well, it's been a few months now and I thought I might as well add a few notes seeing as this thread has been resurrected. Overall the car is great - the ride and handling combination never cease to put a smile on my face (Ford have this nailed - listen up VAG) and the car is far far quieter at speed than the Octy was. I can actually hear my music clearly now on the motorway whereas in the Octy you had to turn it right up and it was never right, regardless of the types of tyre I tried. The levels of kit are still fab and most of the toys get used regularly. The only thing I've not used is the self park because I never really need to parallel park and I don't trust it. Built in sat nav is handy and the Sony head unit is excellent. The only thing that did puzzle me was the lack of beep when the washer fluid is low - it just dries up to a trickle, that's the first you hear of it. :( Reliability wise it's been so so - once I had the buttons repaired on the steering wheel (bought the car with those faulty - my fault) the PAS itself decided to freak out now and then and fail when moving. Ford reflashed the PAS ECU and it's been fine since. I think I might have a dodgy tyre or a wheel bearing though now (N/S front) as it goes "wha wha wha" when going round roundabouts so going to get that looked at soon. I won't be using Polar Ford again though - they are so bad it's laughable. The main let down is the engine. For a 1.6 it's not all that bad - quite nippy for round town etc but show it an open road or a motorway and the lack of torque is evident and it doesn't pull hard at higher revs. Getting late 40's to the gallon out of it most weeks which is nothing like the 67mpg they claim but I'm not prepared to sit at 50mph to get that. If I'm forced to slow down, it will do very good mpg but that's not real world driving for me as I tend to use motorways and 70+ mph. Build wise, it's again not bad at all. The doors are obviously thinner than the Octy was but they still shut with a reassuring "thump" and the boot is far nicer to close. The Octy always felt flimsy in this regard and the rust on the seams due to the design was always a pain. I do miss the Octy now and then - miss the power, rear leg room and the boot space but that's about it. On a twisty road the Octavia would be hard pressed to leave a Focus (if it had a bigger engine than this puny thing). I don't think all Skoda's are bad as we still have the Fabia which is still going strong at 92k. It's chipped too and stupidly fast compared to the Focus but it's like driving a bathtub - there's no feel, the steering is too light, it wallows all over the place and you end up deaf with back ache when you get out. The wife loves the power in the Fabia but enjoys driving the Focus more.

I had my Shark map reverted back to standard when I traded the car in. But that means the flash counter on the ECU will still not be as it was when it left the factory (at zero I assume), even though the map is a standard one. How does that work then as the car is no longer modified? That's when it's rolling road o'clock surely?

So far, excellent thanks mate. After having the steering wheel buttons fixed and an updated map applied it's a lovely bit of kit and has had nothing else go wrong. Feels very well put together, handles brilliantly (with a much better ride than the Skodas) and I've gotten used to having lots of toys. The only thing I miss is the power......going from circa 205bhp to 115 is a large drop, but it's the torque that this thing needs - gone from about 300ft/lb to 200 (on overboost) and that is really noticeable Round town it's fine but show it an open road and it struggles a bit. Also the MPG is nowhere near what it should be as I'm getting late 40's tank on tank - annoying when Ford claim 67 combined but you'd have to drive at 50 mph to get that and I can't be arsed. But £20 VED kind of helps, as did the insurance rebate And it's taught me to chill out and waft along listening to Michael Buble rather than scream about with Rage Against the Machine blaring out (to try and drown out the road noise that was so intrusive on the Octavia). The brakes are smaller but more progressive and just as effective but I have noticed that it tramlines like a complete beotch, something I think the optional 18"s have done as other forum members have commented about the same thing with those wheels. 235/45/18 so slightly wider than the Octy and a bigger profile which helps the ride me thinks. Also Ford dealer was excellent when it was in for those 2 little things - very efficient and communicative. So far not missing the faulty rustbucket Octy for anything other than grunt and a boot like a cave, both of which I'm learning to live without.

Hard to believe considering how common the procedure is - the way they react on the phone it's like you've just told them you've got 2 heads or something. Having said that, when I declared the RARB on the Fabia, that really threw them. They wanted to know why I taking it rallying and why a roll cage was required..... It'll get to the point where insurers refuse to cover anyone other than the over 50's living in the Cotswolds and driving a Kia Picanto due to risk. It's getting silly and will only encourage dishonesty. Bit like this..... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20328860 :wonder: EDIT - it went up by about £200 on the Octy for a 35bhp increase and about £150 on the Fabia for a 30bhp increase. £750 and £500 respectively. Suspension mods hardly made a difference as it wasn't lowered, just 'uprated', and the leather interior never affected it at all.

Sigh..... I feel your pain. Well, I did. so far the "fix or repair daily" has been far more solid. Within weeks of picking up the Octy I had tapping heater flaps, whistling windows, drop link failure, popping radio, noisy tappets and flaking wheel paint.

Based on my experience of how skilled dealer techs are and how much attention to detail that they pay, I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole if I had the choice. The only useful part that came of it was getting warranty claims and goodwill gestures dealt with, other than that they consistently got things wrong or misdiagnosed. And for £70 per hour..... Bought all the parts myself for the 40k service and took them to a local garage who then went to town on the car, they even greased the door hinges. Car ran like new afterwards with a dramatic improvement in power, smoothness and economy. Skoda parts desk couldn't understand why I wanted to change the air and fuel filters before 60k....that said it all for me.

Going straight from PS3's to F1's - there wasn't much in it noise wise or MPG wise, BUT I did notice an improvement in grip, particularly from a standing start in damp conditions. Softer compound me thinks. Didn't keep the car long enough to see mileage but I'm betting it's not as long as the PS3's. If you want a decent tyre that lasts a while then PS3's. If you want a touch more grip, "slightly" cheaper and are prepared for slightly faster wear then F1's. IMO anyway....

Had Rainsports on a Fabia VRS. Great tyres but pick up stones a lot due to tread pattern and don't for the love of god ever kerb them or go over potholes - the sidewalls are really weak and they'll bulge requiring replacement. My choice is either Eagle F1 or PS3 based on what I've had. The Dunlops (Sport Maxx) that came with the car were not bad but noisy. Due to rear alignment issues they weren't on the car long enough for me to comment much more.

Agreed. Manufacturers get off too easily with things like this and unfortunately having someone complain to customer services means nothing to them - it has no bite. They can quite happily wheel customer service representatives in front of you (metaphorically speaking) and essentially keep you at bay. What really gets noticed is court appearances and bad press. Small claims courts are easy to use and very cost effective. Personally I'm annoyed at VAG as a whole as things like this simply shouldn't happen. Galvanised cars shouldn't rust, ABS pumps shouldn't fail (and get replaced for free on Audi and VW but not on Seat and Skoda). alignment should not be way out as the car leaves the factory, windows shouldn't fall out, steering racks shouldn't fail after 20k, etc etc. And the manufacturer keeps on doing it....why? Because they can as long as people keep buying their cars, and they do in their droves as they're quite pretty, "feel" well put together and the engines aren't bad when they're not broken. How long did it take before VAG sorted out the injector issue on 2.0 PD's? That took VOSA to step in as they'd already dealt with it in the states but fobbed the UK market off as we're somehow different......smaller perhaps?. And even then the dealers had a nasty tendency of making a hash of the job when they did do it.

I had a 3200LS and it was ok. Had a few issues with older phones, and my HTC's were never fully happy syncing with it but my GSII was fine. Things like signal strength suddenly wouldn't show up on the screen and when I had contact photos ages ago syncing failed completely but that was on my old HTC Desire. The voice recognition aspect of them sucks though.....still can't get close to what my Nokia could do with voice tags. Those were the days.

It's a weird one that. I could never figure it out - most of the time it tended to happen in warm weather where the car spent a lot of time warming up in traffic after setting off from work. If the roads were clear and the car was "driven" it wouldn't do it. If it did do it then sometimes even at full temp it wouldn't go away till thrashed. No fault codes. :(

That tallies with what I saw when endlessly touching up the Octy. The red coat was really really thin over the grey primer. I remember reading once that a certain Merc decades ago had 70kg of paint on it.....now that's a paint job.

I loathe having to spend that much on tyres anyway considering how long they last - a damned expensive consumable. Don't get me wrong I appreciate what they do but god they're pricey these days. Run flats would make me cringe.... For the record the Focus has PS3's on and I'll be keeping either those or going to Eagle F1's again come replacement time.