It's gone.....

[Chrispy]

Hi guys,

Just thought I'd pop on here to let you know that after much deliberation, driven by (a lack of) reliability I decided to get rid. List of faults included:

Failed steering rack - Replaced as Skoda goodwill gesture but took a year to sort from start to finish, ending up outside of warranty. Nightmare.

Failed A/C pump Replaced with Skoda goodwill contribution.

Failed DPF sensor - Replaced under warranty after I broke down.

O/S rear window falling out of guides - fixed under warranty

Rust on bootlid (weld seams at the ends) - started to re-appear even though dealer repaired under warranty

Cracking paint on roof gutter seams - Repaired under warranty but took 3 weeks to get this approved as Skoda didn't want to do it

Rust on roof above windscreen - appeared out of warranty although I'm sure it was related to the roof respray above.

Flaking paint on wheels - One wheel replaced under warranty but another started to do it when the car was out of warranty.

Wind noise from rear windows - "Repaired" under warranty although dealer ruined this with a slicone gun

Rear wheel alignment eating tyres - rear wheel alignment corrected as goodwill gesture although I'd paid Skoda for a 4WA 2 years earlier and they'd clearly not done it.

Steering wheel wobble on certain road surfaces - Couldn't fix no matter what i did

Stereo going pop - New firmware applied by dealer under warranty but it would still do it now and then.

A/C flaps endlessly tapping - Dealer couldn't cure this.

Tappet noise when cold - Would do it now and then from when the car was new but got to every morning in the last couple of months. Oil was on the right level and was changed every 10k without fail.

Hesitation when backing off and re-pressing the throttle at high RPM - God knows.

Sometimes sounding really diesel-y when warming up and hesitating - needed a quick thrash to clear it. This was usually if I started the car and got stuck in traffic thus it spent a lot of time at idle during warm up. Again god knows.

I did contemplate a Yeti for a bit but they're pricey and I couldn't fully get on with the looks. Not only that but I couldn't face dealing with Skoda dealers any more as pretty much every time I went there I left angry for one reason or another, such was the level of incompetence and apathy. And considering the Octy felt tired after 49k and 4 years is not a good sign - mate of mine with an 09 Seat Exeo has the same issues, it's falling apart and has 75k on it.

I was looking at an 11 plate Mondeo Titanium X TDCi 163 but after test driving one and realising how huge they are (and not very torquey and hefty round bends due to the weight) I had a go in a 12 plate Focus Titanium 1.6 TDCi 115 and loved it.

Obviously the power drop is pretty big (monumental in fact) but otherwise the car is fantastic. More toys than you can shake a stick at including

Sat nav

18's

DAB

power folding mirrors

self park (not tried this yet )

rear tints

keyless entry and ignition

stop / start

Much much more, including 500 buttons on the dash and steering wheel and I'm still learning what they all do....

Also the handling is something else. Far smoother ride than the Octy could ever hope for and it goes round bends like they aren't there - very pointy. A remap is on the cards to take it up to a more sensible 145bhp and 240ft /lb but I'll let it run in before I do that.

Finally £20 VED was something not to be sniffed at, and high MPG is also nice although so far it's only averaged 51mpg, not the 67 they reckon it can do. But it's only got 2700 miles on the clock so it's still tight and a little reluctant to rev.

Not expecting Ford dealers to be up to much but everyone I've spoken to about owning a Ford (specifically a Focus) says they've never had a problem (bar the ST's on thirst) - unlike all the VAG owners I speak to who start listing all the faults on their Audi's, Veedubs and Seats etc.

Just wanted to say thanks for all the advice and 'll still be on here when it comes to the wife's Fabia which has been brilliant so far - 04 plate, back before VAG started making them out of chocolate and papier mache.

Cheers,

Chris.

[blueR36]

Sorry to see you sold it , but you and Grizzle did seam to have more than your fair share of problems, post a pic up of your Mondeo

[Stormchaser]

Sorry for your bad luck. Hope all goes well with the Focus. As said post some piccies.

Good luck.

[kris1]

I'm going from a focus to an octy for similar reliability reasons

Friend has the same car as you have there and he struggles to get mid 40 mpg. Had it back to ford and they said there's nothing wrong with it.

Nice looking car though. Boot wasn't big enough for me though when I was doing trackdays and needed to lug all the vine stuff about

[silver1011]

I think you had a bad'un.

It's a shame the dealer wasn't able to put things right in an effort to at least keep you in the Skoda stable.

Not everything is rosey with the new Focus, see here for some MPG and clutch pedal woes...

http://www.whatcar.com/car-reviews/ford/focus-hatchback/readers-reviews/25471-5

What Car's 'True MPG Calculator' shows the Focus in a bad light when attempting to compare real life MPG vs. Ford's claims...

http://www.whatcar.com/truempg/my-true-mpg#

I'm not won over by the looks of the Focus either and tend to agree with Fifth Gear in that it looks bland.

However, it repeatedly wins group test after group test so Ford have clearly got something right.

Good luck and I hope it provides safe, solid and reliable motoring.

P.S. which Ford dealer have your vRS? Just so when someone comes on here in a few weeks asking what we think to their potential purchase we can tell them to proceed with caution!

[IMT]

One thing you definitely have going for this is that from purchasing my fiancee's Fiesta a few months back and my current purchase of an Octavia, the Ford dealer has performed way better in the customer service and giving update stakes.

[rob_e]

chap in my office has that automatic parking on his focus. it wipes his alloy rims on the kerb every time he uses it.

:|

[Chrispy]

Not really planning on using the self park thing - for the rare occasions I need to parallel park I'll do it myself I think.

Economy is the only thing that worries me at the mo as it seems for a 1.6 diesel to only get mid 40's to the gallon when the mapped Octy could do the same without being careful at all - that just seems silly. Ford might be seeing a lot of me if that's the case.

Having said that it is reluctant to rev and feels very tight due to the mileage. A remap should sort out some of this too as the standard Ford (PSA) map is pretty dire to be honest. We'll see how it goes....

[blueR36]

Sorry scanned through thought it was the Mondeo , just realised it is the Focus, hate the looks of the new one, even ST trim, cant make it nice! Loved the last RS Focus, that was gorgeous, anyway , reliability is what you are after so hope you get it

[TDIum]

I'm sure a Ford Diesel will be reliable in the long term ..

[Grizzle]

Well in mate still looking my self seen a nice 5 series estate.... best of luck with the new car i think me and you had the friday afternoon builds.

[Chrispy]

Well in mate still looking my self seen a nice 5 series estate.... best of luck with the new car i think me and you had the friday afternoon builds.

Thanks mate. Once it's paid off it'll be 6 months out of warranty so if it does go wrong it won't be as much of a problem. The Octavia would have been almost 2 years outside of warranty by the time it was paid off and as such was a liability on wheels. Was lucky to get as many good will gestures as I did to be honest. Couldn't face another year of it though - practically a new issue every month. :(

Mate of mine got rod of his Leon for the same reasons as it was a new problem each month and it had just fallen out of warranty. It had to go.

It's a bit of a gamble going with Ford but there wasn't a lot else on the market without going French. :(

[Jabozuma]

Well in mate still looking my self seen a nice 5 series estate.... best of luck with the new car i think me and you had the friday afternoon builds.

Beware of cosmic size of servicing costs if you plan to service your 5-series at main dealers. I have 07 plate saloon 520d and want to get rid of it due to ridiculous running costs and buy Superb Estate . 37mpg, two years and left over £1500 at the dealers, not to mention £175 VED and over £350 insurance ( Fabia II vRS will cost me £210 to insure lol).

I had a similar experience with Audi A3 in early noughties. It turned out the fault was basic but these days "master techs" are only able to hook up OBD II diag machine, read a fault code and replace a whole sub-system... Went through 3 gearboxes and 4 clutches before I lost it and had it assessed by an expert witness engineer who worked all his life in Wolfsburg. Power half axle was faulty producing vibrations destroying gear box after gearbox and clutch...

The only good thing was that I never paid a penny even when the warranty run out. Snotty letters must have worked .

I hope you are happy with your Ford. If I were you I'd go for Toyota Auris Hybrid-£15k new with 0% credit currently

[Grizzle]

had a 525d before so i know about servicing costs .... my old bm was far more reliable than a Skoda ever will be.

Ideally need an estate my self.

Get some pics up of the focus mate.

[cheezemonkhai]

IMHO a BMW costs a bit more when it goes wrong than a VAG, but goes wrong less often.

Overall I'd say running costs are probably similar.

[blueR36]

Nothing wrong with French these days

[Chrispy]

Nothing wrong with French these days

Yeah we had a discussion about this at work and that was the general consensus. Much better than they used to be in recent years. As I say my 405 was solid and my wife's 306 HDi wasn't bad either, just a bit tired after doing 100k. The Octy would have been in pieces after 100k......

As I say I'm covered by warranty for all bar 6 months of the cars ownership so it's mostly Fords problem not mine if anything goes wrong. Here's hoping the dealers are more competent as Keiths were just unreal....swimming in a sea of ineptitude and you had to go to managers to get anything done. Tried the Wakefield branch last time after they'd moved from Ossett and they were just as useless as I remembered. "Forgot" to look at the bodywork whilst it was there for a service so once I'd gone to collect it I had to wait another 15 mins without so much as an apology, only for them to then tell me to take it to Leeds anyway as they couldn't help. Utterly bloody useless.

I know all cars suck in one way or other in the reliability stakes but after owning 14 cars I thought a return to Ford would be worth a shot.

MPG wise on the car it's improving as I use it. It just needs using and running in by the way it feels - was proper lumpy when I first picked it up. £360 for a remap (home visit) to take it to 140bhp and 220ft/lb which should be fine for day to day wafting about and give a few more mpg if I drive normally - the Shark map did.

[Web Ferret]

Shame - Make sure that you send a link to this thread to Skoda UK.

I agree with your comments about Keiths - Unless you contact the Directors who are excellent , the staff are poor.

Not that they give a monkies.

I now buy cars based on users forums - Thats the place to get advice as the dealers are now cr@p once they have sold you a car.

Skoda and others take note - Devise a class leading users advice/support forum and you will never need to spend on advertising ever again. Power to the people.

Edited 23 October, 2012 by Web Ferret

[Chrispy]

Oh I could go much further on the detail front.

After having no end of trouble getting my steering rack diagnosed, going to collect it (after they finally diagnosed it on the 3rd attempt despite a back street garage diagnosing it first time, in 20 mins flat) only to find the foot rest that goes next to the clutch pedal and its screws were sat on the passenger seat as they'd neglected to re-fit them. Took them 20 mins to put it back on whilst I stood there. It's only a couple of torx screws.....

Also when I had it in for rust on the boot lid and cracked paint on the roof. Went to collect and they'd only done the roof, not the boot. They insisted they had done the boot till I showed them the cracks and rust that were still there and they went "oh, maybe we haven't".

When I took it in for the paint falling off the wheels they wanted to refurb them even though the car was only about 1 year old. I had to complain and take it to the other dealer in the chain for them to replace it. Same thing happened with the rear window seal that they took a silicone gun to - the other dealer had to fix that as the first one made such a mess of it.

Taking it in for a 4WA only to collect it and find the steering wheel not straight. Took it straight back and was told "oh we can't do anything about it now as the place we take it is closed". Place they take it? WTF? Had to go back again days later and leave it with them.....again. Even then they still didn't correct the rear camber as the tyres got chewed for a second time and it had to go into Wakefield Audi to be sorted a year later.

Utterly shoddy workmanship and lack of attention to detail. Basically no-one checks over their work and they'll quite happily give a customer back their car in a sub standard condition. Makes me laugh as they wanted £150 (just for labour - the part was another £150) to fit a new rear brake caliper on the Wifes Fabia. That took me 30 mins with a trolley jack.

After the rack was replaced, when the service manager asked me how many issues I'd had with the car overall and I reeled it off he said "oh, not too bad then, good solid cars these....."

Errr, compared to what?

That was the last straw. Such a shame as the car was otherwise fantastic had it not fallen apart. Roomy, quick (ish), well equipped (ish), not bad on fuel, good looking (although slightly dated now being a pre-FL). Ride could be better given the under damped handling (drive a Ford and you'll see what I mean) but otherwise entertaining enough.

Edited 23 October, 2012 by Chrispy

[Chrispy]

Also, how is it Skoda do well on JD Power and Which surveys if the dealer network is this bad? Gotta say too, the fit and finish on the Ford is a lot better than the Octy from what I've seen so far. Shut the boot and it's "whump" not "clunk". No foam visible around the isofix bars on the rear seats like the Octy had, no screw heads visible between the rear seats and the C pillars. Also I think the sills are made of something stronger than cheese - had to make trolley jack adapters out of hockey pucks for the Octy as the sills just folded if you dared to jack them up.

One other thing too - the Focus doesn't twist like the Octy did. Go over speed humps at an angle for example and the door seals would creak as the chassis twisted. Not great. :(

[matt_theforce]

I've just made the move to an S-Max from the Octavia and much prefer the drive in the S-Max, much more refined yet still just as fun, a bit down on power but thats easily sorted . Hope you enjoy the Focus

[Grizzle]

Mucho Jealous Chrispy lol, i know what you mean with the chassis twisting and door seals etc twisting... i cleaned the car on sunday and noticed this

seem part of the door is rubbing against the sill and if you look closer you can see the rubber seals rubbing into the paintwork.

[Jabozuma]

Sometimes reading here gets me so depressed I want to cancel my order and buy toyota...

[Chrispy]

Mucho Jealous Chrispy lol, i know what you mean with the chassis twisting and door seals etc twisting... i cleaned the car on sunday and noticed this

seem part of the door is rubbing against the sill and if you look closer you can see the rubber seals rubbing into the paintwork.

WTF???? I had no idea it could get that bad - and that's rusting too! The road we live on is up a slight incline and as you turn onto it the car twists and as such used to creak like mad. The Focus is slient over the same bit.

Not looking forward to new tyres though. 235/40/18.....even more expensive than the Octy. Sigh. Look nice though - good size that suits the car. Will post up pics once I've washed it at the weekend as it's covered right now.

[Chrispy]

Here's a quick pic by the way - when it was sat in the showroom.