I have a Mazda 3 now, the biggest pile of junk I have ever driven apart from my previous Mazda 3.
The only saving grace is that the fuel consumption is amazing, otherwise I could find nothing whatsoever that is positive about the heap.
The worst thing about it is the electronic handbrake. It does not always disengage and there is one point on the way home, a roundabout on a hill where I have had the odd near miss through it.
Alas the Focus was brilliant when used daily, running up very high mileage, giving the old dear a rest does not seem to be beneficial.
It's funny. It was a mate 'giving' me his old Rover 218SD (for 100 quid) that meant I had to get rid of the Sierra and went from 25 to ~50 mpg. At the time that made a big difference to the cost of our motoring. I'd never had or wanted a Rover ... or a hatchback but the Rover slowly won itself over as it was still pretty capacious (with the back seats folded down) and cost next to nothing to keep running in the 7 years we had it (eventually getting £160 back scrap). ;-)
I think what made it 'good' was that it was basically a Honda Concerto with a Peugeot engine. ;-)
The girl opposite has a newish big Pug and one of her biggest complaints is the electric handbrake. I wonder if they will stop fitting them? The answer to a question no one asked?
You might have just exposed a weak battery or some other simple / cheap fault and she will live on to drive another day.
Daughter has two Transit Connect Vans (that share many of the Focus parts) and she just loves driving them. ;-)
I rent quite a few cars in Ireland and one that I will never ask for again was a Dacia [I think that was the name].
The handbrake was bloody useless, I couldn't get it to work properly, but fortunately the roads were quiet.
I met a Site manager in the UK with one and got talking. It seems that an "upgrade" is available for a fee. The upgrade is a lever and cables :-)
Oddly enough out of all the cars I rent, the ones I always seem to have some niggling problem with are Renaults. I dont think I had one that didn't have some minor irritation. I avoid the things now. I was never offered a Mazda either I wonder why ;-)
You can obtain a OBDII blutooth or USB interface on Ebay for around £10.
For a Ford some free diagnostic software for the PC or smartphone is available called ForScan.
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Connect by a USB OBDII interface (Search on Ebay for "OBDII Forscan" for compatible devices - possibly pay an extra few quid for UK sellers who claim to have tested the interface before dispatch)
For bluetooth connection to a smart phone try the free app called Torque Lite or pay £3 for the Pro version
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There will be youtube videos showing the operation but with a non-started engine you may only be able to get a limited amount of information such as the stored fault codes
On my old Focus there was an easy accessed diagnostic function that only tested the dash related functionality plus battery voltage. The real information came from plugging in to the OBDII port[1]. On my 2017 Focus the steering wheel accessed diagnostics is only a limited function report.
[1] The OBD port will be somewhere in the drivers compartment. In my old Focus under a removable plastic cover above the brake pedal. In my new focus its behind a a small drop down storage compartment next to the steering wheel (squeeze the sides of the compartment to release in to gain access to the port.)
To be honest, the software on the car is bloody uselss. Trying to turn off the satnav after destinating is a major feat, so much so that I dont use it and stick my Garmin on the windscreen.
The "I stop" is another useless function, it comes in in seconds and causes delays in moving. If I turn it off, it's back on an hour or so later.
My first Mazda 3 taught me just how totally useless the software was when it locked itself up with the keys in the ignition.
The number of times I was stuck in traffic unable to pull off was unbelievable also. It was taken into the garage around nine times before they replaced the "fuel rack". That finally got it working again.
It caught fire once and held up traffic on the M40 another time with smoke pouring oput of the engine compartment. It had stopped smoking when the fire brigade turned up, but be warned, they are thugs. They smashed the engine cover and other bits to see if they could find the cause, even though there wasn't a wisp when they arrived.
I did regret stopping when the smoke got bad, I should really have carried on until the thing burst into flames.
Mazdas were a temporary blip in the compaies car purchases, they were all trouble and nearly every one was scrapped at 120K
I really am glad that it isn't my money that was wasted on the pile of junk. I would by far prefer the Focus, but a nearly 200k Focus that's a bit thirsty on fuel and oil would probably be questioned if I claimed a car allowance :-)
One of our customer's had this happen to a focus outside our pub alarm warning light and engine would not turn over but everything else seemed to work ok the AA turned up and fixed it within a few minutes well ask what they did when I next see them
The other issue with those is that somehow water gets in behind the dash and corrodes connections and all sorts of bizarre issues ensue until the owner gets shot of it. Brian
+1 with my Ford Focus Zetec (08). Had several "Transmission Failure" notices last winter before start or just after starting the motor (never when in motion). As its a manual gearbox I was at a loss to understand what this message may mean. Anyway turn off motor and restart always cleared the warning. Battery eventually failed in the cold of last winter (it was the original) and the "Transmission failure" alert has not been seen since.
Whilst they can often allow you to reset some (mostly engine?) fault codes, the more useful feature is being able to display them in the first place.
The routine is to first see what they are, then reset them, then see what comes back (as some could have been in there for *years*).
Then you have to try to see if the codes that are coming up are anything to do with the fault that's actually causing you issues.
If you have a laptop and are interested in playing with such things I'd second the thought of getting a copy of Forscan and a USB interfaced Ford optimised OBD dongle. Whilst I believe some of the pins are standard on the OBD port, others may not be and the more focused (excuse the pun) interfaces know this.
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FWIW, my generic OBD interface worked fairly well on a couple of makes / models I tried it on but gave the least information on my mates Focus. I didn't have Forscan at the time.
Op-Com (clone of VauxCom) works very well on our Meriva and helped me diagnose a communications fault between the ECU and the BCM. It's weird to be sitting stationary in the car and making the speedo read
An OBD interface connected with appropriate software should allow the fault codes to be reset and clear a fault light. However having faults reported doesn't inhibit the car starting - it is the fault itself that is preventing the car from starting and if the fault is still present the fault code will re-appear.
The OBD is the tool to help diagnose the faults and not necessarily to fix them.
Often the fault code will not point to the specific item that is causing the problem and you probably may/will have to perform an internet search to find the common faults associated with the code. Smartphone Apps like Torque often provide the appropriate internet links associated with the fault code.
apparently it happened twice first time outside pub AA replaced fuse which had blown second time some weeks later car had to be towed to Ford dealer by AA for fix but they dont know what was replaced so check fuses first
Remember when checking fuses there are 2 or 3 fuse panels on a Ford Focus i) Engine compartment ii) Passenger footwell (or on older models behind the glove box) iii) In the boot (unlikely to have any fuse functionality to stop the car from starting)
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