I kena more than 3x. SDAC told me just ignore the warning signal. Drive as usual.
Based on my experience, whenever struck in heavy traffic, always engage to N gear when halt in middle. It works and I didn't encounter this after all .

This post has been edited by jameshy: Oct 20 2013, 11:58 AM

Hopefully it is sound advice, and that the message prompt is just an electronic glitch or something and won't bring any adverse effects to the transmission. It appears that what that was written in the Owner's Manual isn't all that accurate after all.

I bought a groupon deal for spraying the rims, haven't go and do it, not sure how's the quality, still hesitating which colour to choose, also considerating matte black or gunmetal black for Candy Red.

Power Coating is it better and longer lasting?

https://www.groupon.my/deals/klang-valley-s...Spray/717615521

Colour wise can be similar for both but powder coating is more durable. I've checked the price for all 4 rims powder coat between rm800-rm1000 whereas normal spraying is around rm400

overall quite satisfied with the car. just a little disappointed considering im paying over 120k for it. it just struck a sour note. my wife will be driving it most of the time and she is totally blank when it comes to cars. im concern if problem arises when she is driving alone.

my feedback on the tinting and sierra glow.

1) huper optik - very happy with quality despite having to re-tint twice due to bubbles
2) sierra glow - for the price im paying still acceptable. if you ask me whether i will send my future car for sierra glow then the answer is No. I washes my car once a week and lately is been raining frequently, watermark start to form. i would rather send my car for polishing once every 3-4months especially when there are tonnes of deals out there on groupon, livingsocial etc...

Ummm... just to share: I had a less-than-satisfactory experience with one of those discounted polishing jobs; ended up with them scratching the paint in a couple of locations. Not sure if they weren't careful just because it was so deeply discounted, or their quality is really so bad. That was my old car though, not the FoFo...

Now I wash my car by myself and use a sealant and Wipe-on-walk-away wax about once a month. Watermarks so far etch on the wax/sealant so don't seem to be permanent (yet)....generally happy with the look/maintenance. When I send it for polishing (hopefully not more often than once every couple of years) I will send it to a reputable shop and pay the price.

Compared with some of those really tip-top maintained cars, I notice quite a bit of orange-peel... dunno whether I'm picky, I got unlucky with my particular car, or the dark colour (Midnight Sky) makes it extra evident. How's yours?

Meaning you need to shift the gear to different mode when there is traffic jam? Wouldn't be too troublesome?

Thanks for sharing, looks like the deal is quite worth it looking at the number, not sure the quality and workmanship yet. I'll be the white rat and post some photos when it's done. Just trying since it's quite affordable, and if the colour not nice, I'll consider redo it with power coating to another colour, or even change the 4 rims.

Not as troublesome to switch to N gear every time it stop, right?

Thanks for sharing, I was planning to do sierra glow...

And for those groupon deals, I personally do not recommend as I've bought a few and the workmanship is pretty vary , from poor to acceptable only, none satisfying.

This post has been edited by 304125: Oct 21 2013, 11:00 AM

recall what you said earlier. the 5 yrs warranty is purely gimmick. Should watermark worsen i can't sent my car for polishing at other places apart from sierra glow. if i did, i believe sierra glow will give excuses to void the warranty. lesson learnt

agree with you on the paint quality. certain areas on the car is not as smooth as it should be. i think red is good to look when it is still new but very difficult to maintain as it will look very dull quickly.

... so it looks like to get an absolutely optimum finish, we may need to go the "extreme" route to level the paint (wet-sand & repolish or those deep cutting leveling pads specifically for orange peel) which is waaay beyond my DIY capability. I have found a detailing service that can do it, but still need to commit to the cost and time (up to 3 days, I estimate!) to get it done..... mebbe after year-end bonus time... heh heh....

Your candy red still makes heads turn, btw; so the added care to keep it looking fantastic is worth it, IMHO....

That would be nice. please post the pix after the coating . BTW quite difficult to get nice rims for focus as the PCD is 108 which is uncommon here.

I'm not doing coating, I'm doing the spraying first. If not nice only consider coating.

Thanks for sharing the PCD, I didn't know about that earlier

im having midnight sky as well. I don;t really notice it... have tried any polishing yourself if it improves the finishing look?

I did a bit of survey and found out that the Focus recorded a very respectable maximum horsepower in comparison to other vehicles in the similar or higher engine capacity, or vehicles which come with turbocharged engines. I am a bit surprised that the horsepower of the Focus isn't too far off from the Honda Accord 2.4 and is higher than most 2.0-litre vehicles despite some comments on the aging though proven Duratec engine.

From what I gather more horsepower may translate to better performance at highway speeds whilst torque is more to pulling power, especially acceleration at the low end. Torque at 202Nm is higher that most common 2.0-litre non-Turbocharged engines.

Highest horsepower in chronological order.

Make____________________________Maximum Power(Ps/rpm)___________Maximum Torque(Nm/rpm)
Peugeot 508 GT 2.2 Turbodiesel______________204@3500__________________________450@2000
Honda Accord 2.4 Earthdreams_______________175@6200__________________________250@4200
Ford Focus 2.0________________________170@6500______________________202@4450
Peugeot 408 1.6 Turbocharged_______________163@6000__________________________240@1400
Volkswagen Passat 1.8 TSI__________________160@6200__________________________250@4200
Volkswagen Jetta 1.4 TSI____________________160@5800_________________________240@4500
Peugeot 508 Turbo S 1.6____________________156@6000_________________________240@1400
Honda Civic 2.0___________________________155@6500__________________________190@4300
Honda Accord 2.0__________________________155@6500_________________________190@4300
Toyota Altis 2.0____________________________146@6200_________________________187@3600
Peugeot 408 2.0___________________________145@6000_________________________200@4000
Mazda 3 2.0______________________________145@6500__________________________182@4500
Nissan Sylphy 2.0__________________________133@5200__________________________191@4400

yes... i did compare as well and puzzled how come duratec 2.0 the HP is higher compared to most 2.0s out there... u can see that power when cruising on highways at let say 110 - 120... suddenly some big/small cars comes want to kiss your ass... u just need to press a little deeper on your pedals.. you can see the work of that Duratec 170hp. u can leave them quite a distance to catchup... unless it's a turbo charged at your back.. then different story la.... hehe....

Although I haven't really tested the car too much, I have equally noticed on the effortless acceleration at highway cruising speed. The vehicle feels light when you want to accelerate from say 110km/h to higher speeds. The needle on the speedometer climbs up rapidly and the Duratec engine doesn't seem to be struggling much. With the Nissan Syphy or Preve Turbo, the vehicle feels heavier during mid-end acceleration. I guess the Focus' powerful mid-end acceleration is mainly made possible by the higher available horsepower on tap.

No wonder the acceleration of the Focus at the mid-end is so effortless. I didn't focus on the power and only looked at the torque before this. Apparently the Focus has a very respectable horsepower in that 2.0-litre Duratec engine.

The engine is one thing; don't forget the dual-clutch transmission. Whatever the engine puts out, it gets to the wheels with effectively little loss and no lag. It's wonderful to feel actual acceleration to be tied with the pitch of the engine's induction sound; cars with torque converters feel "decoupled"/delayed.

I have no problems living with the peculiarities of DCTs (like the occasional juddering) in exchange for the "connected" feeling and responsiveness.

agree.. i do hear the grinding sound when shifting through low gears... and once a while juddering... but i'm used to it as well considering the fact that it's actually not a problem. something minor despite all the major plus..