Going to receive car soon, may i knw anything to take note when get car? Any specific part need check?

cool, looks like you're more into performance and handling tuning, remember to share the outcome of each mod!

@ykl, check even the windscreen washer

I received my new Focus a week ago. Enjoying the new ride and handling. Very impressive!

I have a few questions on the car which I hope someone can share the answers :

1. What is the recommended air pressure for our tires?
2. I noticed that when I apply the brake when starting the car, the 4 door are not auto locked. If I want to lock the doors from the inside, I have to manually lock by pressing the lock button at the center console. Is this normal for Focus or did I missed something? My previous Japanese ride, the doors will be auto locked once I pressed the brake pedal.

Thanks

Allocate some time to check the car. The SA will have a pre delivery checklist that you can use to tick off the items to check. Also good to test out features of the car while stationary e.g power window, lights, start engine, wiper + washer, sun roof for Sport+ model etc. The imporant thing is to take your own sweet time to go through the car for any defects such as paint defect. Once you leave the showroom, any physical defects may be difficult to claim if it is not covered under the warranty.

When I collect my car, I also asked the SA to show me how to operate the entertainment system and to sync to my smartphone.

This is my 2 cents worth of my experience when collecting my new car. Other may chip in with their observations as well.

All the best with your new ride and ENJOY!

The recommended pressure is listed on the driver's door jam. The funny thing about this car (compared to my previous jap cars) is that there are different pressures listed depending on whether your car is usually lightly loaded or heavily loaded (lots of passengers/goods). Also, the front & back pressure levels are different.

No auto-lock for this car ... stupid, isn't it? There are some instructions provided by forums overseas on how to enable this feature, but they don't work.

Tqvm for the info. Waiting patiently, and hopefully can collect this week

Congratz bro !
Enjoy the ride

Thanks for the info. My last ride was the Swift and the recommended pressure for front and back tires is different. I think front is higher than the back. Reason given was front side with engine and heavier so need higher pressure.

Agree on your comment on the non auto lock for our Focus. Cant imagine a car at this level does not have a simple auto lock.

Front pressure is always higher than rear

Many new cars in Malaysia no longer have auto lock, due to some insurance matter.

^^ Continental cars does not have auto-lock feature. Its a safety requirement in case of emergencies or accident so that we are able to get out...notice when you press the lock button on the dash, you are still able to open the car doors from the inside but not from the outside...

As for the tire pressure, i'm using 32 psi all around....

An update.

I have driven the Focus Titanium on extended driving sessions during a recent trip from Klang Valley to Melaka and then to JB Woodlands/Singapore. Some observations and experience as follows.

On the main highway last Saturday, traffic was heavy all the way from KL to Melaka and vehicles were slow moving. On the fast lane speeds were limited to below 100km/h so didn't manage to have much opportunity to test the speed and power of the Focus.

The roads cleared a bit further down approaching Melaka. At that point I finally managed to test the acceleration power of the Focus, but not without some provocation. At that time a Honda Accord at the back of my vehicle was equally waiting for the opportunity to test the power of the VTEC engine as well as the driver was looking impatient, wanting push my vehicle to the left lane. The opportunity doesn't get any better than this when the slow vehicle in front of me moved to the left and there is a clear road ahead. Oh yes. I switched from D to S and floored the pedal. The sound of the revving engine in S mode appears to be louder and more robust sounding than in D. Rpms shot above 4000 in a split second and the Accord slowly disappeared in sight. In short, the pickup of the Focus from 110km/h to 160km/h is quite effortless. Switching back to D, the acceleration is equally good and with rpms kept lower, noise levels (from the engine) are lower than in S.

Contented with the acceleration power of the Focus, I then moved back to the left lane and let other faster vehicles pass.

In Melaka town, one thing I noticed is the rather loud noises from the suspension of the Focus not only when going over bumps but on uneven roads or something on flat roads as well. The suspension of the Focus, unfortunately, is not very quiet. The noise that the suspension produces is transmitted into the cabin. The knocks and thuds from the suspension when going over bad uneven roads. All these noises that are produced by the suspension, I find the sound to be louder than the Nissan Sylphy and even the Proton Preve Turbo. I am guessing it's either the noise from the suspension is louder, or the soundproofing at the undercarriage to block the noises from the suspension is lacking, or a combination of both.

Another point to note is as enjoyable as the driving experience can get, my mother-in-law sitting at the back commented that the Nissan Sylphy is more comfortable than the Focus. She tried to find the correct words to explain and finally did manage to convey the message in that the ride of the Focus is harder than the Sylphy, hence not as comfortable. She also mentioned the Sylphy is quieter. I can relate to her impressions as I know the suspension of the Sylphy is comfort-tuned, hence the ride is more comfortable as the softer suspension with "bouncier" springs soaks up the bumps and irregularities on the road. With the more performance-based suspension of the Focus which is tuned to promote a sportier and sharper handling, the irregulaties and imperfections of the roads are transmitted more effectively to the cabin, more direct or "accurate" road feedback. With other comfort-tuned suspensions which are tuned to give a more comfortable drive albeit with reduced handling capabilities, the knocks of unevenness and bumps on the roads are transformed to a floaty (more comfortable) ride by the more springy character of the suspension.

WHen I was in Singapore, I spotted a Focus Titanium which doesn't seem to be in 16" wheels. It seems like the wheels on this Titanium sedan are in 17"?



A close-up of a cropped image as below.



This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Nov 5 2013, 12:56 PM

By the way, forgot to mention that it is advisable to not follow or drive to close to a vehicle with wide tyres but rather try to keep a certain distance from it. When I was in JB near to the Singapore border, I was trailing an Audi A7. Tyres are 225 or wider I think. Suddenly out of no where a stone come flying to my vehicle and hit the front windscreen. Luckily no chip to the windscreen. Apparently the front windscreen of the Focus is quite tough and not easily cracked.

Have to be careful since the front windscreen is expensive especially for sport+/titanium+ variant. Insurance premium is rm600 for rm4k coverage IIRC. maybe due to the built-in fine defogger/demister line which you can see on the glass

Thanks for the information on the expensive windscreen of the Focus. RM4000 for replacement? Yikes. It always pay to keep a distance away from large trucks or buses on the roads. I always attempt to avoid these large vehicles but sometimes there is no choice as too many of these vehicles are on the roads these days. Keeping speeds low apart from keeping a distance away are the only methods to minimise the risk of flying stones hitting your vehicle and causing considerable damage or scratches on the paint surface or the windscreen of the vehicle.

THe front windscreen has defogger/demister lines? I thought they are only on the rear windscreen.

Go near your windscreen from inside & look very closely. You'll see very fine wavy lines which i'm quite sure the heater element for the windscreen. The switch is next to rear defogger switch (underneath climate control knob)

My SA told me their company's ford focus windscreen need replacement previously & they have to top up the rm2k coverage since it's not enough.

This post has been edited by wishndream: Nov 5 2013, 11:54 AM

Hi all Ford Focus owners,

I plan to get the Ford Focus, but have been contemplating on the car's auto transmission issue such as juddering, shaking, etc. Anyone experienced it before care to share their experience here? And did the issue ever got resolved?

I would really appreciate if anyone is willing to share their experience, so it would help me in my dilemma.

Thank you!

I notice that everyone is comparing a DCT GB to a conventional GB or CVT GB when it comes to the characteristic of a transmission.
I admit that sometimes in a DCT situation, 1st to 2nd can be hard to predict. I am driving my car almost 14k km now, and i have adapted myself to how the car responds to my throttle input.
What i can say is, the DCT GB character is not the deal breaker. I rather enjoy the drive with the DCT GB when i am light footed. The best GB is still a CVT, but IIRC, there is more 'waste' in energy in a CVT then a DCT.

So end of the day is, what do you want and what can you live without? For me, the built quality and drive characteristic of the car is more important then the minor issue (to me) of 1st gear to 2nd gear juddering ...

hi spiderman, totally agree with you. but what i am afraid of is getting the car with constant GB problem, and they cant fix it. have read a few of those problems online, where the owner have to constantly go back to SC to get it look at. It would be great if someone actually know or have the issue fixed?

Ummm... actually, from this forum & the Facebook group of Focus Mk3 users, there are very few instances whereby owners have such unbearable problems with the transmission system to the point of being forced to go back to the SC repeatedly.

Yes, the common "complaint" is the juddering in certain conditions and the grinding sound in certain other conditions. However, these are really characteristics that do not really impair the overall driving experience to the point that anyone really curses and swears never to look at another Ford again. In fact the juddering can be thought of as coming from driving habits based on all the years of driving jap cars. You might as well be complaining about how a manual car judders when you release the clutch too early/too fast.

There was some progress on a fix for this, but the last firmware update got screwed up, so the advice is not to try an upgrade until the new version ships in.

There are other problems which are REALLY of concern, for me most notably the higher occurrence of battery failure which is not good for such a new car. But since this is covered by the warranty AND by sheer luck it hasn't happened to me (selfish I know), I'm not going to let it impair my exhilarating experience so far of driving a Focus Mk3.

NB: I went to check out the Honda CRV yesterday.... OMG the trim quality is so poor compared to the Focus! I know this is not comparing like with like, but seriously for a RM150K car, this is unforgivable.