yay! finally received the car today! so far I'm okay with the DCT (yes, even with jam) as I've been driving my friend's fiesta for some times. The Car NVH is really supreme and worth mentioning, the sound system pretty impressive as well.

One thing I notice is the front screen is reflecting the dashboard and it irritate me especially under the sun, hopefully a darker tint can help with it (yet to tint), anyone experience it and got any solution to it?

Congratz

Btw, did ur SA encounter car registration problem with JPJ?

I have yet to receive my car due to JPJ problem

No, I didn't trade in my previous car, so I don't have much issue with the mySIKAP system, I just sign on my loan agreement last Friday and I got my car this Saturday. Most time spent on the bank loan approval.

But the SA did mention about the issue with the mySIKAP system, many of his customer been waited for weeks after loan signed...

Hi lowkl,
thanks for the feedback. Good to hear that you're enjoying it! I'm looking forward to the same level of enjoyment were I to purchase it (and even though I can't afford the ST yet). Do you have any transmission problems so far, at low speeds? Apparently, this is one of the major areas where the previous Focus failed, but it seems the latest firmware update has eliminated the problems.

yesterday was my second day of driving focus, enjoying it very much, the solid feel going through bumpers, thanks to the independent control blades and also the sport tuned suspension.

However, I realise a few things:
1) there's bad jerking when jam at steep up hill (example in a shopping mall parking)
2) the smart entry delay about 0.5 seconds before it unlock the car, meaning if I approaching my car, I can't open my door immediately, I have to put my palm in the door handle, and open it slowly (not immediately, wait about 0.5 seconds)
3) There's delay in picking up, about 0.5 seconds before the power kick in, example if you wanna accelerate further when you're in speed of 60-80km/h
4) The steering a bit too light during low speed, and a bit too heavy at high speed (this maybe personal preference )

And today when I drive my Vios to work, I realize Vios is so much more responsive (feel lighter, in fact it is lighter, Vios kerb weight around 9XX KGs and our beloved Focus is around 13XX KG) and smoother gear changing, maybe I dare not push the Focus too much yet, (scare of the jerk, so just go smooth, be gentle on the pedal).

In resident area, Vios's steering is so light and easy to turn, the handling is not too bad either.

Overall, still loving my focus very much, after all, it's my choice!

Oh ya, one more thing, the Ford Sync, it was working fine on day one, and yesterday, don't know due to what command it received wrongly, it went to a mode call "line in" and seems like it trying to play music from my phone device, and ever since, my bluetooth phone never work, it just keep disconnect ever time I try to pair it, and even when I try to delete it and reconnect, it doesn't delete...

Should I do a master reset? Will my radio setting all gone, or it just reset the BT device?

This post has been edited by 304125: Nov 25 2013, 10:48 AM

No complaint about he car except for the gear. If you can accept occasionally jerking and frequent grinding sound from gear, please go ahead!

Last few weeks really decided to buy focus but then my wife dont really like it. After that we went to test drive cerato and found out my vios handling better than cerato. Feels like not worth to trade in our 7 years old vios. In the end no focus no cerato

1) i think the bad jerking is very normal especially when the car is very new. it is even worst when you are reversing up on a slope. but it will be gone when you reach more mileage. mine already 7.6k and jerking is totally gone.

2) i don't think i have any issue with the smart entry or i don't think i am sensitive enough to feel a 0.5s lag. but by logical thinking, maybe there will be slight lag in detecting the key which resulting in the very minor lag in opening the door. system limitation, maybe?

3) i have read somewhere in this thread about the DCT used in our car. the system will learn about our driving habit and it will try to anticipate our next action. maybe the slow in pick-up is caused by the car being very new and it is still learning about our driving habit.

4) regarding the steering being too light and heavy, i think it was for safety reason. if you are going at high speed and the steering is very light, you can easily lost control from the slightest of turn.

previously i only drive a viva elite and the upgrade to focus MK3 feels heavenly!

I presume the strong jerk only happens when the car is new. I guess the transmission needs some time to run-in, then the drive will smooth out. The gear changes will be less jerky once the mileage is close to 2,000km. In my case, quite smooth.

Due to the characteristics of the Powershift transmission, even after 2,000km the car will still exhibit a slight jerk sometimes, which can be reduced by being gentle on the footwork, mild step instead of abrupt force on the pedal which will cause the car to jerk forward.

As for smart entry delay, there may be a slight delay when one puts the palm onto the handle to open the door. But it's relatively quick anyway. Once it gets some use then it's a fairly easy thing to unlock/lock the doors the keyless entry way.

Delay in pick-up, during hard acceleration yes there is approx 0.5s delay. But in normal moderate acceleration, can say I felt there's a delay.

Steering is indeed light, but there is good feedback and response. That is one thing I love about the steering feel of the Focus. Other vehicles with light steering, the control is not as accurate or precise and may feel "loose". In low speeds, the steering of the Focus is indeed light, but at higher speeds I don't feel it gets heavier too much. Perhaps it get slightly heavier, but it is still light. I think it's a matter of preference, though I do prefer the steering weight and feel of the Focus over heavier steerings.

As for Sync, can't comment on this as I haven't really used it too much. Though sometimes when I want to call someone using the Sync and utter somebody's name, the system may end up calling someone else instead. Your pronunciation must be quite spot-on for the system to call the person that you intend to call.

If I'm not mistaken the Proton Preve's handling is also much better than Kia Cerato. Personally I think the Cerato only sells for the equipment and maybe quiet interior. But in terms of handling and power, it loses to the higher-range Proton models.

Hi kl98,

No "problems" with the transmission, but yes, after the first 1K or so I did go through the low-speed juddering phase. Over the next couple of months, either the car learnt my driving habits or I learnt to adjust or for whatever reason the juddering is pretty much gone now. I asked about the firmware upgrade when I went for my first 10k service last week; the response was that I already have the latest version and that if there is no current problem, it is better not to change the firmware. I'll keep tracking this firmware upgrade over the next 5-6 months to see if there is really any benefit if I insist to upgrade in the next scheduled service.

13k here, after first service: jerks worsen uphill strength drops and slow cornering gave a disturbing "tak tak tak" sound. waiting to send the car back for another inspection wasting my time.

To open the car door lock immediately, I find slipping in my hand into the door handle without my thumb gripping around the handle, a lot faster/better. I think the "Lock" sensor sometimes detects my thumb first, so invokes the 0.5 second delay before allowing me to open the door. Try it out to see if it helps. Also, when I walk up to the car from the back, I sometimes slip my hand into the back door's handle, just to unlock the car that sub-second faster, so that the car is already open by the time I walk the extra 3 feet to the front door. But I'm being weird....

I also had problems with the Sync; mine was that the Bluetooth Audio would not connect. Finally I read up to do a hard-reset by yanking the appropriate fuse from the internal fusebox (located under the front-passenger's leg area), waiting a couple of seconds, then pushing it back in. It worked! Now the car syncs with my phone for music playback using any app. Hands-free phone operations still work flawlessly, and no, the radio didn't reset.

FYI the fuse remover clip is in the FRONT fusebox, located in the engine compartment. Be prepared for some cursewords, as the cover is a pain to remove.

Sorry to hear about the bad jerk, loss in acceleration power during uphill and "tak tak" sound in slow cornering even after 13,000km on the mileage. Hopefully it can be resolved, soon.

Fortunately or luckily, I have not experienced all these in my vehicle yet. THe mileage on my vehicle is still quite low though, around 3,000km. In uphill drives at low speeds, particularly at stretches with speed bumps, the transmission will have potential to exhibit more shudder or jerks, and sometimes grinding sound, as they say. I have experienced this once or twice on uphill roads with speed bumps but it is still manageable in my case.

Thanks for the reply, as I mentioned before, I used to drive my friend's fiesta before so I'm quite familiar with the DCT, and so far on the straight road, I hardly feel any jerk from the day one I got the car, control it by my right foot, accelerate according to the gearbox and speed and there won't be any jerk.

This jerking I mentioned here is in specific scenario, like going up hill, quite steep up hill and stop half way, move a bit, and stop again, to be exact, I face it in PWTC parking lot when I visited the KLIMS yesterday, not sure if this will go away with more mileage gain?

I was expecting the smart entry to be instant, but to my surprise, I can't open the door immediately, I have to be slow motion in open my door (when it's locked)...

As for the pick up delay, I have to accelerate before turning next time...and not turn and accelerate...cause the kick doesn't come instantly just like my vios ", expecting it to be better thou.

Steering wise, just forget it, nothing too serious, just that I used to drive with single hand on my Vios (even when I'm driving fast) cause the steering is so light on Vios, easily managed when you used to it, handling was quite good, lol.

lol, thanks for the tips on the Sync stuff, arghh, didn't expect have to do a hard reset on day 3 of owning the car...

As for the door lock, as I have been following few threads on focus in different forum, I already knew about this trick way before I own the car myself, lolx.

And no, it doesn't help, I always slip in my whole palm into the handle with out gripping on the handle with my fingers.
The delay still there, guess I just have to wait for the unlock sound before I open the door, and be a bit "slow motion", it's nothing big deal thou, just got shock when I tried to open and couldn't open it, only the second attempt can open it...

Hmm, yes, I am equally interested to know about this as well, the transmission's behavior when it is on a steep inclined slope, especially one with speed bumps. I once drove the Focus on a steep inclined slope, and there is a speed bump ahead of that road. When I slowed down the vehicle approaching the speed bump, there is a slight jerk, and after the vehicle has gone over the speed bump, we have to step on the accelerator so that the vehicle will move forward. At that instance there is a rather strong jerk, and a grinding sound is heard. I just experienced this once. I am not sure if it is something normal or inherent in the vehicle. I will report back when the vehicle exhibits the same thing on an inclined slope with speed bumps next time I am in a similar situation. Maybe it's a one-off experience.

Parking lot in shopping malls, going up and down ramps which also have small speed bumps, the vehicle doesn't jerk. No issues. It's only in that experience that I have described above. Maybe that particular road, the inclined slope is too much with a steep gradient.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Nov 25 2013, 12:00 PM

1) reversing up on a slope, not a big deal cause you won't stuck in jam while reversing right? Going up or reversing up on a slope is not the problem, the problem is when you going up a slope and you stuck in between the slope, and this when the jerk comes in.

2) try to open the door immediately as if it's unlocked, you won't think a second and just open it right?

3) Most of the time I just drive smoothly, only occasionally we have to have quick acceleration, example you wanna over take a suddenly slow car in the middle lane, and the right lane is full of fast car, you can only slip in in a short distance of 2 or 3 car's length, and this 0.5s lag will get you cursed by the car behind or even horn if you meet a rude driver, lolx, I'll try to get more "free space" before over taking next time

4) agreed.

I drove and still driving my vios before, which suppose easily "tapao" by Focus, but looks like it's not in all aspects...

Vios and Focus have different throttle mapping; Vios's is more responsive whereas the Focus's is more linear, you need to apply more throttle to get the same amount of throttle response. Most Contis and Sushis are different like this.

yes, what you described is exactly what I had yesterday! Not sure about other shopping mall, but this PWTC parking is quite steep, even without the bump, I face it a few times from lvl 2 to lvl 4 (jam all the way, move 20m and stop, and repeating)...couldn't catch this behaviour of DCT with my right foot...