That's in the United States of America. Over here, not sure if we will receive a bulletin of similar fashion in clutch replacement for the affected Focus. If there is, don't think Sime Darby can cope with their current limited workforce at the service centres.

IT is normal not only for Ford but other Japanese cars too. Any front or back bumper, the cost will be about RM2k+/- or more. The rear bumper of my colleague's CX5 just got hit by a motorist last month. The cost of the bumper is RM2k+.

The rear bumper of my vehicle got hit several months back too and I have claimed from the 3rd party insurance. If I'm not mistaken the cost of the rear bumper is RM3k+.

In terms of features, the current Ford Focus is a bit lacking since it does not have reverse camera , GPS colour touch screen etc. But what it makes up for is in the higher-tech features in automatic car park assist and city stop assist.

I have the screeching sound from the windscreen when the window panel is wet. But it's only on the driver's side. It is not the tinting though. After adjustment at Ford's service centre there is no more sound.

No other issues.

Have not experienced oil leakage and severe jerking/vibration yet. May I ask who noticed the oil leakage at the transmission area? The service guys noticed it when they serviced your car, or you noticed it?

Good to know. When you mentioned "Recently i feel the gear shift jerking & vibration becoming worse", I presume the car is jerking when accelerating at low speeds. Hopefully the guys can resolve the problem for you soon. Would appreciate if you can update if it happens that they can reduce the jerks and vibration, whatever they are and not just give the usual "it's normal the car is supposed to behave this way due to the dual-clutch transmission" excuse.

I have experienced the same thing. The jerky characteristic of the Powershift dual clutch transmission is erratic as you won't know when the jerky acceleration will come by.

FWIW in my experience :-

Mileage
0 - 1,500km = Bad jerking, acceleration at low speed/stop go traffic is not smooth
1,500km - 8,000km = Minimal jerking, smooth acceleration at low speed
8,000km - 10,000km = Moderate to bad jerking
>10,000km = Erratic jerking. Sometimes smooth acceleration, sometimes bad jerking.


If you feel the jerks are too bad or the Powershift transmission is not behaving up to your expectations, then you may visit the service centre to have it sorted out. They will usually perform a software update if there are no serious issues with the vehicle in terms of mechanical parts.

Interesting that the Ford Focus brochure now states that it is normal for the car to jerk within the first 2,000km. This was not previously shown in the brochure.

As for your concerns, the car won't break down along the highway. The jerking ONLY occurs at low speed acceleration ie. crawling stop go traffic, usually when the gear upshifts from 1 to 2. The jerks may not bother some people but there may be other folks who are more bothered about the jerks. Personally, if the jerks are minor, they are fine to me. But the jerks can be more serious at times which can turn out to be quite a nuisance.

Apart from the jerks there is a grinding sound at low speed acceleration too which is apparently evident when the vehicle is accelerating up a steep slope.

As for the car breaking down along the highway, doubt it will ever happen. If it does happen, it will be the transmission that is overheating. In this case the display will prompt the driver to stop the vehicle and rest for 8 minutes, something like that. Sometimes the display will show the transmission overheating if the car is on constant stop go stop go traffic along a steep slope or a long traffic jam etc. I had been in this situation 3 to 4 times but fortunately the prompt message went off after a while and I drove the car as usual after that.

I received news that the new updated Focus will likely be launched sometime middle or end of this year. If you can wait, I do think this model is the one that is worth looking at. It appears that the automatic transmission in the upcoming Focus will be revised to a completely new transmission *(which may not show the undesirable characteristics of the current Powershift transmission).

It really depends but I think it would not be worth taking the risk. Older folks may not favour the jerky drive at low speed. This car is more suitable for those who like to drive a bit faster than usual.

The USB socket is in the front passenger's glove box of my car. The software update doesn't really help much in reducing the jerks. The update may reduce the jerks but they will eventually come back. In other words, the minor jerks during low speed acceleration are a trait or character of the car and are inherent in the vehicle. I believe they cannot be eliminated completely.

Thanks for the update. 3 months waiting period for the clutch pack. Looks like quite a number of cars are going through this clutch pack replacement due to the jerking or oil leakage problem. It is either the clutch pack is defective(which only certain batches are affected), or it is a design flaw in the clutch pack in that all clutch packs in the current Focus are defective. Yikes!

My car is 1 year 4 months old, so there is another 3 year 8 months left in the warranty for something to fail(touch wood).

I wonder if all Focus models are affected by this clutch pack (severe jerking and leakage) issue? May I ask how old is your car? So far I have read on this forum that 3 persons have had the clutch pack on their Focus replaced. Nairud is one if I"m not mistaken.

Ford UK is launching the new Focus early this year in Britain. Not too sure if we will see the new Focus here in Malaysia by end of the year.

Changes in the interior :-

CURRENT


NEW MODEL



New Paddle Shifters:-

Grinding sound and jerking at low speed are already normal in the current Focus. Level of acceptance will be dependent on the severity of the jerks and grinding.

NVH particularly sound from the suspension is not so good. Interior NVH as in rattling, similarly some minor rattling somewhere around the steering wheel. The Focus has fair NVH but the minor rattling sound spoils it a bit.

Yes, the suspension is very good in terms of providing a good balance between handling and comfort. Only in bad road conditions ie. uneven road surface, the suspension produces some annoying noises.

Yes, despite all the negativity, the car has its own sets of strength. The Focus is surely a joy to drive at highway speeds (or high speeds). Not only the acceleration is superb (partly due to the high horsepower for a normal 2.0-litre vehicle), the handling and driving dynamics are good too for a family sedan.

After more than a decade of driving, the Focus is the first car I have driven that had breached 200km/h without breaking a sweat. Tested up to 210km/h and didn't push the car any further as my initial plan was just to touch 200km/h. The acceleration power of the Focus is quite amazing for a naturally-aspirated engine.

I have driven the previous-generation City. The handling and steering feel of the City compares terribly with the Focus. There is a severe lack of feel with the steering of the City as it felt very loose compared to the precise and sharp steering of the Focus. I have posted a thread several months ago on this. When on a bend with the Honda City, I nearly hit a truck that is on the next lane as I could not get accustomed to the steering of the City.

I have had the privilege to be on the wheels of the Perodua Myvi for just one(1) day. That was enough for me to conclude, in my view, that the car is not stable at speeds of above 100km/h. Of course we see a lot of speeding Myvis on the roads probably doing 130km/h or higher. I felt unsafe in the Myvi just after the needle when past 100km/h as the car started to wobble a bit due to the soft bouncy suspension, and the steering wheel felt loose. ALthough the car was traveling on a straight line, I can feel the steering wheel moving left and right instead of staying straight. The feeling of the loose steering is not good! I have to hold the steering real tight so as the vehicle will travel on a straight line.

Due to the looseness of the steering and unstable ride of the Myvi at above 100km/h, I had stuck with 80km/h throughout the journey on the 90km/h-speed limited highway.

In short, the Focus is more stable at >160km/h than the Myvi at 100km/h. I felt a lot safer driving the Focus at high speed than the Myvi at moderate speed. I agree that there is a sense of security in the Focus due to the stability of the car.

Looks like Sime Darby may have changed the warranty policy? One of my colleagues owns the Ford Focus TDCI (his warranty is 3 years instead of 5 years). His worn out wiper blades were replaced FOC by Sime Darby just before the warranty expires. As a matter of fact he told me that it was the service guy that advised him to utilise the warranty and change the wiper blades just before the car reaches 3 years.

When I mentioned about something fails, I was thinking along the lines of more critical components such as the clutch pack, transmission, steering wheel parts etc. Something mechanical. Not too sure about the "Clutch" being wear and tear. My understanding is the defective (leaking) clutch pack will cause the car to exhibit serious jerking. If that is the case, then they should cover that under warranty as serious jerk during acceleration isn't something that is normal.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Jan 9 2015, 11:41 AM

Your experience doesn't come as a surprise to me. Similarly, from my previous experience the after-sales service of Sime Darby in PJ is quite lacking. Once there is a need to leave the car in the service centre/workshop for 1 or 2 days as advised by the service advisor, do not take his/her words for real as chances are your car may be stuck there for a considerably longer period than what that was promised.

Last year when they attempted to change the clock spring in the steering wheel of my car, I was advised that the job will take 1 to 2 days. That 1-2 days turned to 7 days as they encountered some "technical glitch". After this incident, any job that requires me to leave my car at the service centre even for 1 day, I will request for the courtesy replacement car. Even though the courtesy car is subject to availability, I have managed to get a Focus replacement car back home for another incident which lasted for 1 day, this time as promised.

Your case is different as the guys did not attend to your car even though your car was already at the service centre. From Thursday to Saturday, 3 days. You might as well send your car in on Monday tomorrow morning since I doubt they are working today (Sunday). So they have wasted your 3 days leaving you without a car. What bad arrangement from Sime Darby. For this bad arrangement and lack of telephone calls to update the owner on this matter, you may wish to complain to the manager there, Anbananthan. Quite a polished chap. Although he couldn't do much about the quality of service of Sime Darby due to lack of resources and manpower, at least the service guy who managed your car will get some scolding from him for the poor arrangement.

Similarly, I was wondering on this matter for a while. I called Ford Customer service 5 minutes ago and they advised me to call the spare parts guy En. Halim on 03-7718 1273 to check on the battery type. It is lunch time now so I'll call later.

From my conversation with the customer service lady, it is advisable to purchase the same brand and type of battery if owners were to replace the battery outside, to avoid any problems that may affect the electronics of the vehicle that may eventually lead to warranty void. I'll get further details on this when I call Halim later.

Just called (another more knowledgeable service adviser) and found out that the battery is under warranty for 3years/100,000km.

If the car is out of warranty, Sime Darby charges RM568 for the Ford Focus' battery which is maintenance-free type. It appears that this battery in the Focus is different from most common passenger vehicles. Not too sure how special the battery is and whether we can easily find it in the shops.

As mentioned by others here, the Focus does not come with paddle shifters.

Usually paddle shifters are not useful and you won't use them too often, especially for cars which are already naturally powerful such as the Focus. I have paddle shifters on my other car, the Proton Preve Turbo, and I find the operation of the paddle shift to be inferior when compared to normal D. It depends on the car also, as the acceleration with the paddle shift on the Preve Turbo is not as smooth as in D, and the acceleration at the mid-end speed say 50km/h to 100km/h with the paddle shifter is slower than in D.

I still use the paddle shifter in my everyday driving with the Preve Turbo as the throttle response is better than D. The acceleration of the Preve Turbo in D from standstill is lethargic, and in stop go stop go traffic, driving in D is not good compared to the manual mode with the paddle shifters.

Don't want to complicate things further. To cut a long story short, paddle shifters are usually quite useless even when you want to have a spirited drive (unless it is well-designed and the gear ratios are selected carefully).

If I'm not mistaken the upcoming new Focus will have paddle shift. If you are interested in the Focus and like to have paddle shift, maybe you can wait for this new model. The operation of the paddle shift in the new Focus should be better than the crappy ones in the Preve Turbo which operates like toy car. Gear ratios are too close together but I still use them everyday as I dislike the "dragging" feel of the car in D when accelerating from standstill.