It's good as you have driven your Focus Sport+ up to 200,000km. Mine was below 90,000km when I sold it.

I have never bought a 2nd hand car before but sometimes entertained the idea of a used Ford Mondeo 2015/2016 as crazy as it may sound since I am fully aware of the cons. Nevertheless it is unlikely to happen as the model is so rare and I've not seen one on the roads for more than 5 years 😂 so spare parts will be a big issue even though workshops can service the vehicle and do minor repairs. Also, I think 90% of used cars are either in bad shape(involved in accident) or problematic so it's a risk there.

I believe Mazda 3 would be the closest to Ford Focus performance at the lowest price of RM155k for low spec and RM165k for high spec but it's not an all rounder with a little cramped back seat and torsion beam at the rear for the high price. I've looked at several options and so far none ticked all the boxes. I've considered the Toyota Corolla Cross and sedan and test drove all the models several months ago. Despite all the good points and reliability aspects I was looking for, the Achilles heel of the Corolla is the slightly underpowered 1.8 litre engine. All other vehicles in the market don't interest me. The upcoming Jaecoo J7 at rumoured RM150k+/- looks pretty good but it's a Chinese vehicle. If I were to consider a Chinese vehicle it would be this model.

FWIW the Ford Focus was traded in for a Nissan Almera Turbo Kuro black edition which is currently driven by my dad. Trade in price RM12k.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Feb 25 2024, 08:13 AM

heyz, just wanna check if the steering racks you replaced with before were used units or recond/ refurb units? if recond/ refurb, do u know if the recond was done locally or from overseas? thx!

This post has been edited by liquidator_13: Mar 20 2024, 10:38 AM

The steering racks were said to be used but I now don't trust anything the workshop does. I suspect they just take the steering racks in any condition either used or recond/refurbished and just stick it to the vehicles, mostly in poor condition.

IF you still want to consider 2nd hand steering racks instead of new although not recommended, I can only recommend Bengkel Excellent Auto but they have very limited stocks of 2nd hand steering racks since their business is not installing 2nd hand steering racks but new steering racks. However, at times they may have one or two under customers request but tough luck.

After two months I sold my Ford Focus I got a call from the boss of Bengkel Excellent Auto saying that they have one 2nd hand steering rack readily available to be fixed to my car. I told the boss I already sold the car already. Haha. Too late. If he called earlier I might still be driving my Ford Focus. Anyway, that's history already and I'm glad I've moved on with a new car.

thx bro for the reply... yes, i am considerin gettin a recond unit from Excellent Auto thus doin some research n survey on it.

Please ask him if there will be any noises from the steering rack once it's installed on the vehicle, and if there are noises (when you turn the steering wheel) can they fix it. If yes, then go ahead. If not, it's up to your tolerance level.

All the 2nd hand steering racks installed on my car had noises when the steering wheel was turned left and right. Some low noise, some louder noise.

based on what he told me, the recond units that he is offerin should be pretty much like new n they re imported in from Germany or Russia... n he s givin 6 months warranty for it

If that's the case, I think you can go ahead with it. May I ask what prompted you to consider changing the steering rack? Can your car still be driven on the roads?

FWIW if the owner's car cannot be driven already due to steering wheel malfunction and need a tow truck to tow it to workshop, then he/she will have no choice but to get the steering rack replaced. In this instance, I would go with the refurbished unit offered by Bengkel Excellent Auto, judging from what he told you it would be safe ie. no noises from steering rack, 6 months warranty. Especially since they currently have one unit available. It's not every time they have these refurbished steering racks available. Otherwise I wouldn't have gone to the other workshop (bad choice, but no choice if not willing to buy new steering rack).

Having said that, there is no information on the reliability of these refurbished steering racks and nobody would know how long they can last although 6 months warranty is pretty good for a 2nd hand / refurbished part. If you plan to keep the car long, it's a matter of luck if it can last long. If unlucky, it may fail prematurely and you would then have to go through the ordeal of searching for another 2nd hand/refurbished steering rack again.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Mar 20 2024, 11:39 AM

I kena the dreaded error message, steering assist malfunction but it's intermittent n a simple restart of the car will get rid of the error for now, so wanna get it fixed before i kena while driving.
New 1 also available from him now but it's very expensive, more than doubled the price for the recond n no warranty...

It's about time already. Same experience, the message came out several times but I didn't bother about it until one day the steering wheel cannot be turned already when the car is started. If's still fine if you get into the car and found it cannot be driven already. The worst scenario is it happens midway when you are driving, the vehicle moving on the road and the steering wheel cannot be turned easily. If you are a strong man driving the car, it might be less of a problem as you can still slowly steer it to the emergency lane when that happens. If it's a lady or older citizen, chances are he/she might not be able to steer it safely and forced to stop the vehicle in the middle of the road.

The first time I inquired, new steering rack was RM9,800. The last time I inquired, price dropped to RM7,500 for new steering rack. The recond steering rack I believe is quite cheap right? Lower than RM1k if I'm not mistaken. Or maybe he quoted higher now I don't know with the 6 months warranty.

New 1 is around RM8300 now n recond is RM3600 now actually, btw my car model is the ST so the prices might be different as the steering rack for the ST is different

I see. I thought you have the Focus mk3. Yes I'm aware the steering rack of the Focus ST is different from mk3 since I have the 2nd hand ST steering rack installed on my mk3 by the unscrupulous workshop. They just grabbed whatever they have on hand to fix vehicles that came into their workshop. The mk3 has a 1 1/2 turning circle on the steering wheel while the ST only has 1 turning circle with less play. The boss of Bengkel Excellent Auto showed the difference to me when he made a full turn of the steering wheel on the normal mk3 and my mk3 which has the ST's steering rack installed.

The quoted price of the mk3's steering rack that that's available at Bengkel Excellent Auto is a lot cheaper than the ST's RM3,600.

Wah teruk nya...
Excellent Auto boss told me these days the price for normal Focus Mk3 steering rack is almost the same as the one for ST dy

Just wanna ask all sifu here, does our ford focus tighten up the steering wheel when it is driving fast? Mine feels abit light when driving fast. BTW im driving a MK3.5 focus.

With Focus mk3, not that I am aware of. Do you mean driving fast on straight line or tackling cornering/bends? The weight of the steering wheel in my (now sold) Focus mk3 remains the same in all driving conditions.

Anyone manage to claim short block engine from service center? what if out of warranty?

What happened to your engine which need the short block engine to be replaced?

Yeah, for Focus MK3 the steering wheel weight doesn't change with speed nor acceleration.

Hope the Focus mk3 is serving you well. Despite letting the car go earlier this year, I relished the quality and performance of the vehicle during my ownership especially the first 5 years when it's still fairly new. Despite the hiccups in the clutch requiring replacement in the service centre for at least 3 times, it's all good.

It is unfortunate that there is no vehicle that can replace the Ford Focus now if buying new at this moment in the price range of RM100k-110k. I believe the closest performing vehicle to the Focus mk3 may be the Mazda 3 but at a much higher price + torsion beam at the rear.

Yeah I am still holding on to my Focus and this year December will mark the 10th years of 200k KM estimate.
Fingers crossed