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Tomcat

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  • Toyota Model
    Corolla

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  1. With any luck the later Mark 2 Focus (05 on?) have a different part fitted and they might not leak. All of the first Focus with Zetec and Duratec engines will definetley have a cracked thermostat housing every couple of years. Only way to notice it is to park it overnight on a sealed floor. As the crack worsens you will notice a burning coolant smell and see coolant dripping from the housing when the engine is cold. When it heats up the leak tends to seal a bit better. I never let it go long enough to see what would happen. My wife bought a Suzuki hatch around the same time I bought my Focus. It cost HALF of what the Focus cost. In the 5 years they sat side by side in the garage she has never had a problem whereas as mine has been in to Ford service so much I have honestly lost count of the days. On another note one day the engine management light came on. The car was running fine but I took it in to Ford only to find it required a $1200 repair to replace a dodgy sensor. The car was just out of warranty and I had to pay for the thing. :( This is also a common fault for that model.
  2. Yeah i understand all cars have some problems but my Ford Falcon never caused me this much grief and it had done over 400 000 kms. You would need the extra fuel efficiency of the diesel Focus because you'll be driving it back and forth to the service department a lot.
  3. hi all, just thought I'd post a little story seeing as Ford have gone and started trying to compare their Focus to the Corolla in TV recently. For the past 6 years roughly I have driven Ford Focus cars. I owned 2 which I bought brand new. The first was a Zetec which I only kept for a year and then a ST170 (now called XR-5) which I kept for around 5 years. They were both great cars to drive and I did enjoy owning them for a while. The reason I have recently bought a new Toyota Corolla and given Ford away (for good) is mainly due to reliability and their servicing department. The Focuses never broke down or anything but it was a constant issue just keeping them 100% operational. The numbers of issues I had to deal with was just ridiculous and I just got sick and tired of spending my days off dropping the damned thing off to Ford and then awaiting the inevitable phone call to be informed of the extreme amount of cash I would have to be coughing up to fix the hunk of crap. As an example, on the Focus Mk1 (and probably the newer mk2, which I never bought because it looks like a 90s Laser) the thermostat housing is made from plastic and is poorly designed. After 60000 kms or 2 years it would always crack and begin to leak coolant. All Ford Focus will do this in roughly that time. The only way to know is if you park over a sealed floor because in the morning there will be a nice little puddle of coolant to greet you. I had to replace two thermostat housings on my second Focus. The second one I paid for and it cost about $300 to get it done. The second time it started leaking I called Ford to tell them that the housing had started to leak again and I asked them to arrange the parts and booked it in to get it done the following week. DAY ONE: I dropped the car off for the repair. I went back later that day to be told that a 'mechanic' had found the leak and it was a cracked thermostat housing (I know I told you that last week) and that they had RUN OUT OF STOCK and that I would have to bring it back in a few days. I wasn't that happy. DAY TWO: I took it back and they replaced the housing. I asked if it would be covered seeing as I only had it fixed a while ago. I seem to remember Ford having a lifetime warranty on replacement parts on my old Falcon but that has been changed to 12 months now so I had to pay for the thing. DAY THREE: I took it home and the next morning was greeted with a fresh puddle of coolant leaking from the brand new housing. I booked it in yet again for Ford to fix and found out that when Ford changed the housing they had re-used a a plug AND AN OLD O-RING and fitted them to my brand new housing. The plug cost $30 and they didn't have it in stock so I would have to bring the car in again. DAY FOUR: So, I had to take the Focus in for day number 4 to repair a problem I told them about from the very beginning. This time they fixed it and it didn't leak again. This is not peculiar to my car, it happens to all the focuses. This is not the only problem the car has but it should serve to illustrate to you that the Focus is not what i would call a solid dependable car and when something does go wrong you are waiting days for parts and they are expensive. I had many many more occasions like the one I described above with Focus. They are a real hassle to own. Focus is a hunk of crap but it did me a favour by breaking my loyalty to Ford and driving me into the arms of a nice new Toyota. I have only had my Corolla a week but already I love it way more than a Focus. It's quiet, drives great and I have this warm fuzzy feeling that it's not going to be a pain in the neck to maintain. Corolla also just overtook Focus in the USA as most sold car: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articl...9_N05179751.htm
  4. well I just signed up today to trade my Focus in on a new corolla hatch, so from a Focus owners perspective, I'd rather get a new Corolla!
  5. Hey guys thanks very much for the quick replies I really appreciate it. Sounds like a goer, I think it's gonna happen next couple of weeks. Thanks again.
  6. Hi, I just thought I'd post in case anyone had any suggestions/advice. I own a 2003 Focus and am thinking about trading in and getting a Corolla. I only want the base stock model but with tinted windows, automatic transmission and the cruise pack. Are Corollas really as reliable and cheap to service as they are said to be? After they've racked up they kms (200 000+) are they worn out or still going strong? Thanks in advance. -Jason
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