Ford Focus 2017 Problems

Luckily, your car is in the clear, and the LW Model Focus was the one with the hugely problematic dual-clutch transmission. In fact, these gearboxes were more or less ticking time bombs and more than half of them suffered – sometimes multiple – failures requiring replacement units. Ford was taken to task by the ACCC over its handling of the whole thing and was forced to quickly revise the Fiesta, Ecosport and Focus ranges. Which is why your car, the LZ model, has a turbocharged 1.5-litre engine and a conventional automatic transmission which is not only a better thing to drive, but also vastly less likely to fail prematurely and expensively.

Ford made the switch to the LZ model in 2015, largely as a response to the fearful reputation for transmission failures the LW model had gained. Our advice to anybody shopping for a Ford Focus (or Fiesta or Ecosport) is to absolutely avoid any example with the dual-clutch gearbox. Its demise will be a question of when, not if.

Our checks with Ford suggest there is no shortage of supply of the Focus, so shop around at other dealers.

Both are good choices. The Mazda is more restrained, the Ford sportier. If you want a sporty drive I would go for the Focus.

We asked Ford to confirm the claims of your Ford salesman, and while we were told they would get to us after checking with their technical people they haven't. It's a tricky situation given that there is an on-going class action suit over the transmission, so I'm not surprised we didn't get a response from Ford. I doubt the claims very much, I suspect there's no truth in them, and the salesman was spinning you a line hoping to land a sale.