I've been lucky enough to have a brand new Focus CC this week on a 2 week loan so thought I would share my views on it. My normal car is a Focus 2.0tdci titanium so gives me a good perspective to compare from!
I picked it up the other day brand new (16 miles on the clock) and have done around 500 on it this week of motorway & town.
First impressions were that it looks great both inside and out. Pininfarina who designed it have done a great job and I think it looks better than its rivals (Astra twintop / Megane CC / etc). Much better than the standard Focus hatch.
Inside it is excellent. This model has full heated leather and lots of extras and it really does feel luxurious inside. The seats are excellent and the dash is high quality. There are bits of metal around the dash that are not there in the normal Focus but other than that it is similar. The switchgear largely is very good and gives a high quality feel, though the Sony 6 CD changer lets down in this area as the buttons have hardly any tactile response at all.
To drive it is also excellent. It feels every bit as stable and composed as my normal Focus hatch with or without the roof down (though have only tried with the roof down briefly because it's too cold!). Ride is surprisingly smooth despite 17" wheels (not noticeably worse than my Focus on 16s). The engine is not the fastest and has to be worked to get anything out of it. Top end of the revs it is ok but quite slow at the bottom end. It is a heavy car I guess though. Would love to see them put the 2.5 ST engine in the car. I certainly would not want the 1.6 engine which this also comes with. The 2.0tdci might be better.
Boot space is large especially with the roof up, but back seat space is limited.
I think rather than being lightning fast it is meant to be a luxury tourer / cruiser which it does very well. I need more space in my car otherwise would be very happy to be driving about in one of these. A great car!
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Local Sunday paper up here has carried a few stories recently in their Consumer column about people with Focus CCs that leak or have roof problems.
This week they have announced that a couple of readers have now had full refunds from Ford and others are awaiting replies. Sounds like Ford may have a major problem with these that they, by their own admission, can't fix!
I remember when all these new "CC" type cars were released from various manufacturers they were going to be the convertible without the soft-top leaking problems!
Have heard of issues with Ford, Peugeot and Volkswagen versions!
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We had a Megane CC for three years and just under 40k miles; despite the roof being opened/closed very frequently we experienced no problems with it at all. It didn't even leak, though the car was never garaged.
Reference the Eos thread, we also didn't suffer from any rattles either, though roof-down the car had noticeable scuttle shake on rough roads. In fact roof-up it had fewer rattles after 3 years than it's replacement, a 1 series hatch, had after 3 months...
The Megane did have one unscheduled trip to the dealer however, to have the 'dephaser pully'?? replaced, and we also had a failed coil pack that the AA were able to replace on the spot...
Peter
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have had my CC-3 2.0 for a year essentially trouble free and loved it. Then this bad weather came and the inside of the car flooded.
wasn't sure if i was going to get electric shock from so much water on drivers seat, door and dash board.
so in to garage it went with me agreeing to pay for a water test £142 then told the repair is costing £2100 (+/- VAT)
i have contacted ford customer services and awaiting reply.
i was amazed how many others have had problems - this is a big learning curve to me to check out car problem history before buying.
?should i be paying anything towards the cost.
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...have had my CC-3 2.0 for a year essentially trouble free and loved it. Then this bad weather came and the inside of the car flooded...
Had mine since March - no leaks, although I was half-expecting some as I drove through North Yorkshire last weekend.
I don't think you could argue with a few drips, but I'd expect a leak of the size you describe to be covered by warranty.
Have the garage told you what the £2,100 is to be spent on?
Presumably, they are not trying to say you have damaged the roof?
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I have just purchased a CC-3 and its absolutely fantastic. Was looking to buy the Eos but with a saving of over 3 grand and a boot (trunk) that you can actually use, the Ford won hands down. The car is big enough to seat 4 - the kids fit in fine - not sure a six foot man would do the same, but he would with the roof down. As I have said the boot is huge with the roof up and plenty big enough for a weeks shop with it down. Inside the gadgets abound and the stereo being Sony is stunning. I have just traded in a VW Golf and was hesitant about going to the blue oval (poor experience in the past) but so far I am extremely pleased with my purchase if not only because my wife can't stop grinning every time we go for a drive with the roof down. Bless she's never owned a convertible before. Fuel economy so far around town is 39mpg (diesel) and the pulling power in 4th, 5th and even 6th is silky smooth! Don't listen to people who say its underpowered - you don't buy a car like this to drive at stupid speeds!! It breaks the speed limit easily - what more do you need in these days of £5 per gallon fuel. If you have any doubts about buying this car just take a test drive and you'll be won over - I was!!!
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Where can you get fuel for £5 a gallon-I demand to know!!!!!? Nearer £6 our way!
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Just goes to show how prices are rocketing daily - it was near £5 a gallon when I wrote review - but thanks to Mr Brown and gang it will probably be nearer to £8 per gallon when this is posted !! LOL :-)
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Where can you get fuel for £5 a gallon-I demand to know!!!!!? Nearer £6 our way!
The average price of Unleaded on 27th July 2008 was 117.2 p/litre, which equates to £5.327 per gallon. tinyurl.com/ex9ty
Edited by L'escargot on 29/07/2008 at 09:01
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Any roof leak problems ?? Check my new thread dated 21/06/08
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Focus CC is the oddest looking of all the CCs out there.
I personally would not buy one on the looks alone.
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Each car has it's own individual design thankfully otherwise we would all be driving around in the same jelly mould. As for the CC it does look a little different at the rear and is is large - again thankfully, the boot has to be one of the best in this class - it's huge and only loses out slightly when the roof is down. But if you don't like the look of the car you will choose something else but please don't dismiss a car on one persons opinion of looks.
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No problems at all with the roof - so far!!!! The car is six months old and drives beautifully. I have driven through some heavy rain and hose-piped the car heavily to check for leaks and non detected so hopefully mine is ok!
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If you guys get any problems with your Focus CC, the best person to speak to is Sabrina who is on the Focus CC team in Ford Customer Services.
We had lots of problems with our CC leaking and she helped us get them sorted quick.
Call Ford on 0845 841 1111 and ask for Sabrina on the Focus CC team, might be hard to get through but keep trying!
Dale and Nichola
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If anyone is thinking of buying one, I suggest you look here first!!
www.topgear.co.uk/news/2007/03/29/ford-focus-coupe.../
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 29/07/2008 at 01:09
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