You mean like the Ad campaign that Ford has a better Idea…or that Ford does things right. Saying that people are buying Honda’s ONLY because of the ad campaign is just plain STUPID. How about the FACT that they’ve been building far superior cars to Ford for years. If as you say is true…and the buying public can be so easily persuaded…then WHY doesn’t FORD or GM or Chyco have those ads??? According to you all they have to do is create a false ad and people will start buying their product.
Not sure about now…but it’s first year it had more safety recalls then any other vehicle EVER. Looks like it was RUSHED to production without working out all the kinks.
actually, I was asking the OP, who seems to have dropped off the face of the earth already
Aren’t you supposed to walk away after you throw the grenade?
I usually stick around to watch the carnage 
The Focus has been a pretty decent car that is time tested.
According to the stats, the Focus has had about 49 recalls over the last 10 years and the Honda Accord has had about 75…
And as per usual, the OP is apparently not going to be back to let anyone know what these alleged faults are all about.
If I am not wrong the same Focus won best European car award for a year or two. It can’t be THAT bad.
A friend picked one up from an auction with 120+KM on it and is driving around with no problems one year later (to my surprise, mostly because of the nature of the auction he goes to).
I don’t think so.
Also car of the year for 1999.
Speaking of rushing into production without ironing out the kinks…
Honda must have really been in a hurry to get those Accords and Civics out.
201 Recalls on the Accords and a 195 on the Civic alone…
QTY MODEL CAR QTY MODEL CAR
201 HONDA ACCORD Recalls
HONDA ACCORD EX COUPE Recalls
HONDA ACCORD EX WAGON Recalls
3 HONDA ACCORD HYBRID Recalls
HONDA ACCORD LX, DX Recalls
HONDA ACCORD WAGON Recalls
3 HONDA ASPENCADE Recalls
195 HONDA CIVIC Recalls
HONDA CIVIC - HYBRID Recalls
4 HONDA CIVIC GX Recalls
2 HONDA CIVIC HYBRID Recalls
2 HONDA CIVIC SI Recalls
1 HONDA CN250 HELIX Recalls
15 HONDA CR-V Recalls
5 HONDA CRV Recalls
8 HONDA CRX Recalls
26 HONDA DEL SOL Recalls
3 HONDA ELEMENT Recalls
HONDA ELITE Recalls
3 HONDA FIT Recalls
5 HONDA INSIGHT Recalls
HONDA NSX Recalls
29 HONDA ODYSSEY Recalls
15 HONDA PASSPORT Recalls
13 HONDA PILOT Recalls
53 HONDA PRELUDE Recalls
HONDA REBEL 250 Recalls
9 HONDA RIDGELINE Recalls
HONDA S SERIES Recalls
4 HONDA S2000 Recalls
andys006’s premise appears to be a wide held opinion. I grew up in a Ford family. I have always like Ford’s, what I would call, world view of cars and motorsports. However, after owning 2001 and 2004 F250’s and having had prior experience with Honda cars and motorcycles, I agree with Andy’s premise. I do not disagree with the notion that this may be an incorrect perception, but Ford has not worked hard enough to change this perception in my eyes, nor many consumers. When playing catch up you need to do it better than the other guy.
[/quote]Also car of the year for 1999.[/quote]
What was that “Motor Trend” Car of the year??
The Motor Trend car of the year…(or any of those magazines) is bought and paid for by the manufacturer. Look at their previous winners (72 Chevy Vega - In line as being one of the MOST UNRELIABLE vehicles ever made) : The first year of the Renault - Again EXTREMELY UNRELIABLE…) Those are just a couple. The car of the year is JOKE.
And look at the Accords and Civics 10 years after they’ve been in production…you’ll find FAR MORE Focuses in Junk yards while there are far more Accords and Civics still on the road with HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of miles on them. Lets not even talk about resale value.
How can a car magazine rate reliability on cars that they could not have had for more than a few months, but probably had for no more than a few days? Why would you even bring it up? Obviously, the designation ‘Car of the Year’ has nothing to do with reliability.
Your words here, but you stated that Recalls are a sign of a “rush to production without ironing out the kinks”.
So the Focus Recalls mean a rush to production and 201 Recalls on the Honda does not?
There are 48 Recalls shown for the Focus.
There are 38 Recalls shown for the Nissan Pathfinder.
Since you state that Recalls are a sign of a “rush to production” are you saying the Focus was rushed and the Pathfinder was not?
And keep in mind the OP has disappeared off the face of the Earth at this point.
Complaints were made about a Focus and you’re blindly assuming that those complaints are even valid ones without knowing one single fact about the car or the complaints.
Someone posted on this board several months ago complaining about their hunk of junk car and all of the money they had spent on it. To their credit, they did post back with this laundry list of “repairs”.
Tires, oil changes, brakes, shocks, timing belt, yada, yada, yada. Not one single item listed by them had anything to do with a “bad car”.
Not sure where you’re getting your data from…but there’s OBVIOUSLY a disconnect from what I’m seeing.
If as you say the Accord has ALL these recalls…then HOW THE HECK DID FOCUS SET ALL THE RECORDS FOR THE MOST RECALLS EVER???
The OP isn’t the ONLY person I’ve heard complaints about the Focus. I’ve driven two of them as rentals…and they were AWFUL.
Obviously, the designation ‘Car of the Year’ has nothing to do with reliability.
EXACTLY. It’s MEANINGLESS.
I am not sure that makes it meaningless. It is true it makes it meaningless as a measure of reliability, but if the award is for something like “initial overall quality,” then it isn’t making any claims about reliability. Perhaps Motor Trend gives these awards to the cars that fit other criteria like having comfortable sets, extra cup holders, and good ergonomics?
Mycarstats is where that info comes from and I simply cut and pasted that info.
Assuming for the sake of argument that I would go along with the premise that recalls are a sign of rushing a vehicle into production then your Pathfinder (38 Recalls) is being rushed into production at a more than 400% rate faster than my crummy old Lincoln Mark (9 Recalls).
(And I don’t go along with that premise. Every vehicle has Recalls and TSBs. Pick a car and model and read through the TSBs. You’ll find many of them pertaining to design flaws and glitches that are not Recalls.)
The B2 Stealth bomber costs 500 million bucks a copy and I guarantee you that each one has it’s share of “recalls” and “TSBs”. If a half billion dollar aircraft has flaws then it’s only reasonable to assume that a 20 or 30k dollar car will also have some.
Yep - not only did they recommend the Focus, but it is actually listed as being just as reliable as its Honda competition.