Hi all again: Here is my experience with the dealer where I found my 2003 SVT Focus.(Here in Ga.)They has 2 cars, a Red one, and my Black one. The Red did not have a sun roof, so I passed, and then my 2003 showed up in their ad. Both cars were advertised as new, so I went ahead and made an offer on mine. I bought the car in March, 2004, and it had been on the dealers lot for about a yr. It had 110 miles when I picked it up. It looked OK as far as paint etc., so I brought it home. There were a couple problems however. It didn't seem to run the way I expected, power seemed a bit off. I removed the top of the air cleaner box, just for a look see, and was surprised to find a large clump of stuff that looked to be a mixture of insulation, mixed with grass or?, on top of the filter. Evidently, a mouse or some thing had made a home in there, while it sat at the dealer. Then I checked the plugs and discovered that water had somehow gotten in the plug recesses and I had quite a time removing the plugs and cleaning up the corrosion. I called the dealer and asked them to send me a new set of plugs, after telling them the problems. Well, they just flat said no!. I just ended up buying a new set myself, for around $8 bucks each. I got a real good price on the car, and I am pretty pleased with it so far, but I'm not sure I care for the dealers attitude. I have previously owned a 94 Lightning, and a SHO Taurus. Had real good luck with them! The dealer where I bought the Lightning in Texas, was real good about taking care of me and the truck. I pretty much do stuff myself, but not sure of some of the dealers, and their attitudes?(Also both rear wheels were tough to remove, because of corrosion between the alloy wheels, and the hubs) I think it just sat out in the rain alot, and this stuff happens. Too bad the stuff wasn't caught by them before I picked it up! a.s.[rolleyes]

Well at least is was nothing serious that you couldn't fix yourself. Congrats on your purchase, I'm sure you'll enjoy it now that you've taken care of those issues. I got mine the same way, sat on the lot for a year and had a couple of miles on it, but never sold. I had to hard time getting the rear wheels off too due to corrosion.

Treat it well now since it is in your hands.

more than likely the corossion in the spark plug recesses was from them or the previous owner detailing the engine with a pressure sprayer and not blowing the excess out with a air compressor. enjoy your svt man, let the mods begin!

oh, yeah. i've pretty much gotten fed up with even dealing with a dealership in my area. i've gotten to the point where the word warranty isn't even in my vocabulary. once you start with the mods, you can't even get your damn tires rotated without them saying something about it. screw them. fix it yourself unless its a tsb or REALLY expensive. its funner doing it yourself anyways.

Originally posted by svtfiend
oh, yeah. i've pretty much gotten fed up with even dealing with a dealership in my area. i've gotten to the point where the word warranty isn't even in my vocabulary. once you start with the mods, you can't even get your damn tires rotated without them saying something about it. screw them. fix it yourself unless its a tsb or REALLY expensive. its funner doing it yourself anyways.
I had that same problem, untill I filled out one of the surveys I was sent by Ford. I gave them a really bad score on everything, and right now my car is in getting all the problem taken care of that I have been complaining about for over a year.