2012 Focus is NOT holding value

[suss6052]

Originally Posted by edge10

So, they are using the Mexican made DCT in the Australian version of the Focus? Interesting if true.

From what I've decoded from Unida767's German built 2.0 L GDI's ETIS page and his graciously providing a picture of the gearbox and the tag on the wire harness directly on top of the gearbox that comes from the Getrag plant in Mexico. The dates are obviously different to the one in my car since his was a 2011 build where as mine was built in 2012. Mine is a U.S. spec car built here, but his car has the exact same 2.0 L engine and the same gearbox as far as I can tell.

Unida767 is in Austrailia.



The getrag tag saying assm in mexico.

Vs mine:


Same basic tag, same basic gearbox, exactly the same engine. The dct doesn't appear to be made in Europe (at least the dry clutch variant).

[edge10]

According to this:

http://www.etheridgeford.com.au/news...-all-new-focus

Australian Foci come from Europe. FWIW.

[edge10]

Originally Posted by suss6052

From what I've decoded from Unida767's German built 2.0 L GDI's ETIS page and his graciously providing a picture of the gearbox and the tag on the wire harness directly on top of the gearbox that comes from the Getrag plant in Mexico. The dates are obviously different to the one in my car since his was a 2011 build where as mine was built in 2012. Mine is a U.S. spec car built here, but his car has the exact same 2.0 L engine and the same gearbox as far as I can tell.

Unida767 is in Austrailia.

Thanks for the info.

After blowing off the DCT complainers, today, I finally starting looking for info from beyond car mags and this site. Based on JD Power and to a lesser extent KBB (since it's online reviews and subject to squeaky wheel syndrome), the news ain't pretty.

Note: I don't own a 3rd gen yet... the one I rented seemed pretty nice to me.

[suss6052]

Originally Posted by edge10

Thanks for the info.

After blowing off the DCT complainers, today, I finally starting looking for info from beyond car mags and this site. Based on JD Power and to a lesser extent KBB (since it's online reviews and subject to squeaky wheel syndrome), the news ain't pretty.

Note: I don't own a 3rd gen yet... the one I rented seemed pretty nice to me.

Updated with comparison pictures of the gearbox. It appears that most of the complaints seem to be due to North American people only despite the cars using the same gearbox behind this engine world wide. His engine was built in Dearborn as well despite the car being assembled in Europe. The new Australian models will be coming from Thailand in the future, but the original ones were coming from the German plant.

[MyThIc3LiTe]

Originally Posted by suss6052

Updated with comparison pictures of the gearbox. It appears that most of the complaints seem to be due to North American people only despite the cars using the same gearbox behind this engine world wide. His engine was built in Dearborn as well despite the car being assembled in Europe. The new Australian models will be coming from Thailand in the future, but the original ones were coming from the German plant.

Ford wasn't kidding when they said this is a global car.

Parts come from wherever they need to and are assembled and shipped wherever it makes sense to do so.

And yea, it really is just North Americans who are complaining the MOST. Even my Veloster, forum gets the same kind of "issues" as the Focus apparently has.

Maybe decades of torque converter craptacularness has brainwashed most of us.

[dan50]

Originally Posted by suss6052

I don't get the point of such a baseless statement. The same dry dual clutch DCT was used in the Focus in Australia and other places without the level of complaints hurled at it by those who prefer the slush of a torque converter.

How do we know the real level of complaints among Australian owners? This forum is populated almost exclusively by Americans and Canadians. Australians are pretty exotic and rare (and welcome) on this forum. I expect if they have complaints they want to voice there are local options they may prefer. Plus, we have had unhappy owners check-in from at least Australia and South Africa, so all is not rosy elsewhere.

I just don't think we should conclude North Americans are chronic complainers or are unable to appreciate the DCT's sophistication based on how few unhappy owners from elsewhere check-in here.

[pozi240]

Originally Posted by dan50

How do we know the real level of complaints among Australian owners? This forum is populated almost exclusively by Americans and Canadians. Australians are pretty exotic and rare (and welcome) on this forum. I expect if they have complaints they want to voice there are local options they may prefer. Plus, we have had unhappy owners check-in from at least Australia and South Africa, so all is not rosy elsewhere.

I just don't think we should conclude North Americans are chronic complainers or are unable to appreciate the DCT's sophistication based on how few unhappy owners from elsewhere check-in here.

Dan, I think Suss was mainly talking about Auto Blogs and media outlets... how, its just been the NA press that have been slamming the DCT overall... (when they were rejoicing it before the production model was even released)... I find it odd as well, since we know other global markets get the EXACT same DCT tranny as well.

And the "Mexican" comments earlier are laughable at best, since VW and others have been making entire cars there for years now (even exporting them back to the Fatherland) without issue.....

[suss6052]

Originally Posted by pozi240

Dan, I think Suss was mainly talking about Auto Blogs and media outlets... how, its just been the NA press that have been slamming the DCT overall... (when they were rejoicing it before the production model was even released)... I find it odd as well, since we know other global markets get the EXACT same DCT tranny as well.

And the "Mexican" comments earlier are laughable at best, since VW and others have been making entire cars there for years now (even exporting them back to the Fatherland) without issue.....

Yes, its pretty much only been the North American press that have trashed the DCT.

I could probably dig up the articles from the first drives where Car and Driver praised the DCT before they decided that it was cooler to pan it along side every other N.A. Journalists for no apparent reasoning behind their sudden flip-flop other than it being the popular thing to do.

"Amazingly, the only automatic is an expensive, dry dual-clutch six-speed. Ford predicts 95 percent of  buyers will opt for this box, so we’re happy to report that it is simply terrific, grabbing gears with disciplined seamlessness and right-now urgency, fouled only by some lazy part-throttle upshifts to sixth. Too bad the self-shifting function is largely spoiled by a minuscule up/down gear-toggling switch affixed leech-like to the gear lever’s neck. Genuine paddles—or a separate fore/aft gate—should be mandatory with any dual-clutch transmission."
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...d-focus-review


That sounds like praise to me, but that was on a pre production drive of a U.S. spec model. However as soon as they tested an SEL they then suddenly decided to blast the transmission as being lazy all of the time.

"The 2012 Focus features Ford’s PowerShift twin-clutch six-speed automatic (standard on the SEL, $1095 on lower trim levels), but the technology might have been yanked out of the oven a few minutes early. It’s one of our few gripes with the car. Shifts can feel seamless if the driver is utterly unhurried, but they’re rather slow if there’s any attempt at upping the tempo. There were other problems, too. With 3000 miles on our test car, the clutches were already a little glazed and chattery, with vibrations working up the steering column when we rolled off under light throttle. And once, while maintaining about 35 mph on level ground, the SEL did a five-three downshift for no obvious reason. A glitch in an early production model, perhaps."

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...el-test-review

What a difference 1 month makes in their opinions, but we must note that if it was an abused press demonstrator that they drove I can imagine it wouldn't be treated better than a rented car. Even the SE sedan rental I had last November with 17k miles on it felt like a new car as far as the way it drove and demonstrated none of this clutch chatter/ glazing.

Its another reason why I can't take the U.S. press very seriously on this issue since they are so quick to laud and then lambast the exact same car.

[MyThIc3LiTe]

I'm just going to settle with its easy to take shots at the king of the hill.

Cause you can look at all the reviews and comparisons, 9 if not 10 times out of 10 the Focus is winning.

[kam327]

Originally Posted by suss6052

Its another reason why I can't take the U.S. press very seriously on this issue since they are so quick to laud and then lambast the exact same car.

It's interesting you draw the conclusion you do. I look at the excerpts and it's clear to me. In fact you pointed it out. The car they liked was a preproduction model. The car they didn't was, well, just a different car. That fully supports why so many owners on this forum have "good" cars and so many others have "bad" cars. It's a crap shoot, seemingly dependent on whether you're lucky enough to have a defect-free clutch pack (Dysan911 just reported yet another case of leaking seals requiring a clutch pack replacement - so it wasn't all in his mind after all, imagine that!) and maybe whether the adaptive learning has gotten out of whack (which is why many have reported that unplugging the battery results in a marked improvement).

Originally Posted by suss6052

The same dry dual clutch DCT was used in the Focus in Australia and other places without the level of complaints hurled at it by those who prefer the slush of a torque converter.

Sorry, gotta laugh everytime you say something like this (which is very often). You obviously had such bad luck with TC autos in the past (your family's multiple old Tauruses etc.) that anything is better than them. I myself have had very good luck with them which I guess is why I come from such a different frame of mind.