I purchased my first "new" car, a 2012 Ford Focus SE, September 2012.  I spent one Saturday looking at Kia's, Hyundai's and Toyota's which all drove smoothly and were very quiet.  Ford was my last stop of the day.  I took the 2012 Ford Focus SE out for a test drive and at that time I noticed it to be lagging and jerking when switching gears, however, I assumed this was from previous people's driving habits since this was a "test car".  My parents have owned a Ford Explorer and a F-150 and had no complaints, my dad felt the car felt "heavier" and "safer" than the others we had tested and had a good safety rating.

So I decided on the 2012 Ford Focus SE, sunroof and upgraded stereo system, after everything was said and done my total price was $26,000!-Ouch, but they were able to offer me 0% financing and the monthly payments were within my budget so I agreed and left feeling like a proud new owner of a car!

I picked my car up the next week and after 2 weeks of driving I noticed the car to be performing the same way the test car was driving.  I called Ford and they explained that I would need to drive for at least 8000km before the car would "learn" my driving habits? I have never heard of this before? Anyways, I believed what my mechanic was saying and continued to drive my car up to the 2000km mark, where it again was progressively getting worse, jerking/lagging, couldn't find first gear.  I called my dealership again and they had me booked in where they "reprogrammed" my transmission.  I didn't feel any difference after this until Decemeber 2012 when it stalled twice in a parking lot.  I immediately called Ford and explained to him what happened.  It was at this time that the mechanic finally admitted that this has been an issue with several of their customers and that daily cars are having to be inspected by their transmission mechanic to see what the issue was.  So, I dropped my car off the next morning and within 2 hours Ford had called me back and stated that nothing was wrong with my transmission, they took it for a drive and it seemed fine? So, an inspection of the transmission means taking it for a 2mins drive?  I told him, "so, the random stalling is normal for this car", he laughed and explained, "well no, but the jerking/shuddering and lagging is a normal feature of this car"-and what a feature it is?

I'm now at the point of asking for a trade in as I have financed with Ford and am stuck with them for 6 years.  I can't afford to pay the difference for a newer model, however, I feel that I deserve to have my car replaced with a car that is reliable and safe and that doesn't have the same transmission issues.

People say to be careful when buying a used car as you are unaware of its previous history, however, it seems as though even a new car comes with unknown problems as well!