First of all thanks to everyone who has helped me in answering questions I had with my Maxima. Unfortunately I always had a love/hate relationship with the car.

So after 87,032 miles of a stormy relationship we have decided to call it quits

I got absolutely raped on the trade in. Granted almost 90K miles on a 2000 doesn't help....

Time was right for a change and I wasn't willing to roll the Nissan dice again...so I decided to really hang my *** out in the breeze and get a Ford

So far so good, it's a 5 speed ZX3 coupe loaded up for just under 12K. Has plenty of power, takes corners like it is on rails, 6 cd Blankput system, moonroof, leather wrapped steering wheel, 16" alloys, 205/55 16 tires. The AC is ice cold and best of all...zero rattles at 5k miles...not a one.

Lowered my car payment by 100 dollars a month, my car insurance went down 20 dollars a month and I can use 87 gas Cost me 11.50 to fill it last time, avg about 32 mpg.

Something about the Focus interior that doesn't scream junk American car either...looks really importish...compared to a Cavalier that I rented..(omg what a POS)

Anyways...probably not everyones cup of tea but I'm having an absolute blast driving it..wish my Maxima experience could have been more positive but this board really helped out a lot...

Thanks again

 

Wow big change. At least this Ford was designed in Europe. I think you might get teased a little but good luck w/ the car. There's a decent amount of aftermarket also. ie.. turbos,suspension etc... I think there's a awd version in Europe that races in WRC.

 

I know..thats what almost everyone I know said....from a Maxima to a Focus? lol...well when I change I guess I change big.

 

 

Teased a little? Why a Fukus. Sorry but that car is taking over community, pretty soon the jetta won't be their car of choice anymore. J/K had to take the chance to roast... g/l with your new ride may you have 95,000+ miles of hassle free driving.

 

isnt the Focus just an renamed Escort?

 

While at nearly 40 years old, I could not see getting a Focus myself (no, not a snobby comment based on $$$, but one based upon styling), but since you have not had a good experience with the Max and are happy with your new choice...bottom line is ENJOY IT!!

 

sorry no mercy here

fords are POS's

you could have gotten a civic for the same price..better car in EVERY WAY

 

Couldn't have described it better.

Another one bites the dust....GOOD LUCK!

 

Basicly yes. But the Focus is on a 100% new platform. BTW. A European Cosworth Escort RS would rip a maxima apart in seconds. AWD, Cosworth 4 cylinder turbo and a ralley champ. Est hp is about 200+ stock.

 

 

WHAT WAY?

 

if you don't mind, can you tell us how much did Ford pay for your Max?

 

Good luck with the new car. I'll leave it at that!

 

reliability, looks, resale value, comfort, ride, RELIABILITY, RELIABILITY.

 

REally now. Reliabilty. You DO have the consumer reports reliabilty charts to back that up right? Looks are subjective. Resale is probably better though. But you have ingored, speed, power and handling.

 

i am sorry but the only thing that consumer reports is good for is a toilet paper substitute.

i hope you really dont trust those guys' opinions when purchasing a car???

i dont think there is any car company on the market today that can equal the reliability of Honda. and ford is by no means a reputable car maker(they do have bulletproof trucks though)

 

I'm sorry then you have no leg to stand on then. Where are you getting your beloved reliability information?



And we are supposed to trust YOU?

Toyota/Lexus

 

YOU JUST KNOW THAT A KIT IS AVAILBLE TO PUT A SMALL BLOCK V8 IN THEM.....

can you imagine.........

 

http://www.ford-v8-focus.com/forum/

 

Sure, Ford looks real bad.. for what?? recalls? admitting problems? Sure, thats plenty of ammo to call them a POS, but guess what? they are fixing things w/o hassle and correcting mistakes. Some of the problems arent minor, but kudos for stepping up and trying.

Everyone here at work has domestic cars. They all have problems with them that I *never* had to worry about in the Maxima. But guess what? They get the warranty work done and they are happy... meanwhile, I needed something minor done and was constantly bitter and pi$$ed at NNA. I may have a better car, but not a better ownership experience. thats really sad. And we are talking about cars that are 1/2 the cost of the max.

as for jnm2kse, best of luck.. I commend you for getting what they actually need and not bowing to the pressure to get bigger.

as for this place, its all that kept my sanity sometimes with the max.

 

My sister has a Civic and it's not all that.

Water pump at 45K and more squeaks/rattles then my NISSAN!

Accords tend to be the reliable ones IMO, not Civics. Not sure why though.

 

I rented Focus once and really loved how it drove and handled. Much better than my Max. The power wasn't that bad either.

You can get the SVT version now too I think, so that should be even more fun.

Good luck with the car.

 

i am getting my informatin from real owners of these cars and repeat owners of the cars.

no dont trust me, ask actual owners, browse the forums that would be my suggestion

and as far as toyota and lexus, i guess you are not familiar with the little problem Toyota has with 100% of their current 6 cylinder engines and 4 cylinder engines called sludge??? cauzing the engines to seize up and toyota not covering it under warranty???

toyota used to be reliable when it was made in Japan, since the migration to the states quality control has gone down the ****ter

 

real owners?!?! hahahhaha! So you are an expert when you can talk to what 1% of the 10s of THOUSANDS of the total owners?!?! I guess the consumer reports survey of multi-THOUSANDS of owner is compared to your scientific information.

Toyota problem. Never proved sorry. That was just forum board hype. If you don't change your oil, ANY engine will sludge. thanks
Oh and not covering it? Lexus just extended my warranty on my RX300. Toyota also extended their warranty on their V6s also. Hmmm sounds like not covering to me right? They know the frequency of claims is near zero, so why not extend it?

Oh if you want to bring up the Toyota sludge thing, then I guess we should just chime in about Honda/Acura V6 automatic transmission failure thing also right

And another thing, Honda Accord is made in the USA. So is the Maxima.

 

actually they did find the Toyota sludge problem. they had changed the water jacket by a few mils thickness.. oil got a few degrees warmer and would sludge. I think Toyota was in disbelief, like Honda was about the trannies.. *but* they are addressing the issues finally.. and offering compensation with extra warranty. Just about anything is forgivable if they *fix* it and take care of you.. and dont jeapordize your safety..

 

Tim. Link?

 

well only the new Maxima is made in the states the previous ones were made in Japan

now onto the toyota thing, Toyota has admitted the problem with their engines experincing sludge and sent out a letter to all the covered Toyota owners saying that the only way they will cover the sludge issue is if you can prove from the date of pruchase of your vehicle you have done at least one oil change at a Toyota approoved oil change facility, what does that mean to a regular Joe like me, that changes his oil him self every 3,000 miles?? simply i am not covered. This is actually why i have my Maxima right now, becuase my 1997 avalon which experienced extreme sludge, and toyota wouldnt cover it, even after they took the engine apart and told me it had sludge but by policy i didnt have oil records from a reputable oil change place. so they said as far as they are concerned i never changed the oil in the car. and told me to go screw myself. This is exactly the reason why now when i have to change the oil in my Camry i HAVE to take it in at least once a year so it will be covered for the sludge issue that it will have later on

the fact that they extended the warranty doesnt mean they will cover it.

 

We received some mail on this with our 2002 Highlander 1MZ-FE. It's sitting around my place somewhere but there's no way in hell I'm going to actually try to find it.

 

Hey guys, thanks for the words

I knew the 4 letter word that begins with "F" would spark some noise lol

I actually have owned all of the big import 3, Nissan, Honda and Toyota. Actually the Accord I had really soured me on Honda.....noisy as heck lifters, big time crap rotors and my windshield was not sealed correctly at the top so it sounded like a banshee howling at highway speeds

I thought about a Civic but I do not like the driving position....I feel way too cramped in the Civic plus I wasn't going to touch a Civic with the options I wanted for 11.4k. The Focus has everything except leather. I guess even if I could get a Civic at that price the uncomfortableness of it would make it an automatic no.

The room in the Focus is incredible for such a small car. I sit in a more upright position which does wonders for my bad back....I almost feel like I'm in captains chairs.

Like I said I got raped at the dealer. Kelly Blue Book for my car was 7900. I got 7600 on a trade. Remember, I had a base SE....no sunroof, 16" wheels, no bose or power seat etc. The car needed maybe almost $1000 worth of work done maintenance wise, o2 sensor, new belts, new tires, maybe new rotors again! plus the front looked like a sandblaster was taken to it from all the chips. They have it advertised for 11.4k so they will make a bit off me for sure But the price you pay for having the convience of someone taking it off your hands right away.

Sticker on the ZX3 was like 16.5 then throw in the 3K rebate plus the dealer discount(almost 2k) plus another $750 rebate Ford was offering for my being in the military and it added up to great deal. On top of that I qualifed for 3.69% financing to boot for 5 years.

Powertrain warranty on Fords is now 5/100k and for an additional 525.00 I got the Extra care plan which extends the bumper to bumper warranty for 3/36k to 5/100k

I put about 100 miles a day on my ride so the 525 seemed like a decent deal plus hey...it is an American car so better to have the extra coverage

Scheduled maintenance seems a bit spread out also. The Focus uses 5W-20 synthetic blend(Motorcraft I assume)and recommends changes every 5k. I noticed that the Motorcraft oil filter is much taller than the Fram one that fits the Focus....I assume the taller one is better?

And like I said before, no rattles (so far)

So I guess it came down to comfort, fun( this thing is a blast to drive, I'm not kidding ya), cost of ownership, and ya know something....it is a little bit fugly but I like it. I don't care for the Focus sedan but like the ZX3


Dany..the SVT is sweet but I'd be defeating the purpose of downsizing my costs for that car lol...almost 20K plus only 25 mpg on highway!

Hey Tim, no more chirping engine mounts lol

I knew I'd take a few shots for getting a Ford but hey...everyone has a right to their say...and by no means am I trying to compare my Focus to or put down Maximas at all. I just happened to get one that I wasn't very happy with thats all. I love tooling around in my folks 95 GXE

Hey I've already started modding...I plopped in a K&N air filter..heck even that was 15.00 cheaper than the Nissan K&N Filter

 

So you went with the Maxima for the warranty!! Ask Tim about that one. I'm on an oil change program w/ a non-Lexus dealer. So every oil change is documented. That's proof enough

 

And the irony with these Honda/Acura V6 tranny issues is that the trannys are MADE IN JAPAN!

 

no i went for the Maxima because i always wanted one(since my 3rd gen busted), and there was no other car out there for me

i had a couple of criterias wasnt going to spend more then a certain amount, had to be a sedan had to be made in Japan had to have amanual transmission and had to have 6 cylinders. Only car that fit all those categories is the Maxima.

 

you'll be fine as long you have at least one documented oil change per year.. the sludge issue as of now, covers all 4 and 6 cylinder Toyotas manufactured since 1997 and until 2002

 

I'll have to ask Lexus about that. We got our 30k service with them earlier this year so that cover this year. My dad owns an Avalon. He likes it and hasn't had any troubles. Was the valve cover area all tarnished? ie.. took oil cap off and looked at the valve train?

 

Yeah, so 100% of the engines could POSSIBLY be affected by sludge. What is the ACTUAL failure rate? Less than one-tenth of one percent. Or is it less 0.01%? I forget....it's extremely small and hardly anybody is having these failures. Regardless, Toyota did something about it and made it right.


By the way, here are some pics of our 1990 MADE IN USA Toyota Camry. Most reliable car we ever owned. Mostly only routine maintenance, a tranny syncro at 98k miles (covered via extended warranty), and a new alternator and ignition coil at 203k miles, and then just occasional exhaust and brake work.








That's right, 207,612 ORIGINAL OWNER MILES and hardly ANY problems, and no rattles. Definitely a piece of crap "inferior" quality control MADE IN USA pile of garbage.

 

actually the problem is quite severe, as it takes quite a few vehicles in order for a Motor company to release an official recall.

I guarantee you all 1997-2002 toyotas have sludge, just the severity level is different.

Actually those Camrys that you have are very reliable a friend of mine has on and it has over 250K and runs like a champ.

the symptoms that my avalon had was it started to smoke on startup heavily and only on warm days. couldnt see anything on the oil cap as it is on the side of the valve cover on the 6 cylinder toyota engine, so we had to take the valve cover off at the dealership, and it was NASTY, all gunked up in black good, looked like fudge

 

What recall?

 

My parents also have 1998 and 2000 Camry 4-cyl automatics. No problems on either of those.

 

I got my notcie for my 2001 Camry last year sometime. It says

bring your vehicle in for a diagnosis as there is a possibility of engine seizing in some 6 cylinder and 4 cylinder toyotas

when you bring it in, they take the valve cover off and inspect it and go from there.