Roger Eastman

The BC is 4.25 ". See my post concerning the spare tire and jack under this subject in the C-Max Hybrid Forum.

Please check status of this vehicle: VIN : 1FADP5BU7DL520717 Thank you.

I test drove a C-Max yesterday, and I can confirm that there is no spare tire and no place that you could carry a spare. A kit to pump sealant and reflate a flat tire is provided. Problem is, if a steel-belted radial tire gets a cut in it (or worse, a cut in the sidewall ) I don't think that the sealant would do you any good. All the Auto club could do for you would be to flat bed the car and take it to a safe place while you tried to locate a replacement tire. I was put off ref the C-Max because of this one feature. I recently had a car where I got a cut in the tire tread. Although there was plenty of tread left, the tire could not be repaired, and had to be replaced.

I have a minivan and a station wagon. The minivan rear window quickly collects dirt on it when driving ; I have read that there is a negative pressure at the tailgate that draws dirt to it. The station wagon is even worse ; it also manages to get black exhaust particles on the glass along with dirt. So my question is this : How is the 2012 Focus hatchback in this regard ? Apparently Ford does not consider the airflow over the hatch as being very good, hence the sedan being the only model offered with the SFE package.

My Grandmother was a country doctor in New Hampshire. She didn't learn to drive until she was 66 years old. She used to say, "When they come out with a car that has just 2 pedals, one you push to go, and one to push to stop, I'll learn to drive." When the 1940 Oldsmobile came out with the Hydrarmatic transmission, she was one of the first in line to get one. That changed her life ; now she was independently mobile. She drove that car everywhere, including far out into the country to make weekly calls on her house-bound patients (Yes, doctors did that back in the "Olden Days" ). That was the only car that she ever owned ; she kept it for about 20 years. The last time that I saw her, she gave a big wave and an ear to ear smile as she took off in her car. By then she had almost totally lost her hearing, so except for the lurching, she couldn't tell what gear the car was in. The transmission had a habit of shifting into Low gear every now and then as she travelled along , which wasn't too good at 40 MPH. Needless to say, the car went to the scrap heap shortly thereafter, and poor Grandma was afoot again. Did the automotive scribes of that day sit around running down the Hydramatic transmission ? No, they applauded GM for creating such a device that would allow countless people previously unable to drive to become drivers. I first drove a Ford/Getrag DCT in a Fiesta when they first came out. I didn't care for the Fiesta itself, but I thought that Ford was really on to something good with this DCT. When the 2012 Focus first became available, I bought the first one off the truck at my friendly Ford dealer. I now have 3,400 miles on it. Maybe I just lucked out, but my transmission performs very good under all conditions. I have driven many different automatic transmissions over the years, including some of the finest European DCT. Every transmission has its quirks (including manuals). I think that the Ford DCT is as good as any that I know of. I applaud Ford/Getrag for bringing this transmission to market, particularly in a market segment that makes it accessible to the masses. Furthermore, IMHO, the manual shift button on the side of the shift lever is much more user-friendly than steering wheel mounted paddle shifters.

I have an SEL Sedan - 3,000 miles, 3 months old. I agree about the looks of the rear. The first thing I did was paint the rear of the muffler with a flat, high temp exhaust paint and install a polished SS exhaust tip. It looks great, but : Gasoline Direct Injection engines are known to spit alot of black unburned fuel out of the exhaust. This continuously cruds up the beautiful SS exhaust tip, and requires almost daily cleaning . It occasionally spits enough black soot out the exhaust when starting to crud up the garage floor. I haven't seen this kind of thing from a gasoline engine since the days of carburated engines with a cranky choke. I also own a 2003 Focus, and the exhaust is completely clean. Strange, but true... Please don't tell me that I need to get to the dealer to have things checked out, as I have already looked into this problem enough to know that it is a "normal" thing with GDI engines. I have a friend that owns a GM GDI engine and it does the same thing, and it is considered by GM to be normal operation.

(2) months and 2,000 miles on my SEL Sedan. I think the DCT is great. If I had to single out the best single feature of the 2012 Focus - it would be the DCT .

We have an SEL Sedan ; Almost (2) months old and 2,000 miles. Sure, the sedan has better aerodynamic air flow, and it might be marginally safer due to its longer length giving a little more crush space in a rear-ender, but for us, the decision came down to looks. It was my wife's decision, and she liked the sedan and didn't car for the hatch. Except for higher vertical loads, there is alot of space in the sedan. In the SEL model, at least, the rear seats fold forward ; lift the seat bottom and fold it forward, and the seat backs go semi-flat. The seat bottom can be easily removed altogether by removing a couple of screws, then the seat backs go fully flat, and the footwells are open. The one thing that has bugged me about the sedan involves the rear window. Due to its slope, it is difficult to reach to clean the inside surface. I have cleaned it several times, using different cleaners, but it is still not fully clean. You have to be careful because of the defroster grid being on the surface of the glass interior. The other thing is the lack of a rear wiper. The rear window tends to crud up quickly when driving in the wet, which could be nicely handled by the rear washer/wiper of the hatch. I have tried Rain-X on the rear glass, but it doesn't improve the situation. If I had it to do over, I would give more serious consideration to the hatch, in spite of everything else, because of the rear window situation, which I consider to be a safety concern.

Just received my July Motor Trend and was looking at the C-Segment test. This has been knocked around in BON Forums previously, but this is what got my attention : There on P. 118 is a pic of the Focus engine. When I first looked at it, I thought that they had printed the wrong pic, but on further study, I realized that the trusty 2.0L has a cover on it. My 2012 Focus SEL has the bare engine sitting there ; no cover. Do the Titanium models have that kind of cover on top of the engine, or is my car missing something. Not that I am crazy about decorative plastic engine covers, but if my car is supposed to have one, then I need to talk to someone at Ford. Comments ?

As to the length of the wiper blades : They are both 29" . They are the strangest wiper blades that I have ever seen - they are completely flexible, with no fixed (or rigid ) backbone to them, like wiper blades usually have. When you lift them up, they droop and hang, like the letter "U" . I should mention that my vehicle has the rain sensing wipers, something that I would have avoided if I could have, but they came as part of a package and I had no choice but to have them. I have had them on vehicles in the past, and they proved to be a nuisance to me. I have had occasion to drive my new Focus on a rainy day and verified my opinion. I suppose there could be certain cases where they would perform some useful function, but I find that you generally have to override them to get the wiper performance that you need. Why have something that complicated and expensive on your vehicle that is only marginally useful ? To me, they are a PITA - just one person's opinion, for what it may be worth.

My 2012 Focus SEL Sedan has one touch down/up window controls on all 4 windows. This can be a useful feature for the front windows, but I am finding it to be a nuisance for the rear windows. The window controls are very sensitive and I find myself getting into the one touch part of the control much too easily when I just want to open one of the rear windows slightly. I would like to disable the one touch feature for the rear windows, if possible. Does anyone have access to the wiring diagrams for the one touch power windows on the 2012 Focus, so that I can see what might be required to do this ?

Took delivery of a new 2012 Focus Sedan SEL on 3-10-11. The only option on this car is 302A, which means that it has SYNCH, but none of the other electronic goodies. The first thing that I do when I get a new car is to jack it up, remove all the wheels and give it a good look over for proper assembly, wheel lug nuts properly torqued, etc. Everything looks good, no problems found. This vehicle has a belly pan, which must be removed to change oil, etc. I thought it would be made of a solid plastic material, as most usually are, but not this one. It is made of a soft material similar to an underhood mat. It is probably made of some state of the art eco-friendly material which appears to be reconstituted mouse fur / electrolux droppings blend. As I see it, the purpose of the belly pan is airflow managment. It would contribute to the aerodynamic flow over and under the vehicle, and it also helps to control the airflow through the drivetrain area. I also own a 2003 Focus, so my impressions of the 2012 car are in comparison to the older car. The new car has a visual appearance of being a larger vehicle, but other than the width, I think that they are actually about the same. The new car rides well, and is a bit more quiet than the older car. It handles well, but the older Focus was one of the best handling cars around - statistically better than some Porsche, Jaguar, and Corvette models, so it was something good in its own . Anyway, it is a good value, and we are pleased with it. We are off on a trip tomorrow, so we will get a better feel for the overall picture.

We were A/Z Plan buyers, so there was no negotiation. The A/Z and X Plan prices are listed on the Invoice. X Plan is about 5% below MSRP, and 1% over Invoice. I doubt that dealers would be wheeling and dealing on these cars at this point because they are in short supple. As stock builds up, dealers would be doing whatever it takes to make deals. emerrill - Please explain the aerodynamics as effected by the shutters. It would seem to me that aerodynamic flow of air over the vehicle would be adversely effected by the shutters being closed. I can see how the shutters would be useful in a cold climate by helping the engine to warm up more quickly, and thus improving fuel mileage, and maybe therefore the CAFE.

The 2012 Focii are just hitting the ground here in beautiful downtown Alabama. My wife and I headed out to check them out as soon as we were informed. Drove an SE Hatch with handling package, and an SEL Sedan with 302A package. Wife fell in love with the SEL as soon as she slipped behind the wheel, and we bought it on the spot. The SEL that we purchased was built around mid March, the FORD website showed it being available in stock about the first of April, and as mentioned, it arrived yesterday. Neither car had the grille shutters. I wonder if they aren't more a factor of climate control, rather than aerodynamics. That Ford/Getrag Dual clutch tranny is nice. I don't know why all the auto trade mag writers critisize it. One factor in our quick decision was that the car was Red Candy Metallic. The wife had her heart set on that color, and we thought we might not see another in that color for quite a while. Further, we have custom ordered many cars in the past, and the wait has to rank as one of life's great agonies.. For everyday driving, we couldn't tell the difference between the stock suspension and the handling package.

This engine does not use a timing belt ; it has a timing chain. Ordinarily, a timing chain will last for the life of the engine, and does not require periodic maintenance or replacement.