FordN00b Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm looking to get a used car for my wife and we have been impressed so far with the 2012 Ford Focus Titanium. My only concern is the transmission, it appears that for a lot of people (or enough people online that are loud) that the transmission has been an expensive and even sometimes perhaps a dangerous issue. I'm in the Navy and will be deploying soon and don't want to get my wife a car that is going to have problems. Have the transmission issues been resolved with the latest reflash? Is the car good to go? Thanks in advance, Leo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 (edited) Not recommended given your situation. It's not just the tranny - it's also the TCM which can leave you stranded. We just traded a 2012 with 70K. TCM failed around 40K. Tranny was ok but it still shuddered a little every once in awhile. Edited June 11, 2016 by akirby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordN00b Posted June 11, 2016 Author Share Posted June 11, 2016 Thank you for your reply. Do you have any better suggestions for a small car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 Thank you for your reply. Do you have any better suggestions for a small car? If you're dead set on a focus, get a '14 or newer. They revised and reworked the transmission and sorted out a lot of the issues. It's still not perfect but it's not as unreliable as the '12 and '13 models. You could always go the manual transmission route if she knows how to drive stick. The '08-'11 generation is rock solid. I have one with 181k miles on it and other than regular maintenance it still runs like a champ with no issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordN00b Posted June 11, 2016 Author Share Posted June 11, 2016 I'm not dead set on the Ford Focus, and I really can't afford the '14 or newer model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 What about a 2010-2011 Fusion? If you're dead set on it then it does have a 100K mile warranty on both the tranny and TCM. If it hasn't failed by 60K it might be ok, but it's still a slight gamble. OTOH you can use that to try and negotiate a lower price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BORG Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 (edited) It goes without saying that if you want the most reliable used car choices, look at Toyota and Honda...their reputation is very well earned. The most trouble free car is going to be a Camry, Accord, Civic, Corolla, CRV or RAV4. Ford quality is very inconsistent but the Focus is a bag of uncertainty that isn't worth bothering with considering the variety of known quantities available on the market. Edited June 11, 2016 by BORG 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker16 Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm looking to get a used car for my wife and we have been impressed so far with the 2012 Ford Focus Titanium. My only concern is the transmission, it appears that for a lot of people (or enough people online that are loud) that the transmission has been an expensive and even sometimes perhaps a dangerous issue. I'm in the Navy and will be deploying soon and don't want to get my wife a car that is going to have problems. Have the transmission issues been resolved with the latest reflash? Is the car good to go? Thanks in advance, Leo ford etended the warranty 100,000 miles right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
transitman Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 What about a Fiesta? I just rented one in Phoenix, a little small for my taste, but it was a good runner with pretty good zip for a compact with the A/C on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 What about a Fiesta? I just rented one in Phoenix, a little small for my taste, but it was a good runner with pretty good zip for a compact with the A/C on. Fiestas have the same transmission as the Focus, and have been plagued with the same issues. Newer ones are better (just like the Focus) but they're still a bit of a gamble. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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