Faults:

Bad alternator at 998 miles. Driving down the highway, lost the radio, then the lights, then the power steering, then the gauges, then the engine died. The dealer paid to tow it, paid for rental car (an awful Hyundai), but took 3 weeks to get it done because they hadn't released the new alternators to parts stores, or even the dealerships yet.

General Comments:

I love this little car. Race red hatchback, SE, manual trans with Sport Package (for 4 wheel disk brakes).

Other than the above fault, and the fact that the Continental tires put on it from the factory needed to be replaced at 25,000 miles, the car has been perfect.

Great handling, responsive steering, and nice light clutch and relatively short throw make throwing the car around corners a blast. Horsepower is sufficient, but it is rather low on torque. It's not going to win any races, but it's fun to drive.

I bought the car for the better fuel mileage and am very happy with it, mixed driving (2 lane 55mph, city, and highway 70mph) I average between 35-38 MPG per tank. Long highway miles in the absence of mountains achieves 39.

One complaint would be that it needs a 6th gear. It's around 3000 RPM at 70mph, which explains why the auto has better highway fuel economy.

Faults:

Engine faults - various.

Poor trim quality.

Radio skips channels.

General Comments:

The car looks great and is comfortable.

Fuel consumption should be up to 53 MPG; the best I have had is 35 extended on road journeys, resetting while moving. Round town it's more like 22-25.

Engine fails to start in cold conditions. When running it loses power when it feels like it. Been for multiple repairs; lambda sensors, MAF sensors, EGR etc. 6 repairs later and several weeks of time, and the car was no better.

Radio tunes to whatever it feels like, whenever it feels like.

Dealerships are poor. Ford Customer Resolution Services are hopeless and seem to think they can operate outside their own policy and the law.

Best thing I did was sell the car on 2 months ago, luckily before the snow! Feel sorry for the next owner though!

Faults:

Minor glitches with MyFord Touch/SYNC system.

General Comments:

Otherwise the car is fabulous!

Comfortable seats.

Good acceleration, steering and braking.

Great gas mileage (about 30 MPG combined city/highway).

Sound system is amazing.

Easy to use controls.

Sport gear.

Styling is very cute and sporty.

Plenty of room for 4 people.

Faults:

Nothing has broken on this car to date.

General Comments:

Overall the 2012 Focus is a beautiful car. It has a sleek design, comfortable interior, and great fuel economy. I thoroughly enjoy the Sync system, and usually listen to my iPhone.

The main issue I have with the Focus is related to the manual transmission. The car is all drive-by-wire, and this causes a lengthy delay between pushing the gas pedal and the engine starting to accelerate. If the clutch is released at the same time as the gas pedal is depressed, the car will stall. If I press the gas and wait a second before releasing the clutch, it won't stall, but then there is another delay between letting up the clutch and pressing the gas to accelerate. This causes a rough start.

Another issue with the Focus, is that the car does not drop the RPM immediately when the clutch is depressed. It will slowly decrease the RPM until it realizes the driver is not changing gears. This wastes a lot of gas in the city, where the car hardly ever reaches 5th gear.