September VFACTS

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by prydey

my wife has a south african focus and my mother in law has one as well. both are great.

i bought a pen once. it was rubbish, therefore, all pens are rubbish.

Yeah, South African Focus is OK, if you compare it to an FG Falcon for example, but compared to the Fiesta its crap.

Thats three examples so far, I've had two and another poster just up before my post is another.

My wipers hit on the edge of the bonnet when facing up hill for some reason if they're going.

The trim on the top of the steering column wasn't fitted correctly, the driver seat is creaking when you change gears, blown injector return line, split injector seal on injector 3 on this particular car.

The other Focus, it wouldn't start every now and again, it would just keep cranking, you had to crank it a few times, key to off, then to ignition then try start it again and it would fire.

Both Focus also had out of round tyres from the factory.

[prydey]

i'm not meaning to belittle your comments. i just think its a case of tarring them all with the same brush. i bet i could find a bmw owner who (or any manufacturer) that says the same comments about their car.

anything that is mass produced will have poor examples and good examples, including the mazda3.

[Joe5619]

Originally Posted by olds

Because the build quality of the focus is rubbish compared to the Mazda. And I know because I bought a brand new 2010 Lv Lx .

I don’t think that is the problem at all.. What the problem is (if you want to call it that), is that Ford & Focus have never been the "car of choice" for small cars. Focus will never get to the top over night, or in one year, or by just releasing a new model. In the same way Mazda 3 did not get to the top in over night or in one year or by releasing a new model. The fact that Focus has great growth numbers (double digits) is all we can hope for right now. If this continues there is no reason why the Focus in 1-2 (maybe even 3-4) years can’t be where the Mazda 3 is right now. But it ant going to happen over night, no matter how good the product is or no matter how much better it is than what’s already on the market!!

Also, correct me if am wrong, but isn't the Focus the best selling Ford product this year?? It is also on target to have its best year of sales EVER!!

[MrZ]

Mazda3 pretty much did get to the top overnight. It was in 6th place right from the moment it went on sale, and was no. 1 after only 7 years. Meanwhile Focus has been on sale for 10 years and the highest it's ever managed was 12th. What's more, Mazda has achieved this success in only 2 generations, whereas the Focus is now in it's 3rd generation.

[Joe5619]

Originally Posted by MrZ

Mazda3 pretty much did get to the top overnight. It was in 6th place right from the moment it went on sale, and was no. 1 after only 7 years. Meanwhile Focus has been on sale for 10 years and the highest it's ever managed was 12th. What's more, Mazda has achieved this success in only 2 generations, whereas the Focus is now in it's 3rd generation.

You heard it hear first!! Overnight equals to 7 years!!

[MrZ]

Originally Posted by Joe5619

You heard it hear first!! Overnight equals to 7 years!!

Yes, when you compare it to the 50+ years that Commodore or Falcon have dominated the no. 1 spot, 7 years *is* overnight by comparison.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by MrZ

Mazda3 pretty much did get to the top overnight. It was in 6th place right from the moment it went on sale, and was no. 1 after only 7 years. Meanwhile Focus has been on sale for 10 years and the highest it's ever managed was 12th. What's more, Mazda has achieved this success in only 2 generations, whereas the Focus is now in it's 3rd generation.

The point you don't see with sales figures is product mix, Focus sells mostly mid and high series
which is why Ford discounts LX and now Ambiente, nobody really wants them..
Conversely, the bulk of Mazda 3 sales are Neo and Maxx, they are well equipped car
which IMO, makes the job of selling higher series much harder to do..

When I look at Ambiente, to me it's more like a Fiesta with added room than a 3 Neo competitor
but then again, maybe my perception radar is way off..

[Sprint XR8]

Mazda3 achieved it's "overnight" success over 35 years thanks to the six generations of Mazda 323 since 1977 that preceded it. I doubt dropping the 23 off the name ever caused any buyer confusion.

[MrZ]

Originally Posted by jpd80

Conversely, the bulk of Mazda 3 sales are Neo and Maxx..

Actually, when the 3 first came out, the SP23 model made up a huge chunk of sales - about 35%, or double what Mazda were expecting.

With the Focus, initially it might be higher end models, but over time it will gravitate towards the base models as it ages.

Originally Posted by CoupeXB

Mazda3 achieved it's "overnight" success over 35 years thanks to the six generations of Mazda 323 since 1977 that preceded it. I doubt dropping the 23 off the name ever caused any buyer confusion.

Yes but Mazda 323 sales were absolutely dismal in the 1980s, it was the Laser twin that was the big seller. 323 didn't sell in any significant numbers until the late 90s onwards.

[Kieron]

Originally Posted by Joe5619

I don’t think that is the problem at all.. What the problem is (if you want to call it that), is that Ford & Focus have never been the "car of choice" for small cars. Focus will never get to the top over night, or in one year, or by just releasing a new model. In the same way Mazda 3 did not get to the top in over night or in one year or by releasing a new model. The fact that Focus has great growth numbers (double digits) is all we can hope for right now. If this continues there is no reason why the Focus in 1-2 (maybe even 3-4) years can’t be where the Mazda 3 is right now. But it ant going to happen over night, no matter how good the product is or no matter how much better it is than what’s already on the market!!

Also, correct me if am wrong, but isn't the Focus the best selling Ford product this year?? It is also on target to have its best year of sales EVER!!

If memory serves, the Laser was the small car of choice for many years, which didn't quite carry over to the Focus unfortunately.

Have the Focus/Kuga/Ranger supply issue been sorted up in Thailand now?

[Windsor220]

Originally Posted by CoupeXB

Mazda3 achieved it's "overnight" success over 35 years thanks to the six generations of Mazda 323 since 1977 that preceded it. I doubt dropping the 23 off the name ever caused any buyer confusion.

Actually it did. Mazda came good after it had its image overhauled plus the zoom zoom campaign. I doubt most people would even know what a 323 is.

[buickman]

Originally Posted by Windsor220

Actually it did. Mazda came good after it had its image overhauled plus the zoom zoom campaign. I doubt most people would even know what a 323 is.

The Zoom Zoom campaign actually started with the BJ series 323's while Ford sold the Laser.
The current Focus in Trend spec is a nice car but in the price range the Mazda 3 Neo is the pick over the Focus Ambiente as we tested both as well as a Corolla and Lancer. The Mazda has more road noise but is a very easy car to live with as a daily commuting & shopping car plus holds its value well.

[MrZ]

Originally Posted by buickman

The Zoom Zoom campaign actually started with the BJ series 323's while Ford sold the Laser.

The Zoom Zoom slogan first appeared in the Mazda Tribute ad in 2001 here in Australia (2000 in the USA).