[Promit]

They claimed it was shipped with Mustang 2.3 EB HG, but I still don't buy it.

I mean I don't know what you want here for evidence, we've had people pull the head off and discover a Mustang HG. And then Ford spent quite a few million dollars on a recall and probably not for entertainment purposes. Considering what many of the other manufacturers' cars have gone through, I really feel like you're overreacting to the oil leak issue. Is Toyota, obviously not - but I'd rather be here than in a VW.

 

[Ayada]

Uh, my dad has an ATS, and Cadillac always puts him in a new car of some sort as a courtesy vehicle if they have his. When I had my car in for my HG repair, they gave me a base Focus and both him and my brother-in-law were laughing about how that's how Ford treats someone that buys a $40k car from them.

It is amusing in a way. My mother takes her Explorer in for work and they give her platinum f150s every time. She hates driving trucks so she has to beg them to give her something smaller, which is usually a loaded up Edge or Explorer. She bought that thing used for much less than what I payed for the RS and even the MSRP when it was new wasn't that much higher than what the RS was. I take mine in and what do I get? Offers for shuttle service, a phone number to a rental place, $5 coupon for a taxi, a base model Focus and a few Escapes of lower trims.

It's not like it really bothers me or anything to be in the base models, and I certainly don't run in and demand to speak to the manager to get myself into a better rental, but the different levels of treatment depending on which type of car you have is a bit of a jab to the kidney.

I took my BMW motorcycle in to get the gas cap replaced, a job that would have taken me less than 15 minutes to do and before I even got a chance to sit down and wait they offered me keys to a brand new S1000R to amuse myself while waiting. I don't have their fanciest model, I don't take it in there for work other than warranty jobs, and I certainly wasn't going to be buying that S1000R any time soon but they still handed me the keys and treated me like I wasn't inconveniencing them for bringing my bike in for repairs. They even spent an hour hand washing it trying to get all the mud out of it and I apologized to the guy profusely when I found out for his efforts. It's things like that that help keep customer loyalty going.

I have a strong preference of going back to that dealership for my next motorcycle. Ford? Not so much. When I get treated like a third class customer and the service reflects that opinion? I don't really have the desire to go back and spend money with them.

 

[cornerexit]

I mean I don't know what you want here for evidence, we've had people pull the head off and discover a Mustang HG. And then Ford spent quite a few million dollars on a recall and probably not for entertainment purposes. Considering what many of the other manufacturers' cars have gone through, I really feel like you're overreacting to the oil leak issue. Is Toyota, obviously not - but I'd rather be here than in a VW.

We all know it was a Mustang EB HG. I’m not disputing that. What’s suspect to me was them not knowing this was happening. In this day and age you ship out a well hyped up car with the wrong head gasket? 25k cars or whatever? Something smells funny.

I’m not over reacting to anything. I love my car. The chassis and drivetrain are both truly outstanding. I’ve read about owner after owner going back and back and back to the stealer for post HG recall issues and I will not put up with that. Life is short and that type of thing is not worth the time.

 

[DeanHart]

How about this for a loaner:

 

[djmohab2]

We all know it was a Mustang EB HG. I’m not disputing that. What’s suspect to me was them not knowing this was happening. In this day and age you ship out a well hyped up car with the wrong head gasket? 25k cars or whatever? Something smells funny.

I’m not over reacting to anything. I love my car. The chassis and drivetrain are both truly outstanding. I’ve read about owner after owner going back and back and back to the stealer for post HG recall issues and I will not put up with that. Life is short and that type of thing is not worth the time.

If anyone truly believes that Ford made a "supply chain error" for 2 model years worth of cars, they're smoking some incredibly dank ****. It's obvious Ford either tried to do to a cost-cutting parts reuse or flat out couldn't get a proper gasket engineered for the RS in time and didn't want to delay delivery of the car.

 

[Hoonigan]

How about this for a loaner:

View attachment 331674

Put "Free Candy" on the side of it prior to returning it. Hope you were able to get all hauling errands done.

 

[cornerexit]

If anyone truly believes that Ford made a "supply chain error" for 2 model years worth of cars, they're smoking some incredibly dank ****. It's obvious Ford either tried to do to a cost-cutting parts reuse or flat out couldn't get a proper gasket engineered for the RS in time and didn't want to delay delivery of the car.

My point exactly to him. You are dead on. I think it's the latter of the two scenarios you gave myself as even the video series indicated how quickly the entire thing was put together, rushed, behind, all that stuff. I've read they went to Cosworth for the head design and build, etc. And I truly think Cosworth was the intended supplier they wanted to use for the head, using the bottom end of the Mustang EB, just beefed up. But some sort of spat occurred between them and FoMoCo occurred regarding costs, probably Ford not wanting to pay to do it right, which led to this major league F up. They damn well knew about it. It's 2019, in this day of technology communication, etc, you had no idea? 2016/2017/2018, whatever same difference. Not a chance in fire burning hell they didn't know. That's a joke of an excuse they got it mixed up. If that was 1000 cars, 5000, sure, I could at least buy that. But all 2016 models, 90% of 2017's? Deductive reasoning lends me to believe they just didn't have a proper design because they took it in house from Cosworth because they didn't want to pay the fiddler.

 

[djmohab2]

My point exactly to him. You are dead on. I think it's the latter of the two scenarios you gave myself as even the video series indicated how quickly the entire thing was put together, rushed, behind, all that stuff. I've read they went to Cosworth for the head design and build, etc. And I truly think Cosworth was the intended supplier they wanted to use for the head, using the bottom end of the Mustang EB, just beefed up. But some sort of spat occurred between them and FoMoCo occurred regarding costs, probably Ford not wanting to pay to do it right, which led to this major league F up. They damn well knew about it. It's 2019, in this day of technology communication, etc, you had no idea? 2016/2017/2018, whatever same difference. Not a chance in fire burning hell they didn't know. That's a joke of an excuse they got it mixed up. If that was 1000 cars, 5000, sure, I could at least buy that. But all 2016 models, 90% of 2017's? Deductive reasoning lends me to believe they just didn't have a proper design because they took it in house from Cosworth because they didn't want to pay the fiddler.

I remember reading here that Cosworth had a proprietary process used to machine the metal used in the heads, but FP balked at the cost and determined they could do it in-house.

Especially with the leaks about the dual-clutch tranny in the lower model Focii that I read on Jalopnik today where Ford was aware of their problems and actively covered them up, how the hell can you take them at their word?

 

[Ceseuron]

I have a few friends in the area who own and operate specialized race shops for drift, rally, etc.. so all major work I need done on the RS and my GT500 usually goes to them. I’m hoping to have a local hot rod shop handle my Pantera in the coming weeks. The local dealership in my area is really only good for general service and my most recent warranty claim for the transfer case on the RS. Most dealerships don’t really have much more than basic qualified mechanics and few dealerships I’ve come across have understanding techs and service writers who appreciate cars that are a cut above the run of the mill stuff being pushed out the door so your odds of finding an SVT mechanic are slim to none in my experience. What I have noticed is that dealerships are more concerned with displaying a high degree of faux concern over customer service. Every time I call my dealership and ask to get transferred to parts or service, the receptionist always gushes “It would be my pleasure to connect you!” And they’re always on about yelp, google, and truecar reviews, begging me to post up five star reviews on every interaction. At one point they were even offering $5.00 Starbucks gift cards for every verifiable 5 star review from a unique email address.

 

[ShadowRS]

I brought a few small issues to a dealership yesterday and because one of them might have to do with brakes, I asked to have an SVT mechanic work on my car. The representative didn't even know who was SVT certified at the place, so he went to the back and asked someone else. As he and another guy walked back out of the room, I heard the other guy say to him "SVT? Is it an RS? but the RS isn't an SVT car though." Yeah sure but that's because SVT was American and has since become a part of FP, so in North America they pretty much mean the same thing. Apparently they're the only SVT dealer in town and he told me there was actually only one SVT mechanic there. At this point I'm kinda doubting if he really made the note to have this mechanic take my car after hearing the exchange between him and that other guy.

So my question is who's supposed to be working on these cars at dealers anyway? I know most dealerships think this is just a regular focus, and I'm fine with regular mechanics working on common parts like the infotainment or whatnot, but I don't quite trust them when it comes to unique parts on a car that they think they know well of, because thinking you know something while you don't often leads to stuff going wrong; for what I know they didn't even seem to know how to put the undertray back properly. I believe I heard or read somewhere that only SVT mechanics went through the training course for this car? Was I wrong for asking for an SVT mechanic?

I race and don't do my own work. As others are implying about their dealers, I suggest discriminating. The dealer did a great job on the engine head gasket/tear-down mess. But I have one after-market guy do all my tires (on 7th set)/alignments/brakes (on 3rd set)/brake fluid; (always using OEM parts). I have the dealer do my oil changes...not only are they the average-even-lower price in town, I'm getting the exact synthetic and the changes go on my VIN record. Except for second opinions, you pretty much got to use dealer for bumper to bumper miscellaneous problems related to warranty (just now finally got my seat-clunk fixed!). (I plan to extend mine soon.)

 

[SilverWings-L]

I think what you are running into here as a problem is that this is a very niche vehicle. Not a ton of people out there who are willing to pay 40k+ for what looks like (to most people) an economy hatchback car. When you have to explain to every person that you talk to that your car is not a normal Focus, and you then get to see the blank expressions on their faces eventually you realize that this was not a car for everyone. With that being said, the smaller the market the less focus a company is likely to put into all of the R&D. Even if the margins were excellent for Ford, the volume was not, and they would rather sell you an F-150. It is due to this that it is unlikely that any dealership is going to have a specialty technician for your Focus RS. Maybe for the high-performance Mustangs because they sell 10x as many of them as performance Focus(es?)(Foci?). Your best bet is to find a Ford Master Tech (like cornerexit said) at a dealership that has a good parts and service manager that you dont have to drive 4 hours to get to.

The reason why I asked for an SVT mechanic was I remember reading or hearing somewhere that there was a training course for this car and only SVT mechanics received this training. Some people are saying SVT hasn't been a thing for a while now, while that is true, Ford is still certifying certain dealerships as "SVT dealers", and it is searchable on their website. I assumed that these dealers would have mechanics qualified to work on SVT cars, or really, FP cars now. Too bad that because this car is relatively low volume, they don't seem to know much about it, thinking it's just a focus with more power and therefore any mechanic there has loads of experience with this car, while they really don't and sometimes f*ck things up because their pride is more important than your car. I've seen a few others in the area but I have no idea which dealership they go to or if they're even on this forum.

 

[GmpaJimj]

Think Small

I brought a few small issues to a dealership yesterday and because one of them might have to do with brakes, I asked to have an SVT mechanic work on my car. The representative didn't even know who was SVT certified at the place, so he went to the back and asked someone else. As he and another guy walked back out of the room, I heard the other guy say to him "SVT? Is it an RS? but the RS isn't an SVT car though." Yeah sure but that's because SVT was American and has since become a part of FP, so in North America they pretty much mean the same thing. Apparently they're the only SVT dealer in town and he told me there was actually only one SVT mechanic there. At this point I'm kinda doubting if he really made the note to have this mechanic take my car after hearing the exchange between him and that other guy.

So my question is who's supposed to be working on these cars at dealers anyway? I know most dealerships think this is just a regular focus, and I'm fine with regular mechanics working on common parts like the infotainment or whatnot, but I don't quite trust them when it comes to unique parts on a car that they think they know well of, because thinking you know something while you don't often leads to stuff going wrong; for what I know they didn't even seem to know how to put the undertray back properly. I believe I heard or read somewhere that only SVT mechanics went through the training course for this car? Was I wrong for asking for an SVT mechanic?[/QUOTE


Find a small dealer, even if you have to travel. Our dealer is family owned since 1925. Mark up on my RS was $500.
The last loaner (work on a plain Jane Escape) was a ‘19 Fusion Sport with 8 mi. on the clock. Their sales staff isn’t commissioned. If they don’t know they find out. They did my HG and when I expressed trepidation, “Rick” (the guy who takes your keys) explained the leak down test.....what!
The point is in a small town you can’t be a slice and dice...for long. Everybody knows everybody and word travels fast. Yes the RS is special....but not Area 51 special. Now that your curiosity is peaked...Zook Motors, Kane, Pa.

 

[BCRS]

There is a ford diesel/performance shop near me I trust explicitly with my car
They have the master tech trained on the RS and in fact mine was the first HG they had done; It's been flawless.
The upside is it's not a dealership and they deal will all the supper picky customers with FP models.
There are no lot kids joyriding in my my car and they know not to wash it, hand tools for lug nuts, never had so much as a grease mark let alone scratches or dents etc.

Downside is no courtesy car for fancy coffee, spring water, snacks etc.
It's a proper mechanics shop )

If you're in Vancouver BC i can't recommend them enough
Brown Brothers Diesel Shop

 

[Crevarius]

No idea, but don't take it to a dealership. My experiences with Ford Service have been utterly terrible.

I've purchased two brand new cars in my life, both Ford Focus models; ST then the RS. Based on how they "support" those vehicles I will never buy another Ford again.

 

[SVTbuckeye11]

I've loved Fords my whole life. My now wife (GF at the time), bought a 13 Focus SE with the PowerS*** transmission brand new. Obvious its cheaper than an RS, but when she and I both started to notice the bucking/surging issue associated with these transmission, they told her she was driving the car incorrectly. When she came home and told me that, I nearly drove back to the dealership with a weapon. We started going to a different dealership after that and had great service. After "reprogramming" the transmission, like the TSB stated at the time, the issue did seem to resolve itself. We got lucky compared to most other people with this transmission, and I drive it mostly now since we bought a new Forester. It will be the first and last automatic transmission Ford I buy.

My point is to shop different dealerships. This goes for all brands as I've dealt with dealerships as part of my job for over 8 years. Some have great service writers and crap techs, some have great techs and crap service staff. if you're lucky, they're all great. This is just my experience, but in most cases, and I don't mean to generalize, the wealthier neighborhoods tend have better dealerships. Good luck sir.

 

[DeanHart]

There is a ford diesel/performance shop near me I trust explicitly with my car
They have the master tech trained on the RS and in fact mine was the first HG they had done; It's been flawless.
The upside is it's not a dealership and they deal will all the supper picky customers with FP models.
There are no lot kids joyriding in my my car and they know not to wash it, hand tools for lug nuts, never had so much as a grease mark let alone scratches or dents etc.

Downside is no courtesy car for fancy coffee, spring water, snacks etc.
It's a proper mechanics shop )

If you're in Vancouver BC i can't recommend them enough
Brown Brothers Diesel Shop

Yup. Best bet in Vancouver. Good guys!

 

[SilverWings-L]

No idea, but don't take it to a dealership. My experiences with Ford Service have been utterly terrible.

I've purchased two brand new cars in my life, both Ford Focus models; ST then the RS. Based on how they "support" those vehicles I will never buy another Ford again.

FP makes great cars, but they're not the ones taking care of them after they're sold, and the dealers are, the same dealers that will sell you an $18k car and later fix it with duct tape when it eventually needs repairs, because they seriously don't care. Good mechanics won't be staying at dealers given most cars being worked on are cheap and owners likely don't care about their cars more than a random mechanic; they look for quantity not quality, which is the opposite of what a good mechanic is focused on.

But yeah dealership mechanics are mostly sh*t because a) they only aim to satisfy average joes and therefore likely don't meet the standards of people who actually care about their cars, and b) it's just a pile of metal to them, they don't care.

 

[Crevarius]

FP makes great cars, but they're not the ones taking care of them after they're sold, and the dealers are, the same dealers that will sell you an $18k car and later fix it with duct tape when it eventually needs repairs, because they seriously don't care. Good mechanics won't be staying at dealers given most cars being worked on are cheap and owners likely don't care about their cars more than a random mechanic; they look for quantity not quality, which is the opposite of what a good mechanic is focused on.

But yeah dealership mechanics are mostly sh*t because a) they only aim to satisfy average joes and therefore likely don't meet the standards of people who actually care about their cars, and b) it's just a pile of metal to them, they don't care.

I'll take it one step further. Ford Service employs barely trained technicians that blindly follow a checklist, not mechanics.

As for FP making great cars... the amount of problems I've had with this thing (and the head gasket bull****) say otherwise.

I'm still keeping this car forever, I'm just really looking forward to when it's completely out of warranty and I can get someone competent to work on it.

Oh wait, I guess my warranty is already over! The local dealership's service advisor claims they've flagged my car/voided my warranty because their "technician" couldn't get past step 4 on their lean code "troubleshooting checklist"; flash PCM to as-built. They claim I must have damaged the PCM having the car tuned, so it's my fault warranty void. I got the car back, installed the AP back to the vehicle (with zero difficulty... why couldn't Ford do that?), and replaced the front o2 + fuel rail pressure sensor to fix the problem, no as-built PCM flash required. (Yes, the same FRP sensor my original dealership dropped in the dirt and screwed back into the fuel rail without cleaning while doing my head gasket recall... grrr)

One of the reasons the car was in the shop? If I put a fuse in the Driver Door Module/Interior Lighting circuit eventually the fuse blows and shuts down the BCM... WHILE I AM DRIVING. That means the car shuts down and I have to turn it off and open the door to completely kill it so I can restart it. Trust me, that's no fun during rush hour traffic.

The original dealership's tech claimed it was my dashcam that caused it, AND HE CUT MY DASHCAM WIRES. Not disconnected, CUT. Then they charged me $300.00 for his "diagnostic". They also put a 20a fuse into the 10a circuit and sent me on my way, which I found out when it blew (shutting down my car on a 80km/h roadway at 5:30pm) and I pulled it. God only knows what damage was caused to the car's systems when >20a went through a circuit designed for 10... but somehow it's my fault there are electrical problems.

Okay... /rant

I still haven't calmed down enough to talk to them about it; I just know I'll get angry, say something stupid and ruin the relationship further, which won't do me any favors.

 

[DeanHart]

I'll take it one step further. Ford Service employs barely trained technicians that blindly follow a checklist, not mechanics.

As for FP making great cars... the amount of problems I've had with this thing (and the head gasket bull****) say otherwise.

I'm still keeping this car forever, I'm just really looking forward to when it's completely out of warranty and I can get someone competent to work on it.

Oh wait, I guess my warranty is already over! The local dealership's service advisor claims they've flagged my car/voided my warranty because their "technician" couldn't get past step 4 on their lean code "troubleshooting checklist"; flash PCM to as-built. They claim I must have damaged the PCM having the car tuned, so it's my fault warranty void. I got the car back, installed the AP back to the vehicle (with zero difficulty... why couldn't Ford do that?), and replaced the front o2 + fuel rail pressure sensor to fix the problem, no as-built PCM flash required. (Yes, the same FRP sensor my original dealership dropped in the dirt and screwed back into the fuel rail without cleaning while doing my head gasket recall... grrr)

One of the reasons the car was in the shop? If I put a fuse in the Driver Door Module/Interior Lighting circuit eventually the fuse blows and shuts down the BCM... WHILE I AM DRIVING. That means the car shuts down and I have to turn it off and open the door to completely kill it so I can restart it. Trust me, that's no fun during rush hour traffic.

The original dealership's tech claimed it was my dashcam that caused it, AND HE CUT MY DASHCAM WIRES. Not disconnected, CUT. Then they charged me $300.00 for his "diagnostic". They also put a 20a fuse into the 10a circuit and sent me on my way, which I found out when it blew (shutting down my car on a 80km/h roadway at 5:30pm) and I pulled it. God only knows what damage was caused to the car's systems when >20a went through a circuit designed for 10... but somehow it's my fault there are electrical problems.

Okay... /rant

I still haven't calmed down enough to talk to them about it; I just know I'll get angry, say something stupid and ruin the relationship further, which won't do me any favors.

Unimaginable.

(Incompetence + ignorance) x ****e attitude = never again. Buying more tools!

The warranty claim is bogus, and Ford knows there are no good laws in Canada to address owner disputes.

I already burned my local narcissist - oops, I mean service manager - and I felt great . . .

Ford Canada does not care.

 

[mcdoogz]

I brought a few small issues to a dealership yesterday and because one of them might have to do with brakes, I asked to have an SVT mechanic work on my car. The representative didn't even know who was SVT certified at the place, so he went to the back and asked someone else. As he and another guy walked back out of the room, I heard the other guy say to him "SVT? Is it an RS? but the RS isn't an SVT car though." Yeah sure but that's because SVT was American and has since become a part of FP, so in North America they pretty much mean the same thing. Apparently they're the only SVT dealer in town and he told me there was actually only one SVT mechanic there. At this point I'm kinda doubting if he really made the note to have this mechanic take my car after hearing the exchange between him and that other guy.

So my question is who's supposed to be working on these cars at dealers anyway? I know most dealerships think this is just a regular focus, and I'm fine with regular mechanics working on common parts like the infotainment or whatnot, but I don't quite trust them when it comes to unique parts on a car that they think they know well of, because thinking you know something while you don't often leads to stuff going wrong; for what I know they didn't even seem to know how to put the undertray back properly. I believe I heard or read somewhere that only SVT mechanics went through the training course for this car? Was I wrong for asking for an SVT mechanic?

I was told when I purchased mine that it could "ONLY" be worked on by a certified Ford Performance mechanic. It wasn't - and I totally wasn't happy with the service department at my dealer...after having to tell them what type of oil to put in, they proceeded to set the TPM settings down lower because they couldn't figure out why my monitor kept going off at 35psi. The missing oil cap was the nail in the coffin for taking my car to them. I went to St. Thomas Ford, which is out of the way but leagues better in terms of service and they are a Ford Performance dealer. They knew what I was talking about when I mentioned a Ford Performance mechanic - she actually said they work on FP cars all the time and I saw him working on a GT350R as she said it. He had done a couple of head gasket recalls already and knew my car well, and actually came out to meet me and chat for a few minutes. Have trusted them there ever since and will drive an hour to get there every time I need even an oil change now. I would highly recommend them over any of the Ford dealers in London.