WS Fiesta - Alternative Long Term Review

[kabukiman]

my 2 cents.


I own a WT LX fiesta. I've had problems with it since day one. Namely the powershift transmission is broken and constantly fails. It has been this way for a long while, and I know it, and so does an independent mechanic who has ridden in the car, but Ford keep pushing me out the door saying it's 'within spec'

I can echo your awful experiences with ford and their service. They are next to useless. They haven't managed to fix a single damn thing on my car, and most of them are simple things like rattles I've been able to fix myself. In fact they've made it worse and once they damaged it.

The car is less than a year old, from its build date, not delivery. I've hardly had it that long. I've lost count how many times it's been off the road.

Basically my transmission is very musical, and breaks down a lot. Two different Ford dealers and both have treated me the same. I tell them it's a problem on longer drives when it gets hot, so they drive it around the block and give it back saying it's fine. I had it for five days at once dealer and all they did was less than 10kms, and told me "we tested it thouroughly in as many different condition as we could and could not fault it". At that time they failed to rectify some interior rattles (I told them the handbrake cover rattled, I pointed to it and said the word handbrake several times, when I got it back they told me they adjusted a seat belt buckle...)

After that it had been to a dealer several more times including for one recallibration, which did **** all.

They have told me every Fiesta has a design flaw in the carpet. Mine peels away from the body of the car so you can see metal near the center console. They replaced the entire carpet assembly after I pressed them, but they damaged several interior panels, and the carpet still did not fit. Rather than have another go as I suggested they turned around and said every Fiesta is like that. So I asked, why did you agree it was a problem in the first place and replace it?

It took two months and some pain, but I got one of the panels replaced. I asked for two but they couldnt manage it, I think they replaced a perfectly good one by mistake.

There have been a few times where I have taken the car in to have noises looked at, and they say they can't fault it, and when I pick the car up from their parking lot it has the radio up loud. Go figure...

My clutches both slip now, and the car has stalled several times. All they've managed to do, again after pressing and calls and emails to customer service, is a recallibration. I saw it coming... it achieved nothing.

Right now luckily I have an independent mechanic who is friends with someone at a dealer helping me. He knows it needs proper work, and so the guy at Ford is pulling strings to ge my car to a proper transmission specialist under warranty, where they will actually pull and rebuild the assembly.

I shouldn't have to know someone in the company to get things done.

All the time I've owned it I've had to deal with idiots at the service department who treat me like an idiot, change their stories constantly, lie to me etc

I have to talk to them like little kids to make sure they understand what I want, and they still screw things up and forget things.

Customer service isn't helpful either. They have offered me a free service, but I've had to fight with them over things and basically all I get from them is a 'take it to the dealer' every time I complain about the dealer not fixing something and it breaking again.

They do a good job at turning customers away. None of the dealers I have been to will be getting business from me, my car is being serviced somewhere independent.

Also according to someone who checked the computer at the dealer, at both dealers I have visited nobody has logged my transmission problems on the computer system. On the system my car looks like it has never been in for warranty stuff. Not even the five days it spent sitting in a lot (when it was supposed to be tested and they told me it would have the transmission pulled and inspected) shows up. I got told this was because it saves them money and time not having certain things booked in on the computer.

Love the Fiesta but I won't buy another one unless I move to Europe where there is adequate support for the car.