Feeling Betrayed by Ford

"Good-bye, my darling". These were the painful words I uttered when I handed the keys to my Ford Focus S2.0 to its new owner. God knows, I loved her so much. I identified so closely with her, such that she became part of my pride and joy.

So, why did I get rid of her? Oh, a little something to do with reliability and affordability.

You see, when it comes to low quality cars like Proton, you'd expect it to be addled with problems that necessitated repairs often. While that shouldn't be the case, at least the repairs won't amount to the cost of an arm or a leg often - I know because I've owned two Proton cars before.

With the Ford Focus, almost every repair costs thousands if not close to a thousand ringgit. And the straw that broke the camel's back for me was the destruction of the Focus' gearbox at only about 80,000km, costing me around RM13,800 to repair.

Yes, I'm paying for performance. But no, I shouldn't have to pay through my nose if the Focus were a little more reliable and the supply chain for spare parts were a little better managed.

This is Ford car for goodness sake. It's supposed to be about affordability and reliability.

If I wanted to spend on maintenance like how I would have to spend on a luxury marquee, I'd have bought a BMW or a Mercedes, or a Lexus. I wouldn't have gone with a Ford.

Performance? The Focus S2.0's performance is really nothing to shout about.

Having owned a Ford Focus S2.0 for more than 3 years, I can tell you for a fact that the car is fast, but not that fast - the Honda Civic 2.0 can outrun it any day.

The Focus takes corners well, but really, how many times a day would anyone like to drive like a madman around corners, risking life and limb?

No, the Focus' performance, relative to other expensive cars to maintain, is rather 'so-so'. Hence, I saw no reason to keep paying for a so-so performance car at performance car repair costs.

In fact, I feel so betrayed by Ford regarding this matter that I can't stand to look at another Ford Focus. If I see one, I'd feel such revulsion that I'd have to quickly look away.

For that matter, I also can't stand all things Ford now. Ask me about Fiesta or the Ford Ranger or the Everest, and I'd tell you: "Ford? Yuck!"

Thank you, Ford, for making me part with my darling Focus and for making me hate you.