any jeep or ford escape, ford focus or cmax drivers here?

[DianeV]

My husband's work uses I believe, 2012 Escapes and he hates them. Said they are junky and two are already in the shop

 

[Cjmuma]

I agree that IT IS TOTALLY A JEEP THING I have had 2 grand Cherokees now, and swear I will never drive anything else... I have almost 80K on the one I have now, and had that on the one I had before... I intend to drive mine until it falls apart, which will take a while, I have never had to put any more into them other than brakes and tires... they hold up forever and just plain don't break! THey are worth every extra penny that is paid for them because they don't nickel and dime you to death.... I briefly had a Chevy TrailBlazer in between the jeeps and got rid of it when it took it over 1500.00 to get it inspected and it was only 3 years old at the time...again I say IT IS A JEEP THING

 

[tvguy]

I have a 2012 Ford Focus that has come up with a major transmission issue that no one can seem to diagnose or fix, at 28k miles.

Would not ever buy another ford product.

112,000 on my Focus, didn't spend a dime the first 100k, alternator and motor mounts needed replacing a few thousand miles ago..
You're under warranty, and if they can't fix it, you've got lemon law protections.
We run a fleet of Fords, E-350's, Explorers and Escapes. E-350's all have over 100k on them, 2 have 300k. Explorers we run about 300k, our first batch of Escapes just hit 100k.
But to be honest, these days, other than Chrysler products, Mercedes and Fiats, everything is pretty reliable overall.

 

[bigbabyblues]

DH had a rented 2013 Escape two weeks ago for a five-day business trip, and he hated it. He didn't like the way the seats felt, didn't like the layout of the space in the front, didn't like anything about the interior of it. He didn't like the way it drove, said it had a rattle noise that was annoying, and just didn't feel "solid". He did say it got decent gas mileage, but that was the only positive thing about it.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

OP, your choices are pretty broad. You need to narrow down whether you want a car or an SUV first, and then worry about specific models IMO

BTW, I'm also considering a Focus, but I've already decided specifically for a small 4-cylinder car.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I agree that IT IS TOTALLY A JEEP THING I have had 2 grand Cherokees now, and swear I will never drive anything else... I have almost 80K on the one I have now, and had that on the one I had before... I intend to drive mine until it falls apart, which will take a while, I have never had to put any more into them other than brakes and tires... they hold up forever and just plain don't break! THey are worth every extra penny that is paid for them because they don't nickel and dime you to death.... I briefly had a Chevy TrailBlazer in between the jeeps and got rid of it when it took it over 1500.00 to get it inspected and it was only 3 years old at the time...again I say IT IS A JEEP THING

I had a couple Jeeps. I found:

Just
Empty
Every
Pocket

To be pretty much spot on

 

[howlongtildisney]

We bought a 4 door Wrangler a year ago and love it. But, we live in a city where we can have the top down 6 months out of the year. Not sure I'd like it so much if we live in a colder climate. It also isn't a great car fir long-distance travel - guzzles fuel and has tons of road noise. But it's a heck of a lot of fun to throw the top down and drive into the mountains for a hike!

 

[charming23]

I have a 2005 focus that I love. It does only have 60,000 miles as I do not have to drive far for work or school. No major issues.

 

[Monte Cristo]

It just needs to be comfortable for traveling, commuting , ease of parallel parking and visibility is important. I'm open to other suggestions under 35 k

2013 Volkswagen Passat diesel...getting 51 mpg on the highway. Cost me $27k plus tax. Meets all of your requirements above.

 

[Dictator]

Jeep has not been the same since they did away with the Cherokee, I still have a 97 with 267,000 and still running. I have two jeep liberties had transmission problems with both of them one of them is in the transmission shop right now. There is nothing that jeep makes now that I would consider buying looking to see what the new Cherokee is all about. Consumer report states all of the jeeps are poor in reliability ratings.

Hogwash. Jeeps from the 80s and 90s were horrible when it came to reliability.
I had an '89 Wrangler. Which got me 190k miles. But I kept pumping money into it to get it there. Same with my '97 Wrangler.
Jeep/Chrysler/Dodge is a much better brand now than they were even 4 years ago. From a reliability and functional standpoint. My 2007 patriot is still going at nearly 100k miles. I've only had 1 repair needed outside of the standard warranty....which was likely the result of an accident, but the insurance adjuster couldn't say for certain. My 2008 Dodge has had zero problems as well with very near the same mileage.
Anecdotal evidence doesn't really mean a whole lot in these conversations though.

You shouldn't put much stock into Consumer Reports ratings. If it doesn't come from a company HQ'd in Asia, they don't care for it. Their methodology is flawed. It's fine to use as a suplement to other resources. But as a stand-alone, it's not very good.

 

[Dictator]

Dp

 

[winterwhite]

112,000 on my Focus, didn't spend a dime the first 100k, alternator and motor mounts needed replacing a few thousand miles ago..
You're under warranty, and if they can't fix it, you've got lemon law protections.
We run a fleet of Fords, E-350's, Explorers and Escapes. E-350's all have over 100k on them, 2 have 300k. Explorers we run about 300k, our first batch of Escapes just hit 100k.
But to be honest, these days, other than Chrysler products, Mercedes and Fiats, everything is pretty reliable overall.

no I do not. Lemon law in my state is 1yr/15k miles. The problem appeared at 15 months/24k miles.

I am doing my best to fight with them but I have no legal protection here. It would be a courtesy buyback if anything.

The issue is that they refuse to acknowledge the problem, because their engineers don't know how to fix it, and they are biding their time for the first round of warranties to expire.

Their latest suggestion is that the vehicle just be inoperable for 6 weeks while they wait for parts. They want me to drive a crappy rental for 6 weeks while they attempt to fix it. While I continue to make a payment on MY car.

I will never buy this kind of american junk again.

My 2007 Jeep has a lifetime powertrain warranty, 110k miles on it, has had ONE small issue with a window motor in the first 15k miles. Been 100% reliable for the past 4 years. Thankfully I still have that car so I have something nice to drive while I get ford to take their junk back.

PS: had at least 4 F-series trucks and every one of them has had a major defect. The only one that still runs well is a 2002 7.3 diesel, and that one the body is rotting off of. I should have learned my lesson, but we get good pricing on ford so I thought I'd take a chance. Nope, never again-- trucks are getting traded for Rams and I am telling everyone I know to stay AWAY from Ford and their bad transmissions and bad service.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

no I do not. Lemon law in my state is 1yr/15k miles. The problem appeared at 15 months/24k miles.

I am doing my best to fight with them but I have no legal protection here. It would be a courtesy buyback if anything.

The issue is that they refuse to acknowledge the problem, because their engineers don't know how to fix it, and they are biding their time for the first round of warranties to expire.

Their latest suggestion is that the vehicle just be inoperable for 6 weeks while they wait for parts. They want me to drive a crappy rental for 6 weeks while they attempt to fix it. While I continue to make a payment on MY car.

I will never buy this kind of american junk again.

My 2007 Jeep has a lifetime powertrain warranty, 110k miles on it, has had ONE small issue with a window motor in the first 15k miles. Been 100% reliable for the past 4 years. Thankfully I still have that car so I have something nice to drive while I get ford to take their junk back.

PS: had at least 4 F-series trucks and every one of them has had a major defect. The only one that still runs well is a 2002 7.3 diesel, and that one the body is rotting off of. I should have learned my lesson, but we get good pricing on ford so I thought I'd take a chance. Nope, never again-- trucks are getting traded for Rams and I am telling everyone I know to stay AWAY from Ford and their bad transmissions and bad service.

We hired a lawyer. One that got nothing unless we won. Our car spent 40 days in repair in the first 36 months. It did not qualify under state lemon law but did under some federal law. Suzuki settled with our lawyer and of course has now gone out of the car making business.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Dsnyfireman]

We hired a lawyer. One that got nothing unless we won. Our car spent 40 days in repair in the first 36 months. It did not qualify under state lemon law but did under some federal law. Suzuki settled with our lawyer and of course has now gone out of the car making business.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Suzuki announced in 2011 that they would no longer sell in the U.S. they still sell around the world . Have heard some bad stories about their cars!

 

[tvguy]

Hogwash. Jeeps from the 80s and 90s were horrible when it came to reliability.
I had an '89 Wrangler. Which got me 190k miles. But I kept pumping money into it to get it there. Same with my '97 Wrangler.
Jeep/Chrysler/Dodge is a much better brand now than they were even 4 years ago. From a reliability and functional standpoint. My 2007 patriot is still going at nearly 100k miles. I've only had 1 repair needed outside of the standard warranty....which was likely the result of an accident, but the insurance adjuster couldn't say for certain. My 2008 Dodge has had zero problems as well with very near the same mileage.
Anecdotal evidence doesn't really mean a whole lot in these conversations though.

You shouldn't put much stock into Consumer Reports ratings. If it doesn't come from a company HQ'd in Asia, they don't care for it. Their methodology is flawed. It's fine to use as a suplement to other resources. But as a stand-alone, it's not very good.

Respectfully disagree. All the major TV stations here ran Jeep Cherokees in the early 1980's. Other than the exhaust manifold, those 4.0 engines were indestructable. We'd run them 300k, then when they were retired, employees would buy them and put another 100k on them.
After Chrysler bought Jeep in 1987, quality did start to slip. TV stations here switched to Explorers then, just as bullet proof.

 

[Kimmumum]

I have a 2009 Ford Focus. It gets great gas mileage. I've never had a problem.

It has lots of trunk space. The only issue we have is the room in the back seat. If the driver and passenger are tall, they will have the seats back most of the way and there will be very little leg room in the back seat. If you are average height, there will be some room just not a ton.

 

[tvguy]

. Nope, never again-- trucks are getting traded for Rams and I am telling everyone I know to stay AWAY from Ford and their bad transmissions and bad service.

Bad service would be a dealer issue, try a different dealer. As my mechanic put it, you haven't experience poor quality until you bought a Dodge pickup.

 

[Tinkerboy00]

My dream car has always been a Jeep Wrangler, and now its time for me to have/get a bigger car (driving a VW Beatle). Part of me thinks I need some more practical and have been looking at the Ford Escape a lot.

Last night I told DH that if Im getting a new car I should just get the one I really want which is the 4 Door Hard top Jeep Wrangler. I test drove one once and loved it.

The only thing Ive heard is that the gas mileage sucks on them. But I don't do too much driving around so Im probably okay there.

Although Im 6'4" and when I was driving the Wrangler I felt the top was really low and close to the top of my head, so I felt a little claustrophic at first, but I pretty much drive around now in a huge bubble. Its really weird but I had more leg room, head room, etc in my Beatle than in the Jeep. But I guess Ill get used to that.

 

[Zooshoveller]

My dream car has always been a Jeep Wrangler, and now its time for me to have/get a bigger car (driving a VW Beatle). Part of me thinks I need some more practical and have been looking at the Ford Escape a lot.

Last night I told DH that if Im getting a new car I should just get the one I really want which is the 4 Door Hard top Jeep Wrangler. I test drove one once and loved it.

The only thing Ive heard is that the gas mileage sucks on them. But I don't do too much driving around so Im probably okay there.

Although Im 6'4" and when I was driving the Wrangler I felt the top was really low and close to the top of my head, so I felt a little claustrophic at first, but I pretty much drive around now in a huge bubble. Its really weird but I had more leg room, head room, etc in my Beatle than in the Jeep. But I guess Ill get used to that.

Just take the top off!

 

[Tinkerboy00]

Just take the top off!

Ha right!

Except that would only be doable about two/three months out of the year in New England.