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Sold my Fiesta, got this

14K views 21 replies 14 participants last post by  AParrette 
#1 ·


Unfortunately due to my treatment by Ford and a couple of its dealers, troubles with my car and severe inconvenience and money losses incurred, I've been forced to rid myself of the car.

It's a pity, I've owned it all of six months and enjoyed driving it. But over here dealers aren't as friendly, and no where near as willing to investigate and fix problems. I've suffered with a broken transmission for nearly all the time I've owned it and after disputes with dealers, customer service and trips to independent mechanics and technicians I've reached my wit's end.

This afternoon I bought a Hyundai i30 trophy. White like the one in the photo. There is a rather clear difference in quality between the two vehicles, and I wonder why I never bought this in the first place. For less than I spent on the Fiesta, I get a better build, bigger more powerful engine, a more reliable car on the whole, larger alloys, bigger boot, projector headlights, a 5 year unlimited kilometer warranty, a better drive (suspension on i30s in Australia is built from scratch to match our retarded roads) etc.

The Fiesta is a lovely design but the build quality, transmission and dealer/company support for the product here really, really let it and me down.

I have thouroughly enjoyed posting and learning at this site. It's fantastic and hands down the best car fan forum I;ve been a member of. A lot of great info and experience here, and I hope to keep posting even when I drive another car.

Cheers
 
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#3 ·
Sometimes, Ya gotta do what you gotta do!!
From reading many of your post, I think you went through a lot of crap.
I also think ford lost a good customer. Sounds like they need a wake up call in your neighborhood and if thats what it takes, Oh well.
Good luck with your new car.
 
#4 ·
It's a sharp car. Hyndai/Kia have really upped their game. The dealer is always the toughest nut to crack in terms of completing the "satisfied" customer loop. I'm sure this is why Lexus has such tight tolerances for how their dealers work. Of course I think Toyotas are rubbish (just my opinion) and boring, but there is nothing like a Lexus dealer for taking care of customers.


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#5 ·
It's unfortunate that a lack of service caused you to get to this point. Service is the easiest thing for Ford/dealers to control and it sounds like they really dropped the ball.

I hope you have a car you can love.
 
#6 ·
From what I've learned here, I am extremely envious of you people. Your dealers and service staff sound much friendier and more accomodating. Over here they can't even get a service right. They struggle to work on anything that isn't a falcon.

Ford Australia are losing a lot of customers and money. I'm not the only one jumping ship. I've read some proper horror stories that make mine seem tame.

A real pain because I loved and still love the Fiesta. I wish I had access to your Ford dealers!

but hey Hyundai dealers here are much much busier than Ford places, full of enthusiastic staff, backed by a company that actually cares and they are apparently very forthcoming with warranty repairs. One of the salesguys who helped me out with this deal jumped ship from FoMoCo too!

Hyundai and Kia have improved their product in such a fashion it is almost stupid. In a few years they've gone from buckets of crap to seriously good.

I remember before 2007 or so when Hyundai brought out their first proper Sonata, I'd never have touched one. They were awful little things. But now I cannot pick a quality difference between Korean these and cars from people like Toyota or VW. Top notch stuff. They obviously want to do it right and be a success, I like what they've achieved so far. All the luck to them.
 
#8 ·
I know how you feel.
Poor customer service is the exact reason I left Volkswagen, and am now considering a Hyundai over a Ford Fiesta.
The dealers here will not budge from the $25,000 asking price on their Fiestas and basically Laugh me out of the showroom.
Overall, I just don't feel like a valued customer.

I like your new car though, very cool.
 
#10 ·
Volkwagen here are pretentious wankers, generally. They like to think they are a super premium car brand or something. Back when I was shopping around for the Fiesta I was looking at a Polo. They treated me like crap. At one stage nobody in a dealer would talk to me, they just stared, one person asked what I needed, and looked bemused when I said I wanted to talk to a salesman. A man in a suit walked in and three salesman greeted him and showed him some cars.

How can they assume someone in a beanie and a flannie couldn't purchase every car in their showroom? The proper premium brand dealers don't act like this. They are wankers. Not to mention their service costs here! Jesus...
 
#9 ·
Hyundai's are decent vehicles recently. My Fiancé has a 2004 Sonata with 203,000 miles and zero issues. My car has spent more time in the shop than hers, and mines only a year old. The good news is that after the last big blowout with my dealer, the service improved, the cars run great with no issues for 30,000 miles. I was having tranny problems, and every time I took it in, they always just simply said, "oh its just how it's supposed to work. It sounds and feels like a manual and most people don't understand that." Finally, I lost my cool and stated (loudly) " how can you know what sounds and feels I'm experiencing when you have yet to sit in the car in 4 separate visits? Get in the car, drive it for a few minutes, then tell me it's normal. I know how a manual is supposed to sound and feel, and this ain't it."
So he finally did, and low and behold, there was an internal component with a small price broken. Not every dealer is horrible, and in my case, they saw a 19 year old and thought they could run me over. Once I proved I wasnt a vehicular idiot, and that they couldn't pull the wool over my eyes, service drastically improved. Unfortunately, in some parts of the world, the service is just bad. It's unfortunate, but I truly hope you enjoy your new Hyundai.
 
#11 ·
When I said 2007 or so with the sonatas it may have been 04 like yours or even younger, I can't remember, but those cars are ****ing amazing! They really stepped up when they built them. Your partner should hold onto hers!

The dealers here are just flat out lazy and incompetent. All they want to do is puch cars out of the showroom and forget about them.
 
#13 ·
Everything is relative. All the problems you had with your Fiesta are mirrors of the problems I had with Hyundai. It's the reason I got rid of the Accent and got the Fiesta. There are good dealers and bad dealers ... in every marque.
 
#14 ·
I never suggested otherwise. Ford makes a special case in Australia though. I'm by no means the only customer here to leave in such a short time. Most of their dealers are awful and the company itself has serious problems.

Hyundai have a booming business here and their service reflects it.
 
#18 ·
It isn't just car dealers that treat people like this. Some years back my late wife and I had the audacity to go into a Macys in casual wear (jeans, sneakers and blouse for her, boots, jeans and t-shirt for me) to look at jewelry she wanted to get.

After seeing a ring she wanted, it was impossible to get a clerk (2 were there) to wait on us and we were the only ones present. We went and found the manager, explained what we wanted and that we were ignored - even after asking for assistance.

He was very helpful ... got the ring for my wife, took our cash and wished us a good day. All I did was look at the staffers and remark about "judging books by their covers", reminded them of the commission they just blew and walked out. Haven't been back since.
 
#19 ·
I had a similar experience house-hunting. My fiancé and I went to a KB Homes track home site. The sales lady was very rude and blunt. Before even letting us walk through, she told us there was an inexpensive apartment complex a few miles away, and that we'd have better luck getting financed there.

I simply told her that I wasn't planning on financing, cash was the way I wanted to go, then simply said "thank you for the insult, have a good day."

Granted, that was a lie, but we weren't looking at expensive houses, in fact, they were the cheapest in the region. It was just the point. She was judgmental, so I screwed with her mind.
 
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