Hello everyone,
My boyfriend and I recently purchased a 2000 Focus SE automatic (USA).
Neither of us have any experiecne with cars at all besides driving them 
There were a few cosmetic problems with my Focus that I only saw after i
drove it off the lot, I was wondering if other may have had this problem:
molding on passenger door "console" (i.e. over the power windows/locks
buttons) was a bit out of place – i snapped into place no furthur problems
rear left seat not flush with back of seat due to the tether bar (thing that
you connect child safety seat to) being out of alignment (dealer fixed this,
but it is still not perfect grrr)
trunk was out of alignment with body of car (i kid you not), fixed by
dealer, THEN there were small dents (called crimping by dealer) at the edge
of the trunk near to where it curves down (had to have trunk replaced, heh i
demanded this becasue it was a new car and i ddint want any imperfection
) Dealer told me that the trunk has a "design flaw" and that I havwe to
be careful that I shut the trunk with a force that follows the swing of the
trunk (ummm i’ll just shut the trunk, and you can fix anything that dosnt
work right when i do that, thanks) so that this "crimping" does not occur.
I guess i would like comments mostly about the trunk situation (its fine
now, so far) because the other things are more minor.
Additionally i have some questions:
i notice when the car is idling (thats when its just sitting there right?)
often there will be a slight flicker to the panel lights, interior light, as
well as the running lights (courtesy lights, indicator lights, ugly yellow
lights on the front), though not, i dont tihnk, the hedlights. I dont like
my new car flickering, could this be a loose wire someplace or is it
indicative of a more serious problem.
ALSO when i test drove i did not go on the highway (yes i have learned many
lessons in how to buy a car i am 23 and this is my first new car, so leave
me alone ) Now that i drive it on the highway i am dissapointed with its
acceleration in getting on the highway, as well as when passing. It seems
to me that it dosnt shift down to a lower gear fast enough, nor does the car
seem to accelerate very much when it actually does (more like a delay
between shifting and seeing any results) (by the way this is an automatic
car if you havnt figured it out). I have to totally floor the car to get it
to shift down to a lower gear for entering the highway or passing. I also
drive a 91 Nissan Stanza LX automatic and it is great when i want to pass or
get on the highway, i simply depress the accelerator quickly (do not ahve to
get anywhere near flooring it) and it shifts down and i feel an immediate
increase in acceleration. Talking to the dealer about this he did not have
any explination other that it is a small car, which i guess makes sense, but
I really didint expect it. We tried giving the car a higher octane gas
(89?) and my boyfriend seems to think that helped (he drives it more) but i
dont tihnk it did anything, and the manual says that higher octane gas wont
do anything and that it is bad for the environment so i dont wanna use it
anymore
LAST THING maybe related to the above conern: When idling or accelerating
from stop I hear a sort of "knocking" but more like "put-put" noise that is
kinda loud. It dosnt seem to happen all the time, but it just dosnt sound
like a nice new engine to me, but then again i dont know what it is supposed
to sound like.
I’ve actually been considering going to another ford dealer and test driving
a ford se to see if it is different form mine 
But i feel kinda dumb
doing that cuz i would be wasting their time totally and be lyign to them
and i would feel bad
If anyone has any suggestions or straight out answers please let me know,
also feel free to ask me more quesions and i can test the car in different
ways if you need me to. I dont want to go back to the dealer because i do
not trust thenm anymore and i dont think they like me for making them do so
many little things for my car (even though its brand new (one guy even had
the nerve to say "when you get it back it will be like new" my reply: "it is
new") ahahahha
*cry*
-joe normandin
jose…@bu.edu