Fords, Holdens, Mazdas: Lemons leave bitter taste

"These vehicles need to be taken off our roads and crushed!"

DANGEROUS: JULIE Zawila is so scared to drive her "lemon'' Ford Focus. She is currently trying to get a full refund from Ford.

THE story of a young mum so scared to drive her car she covered it in signs to warn others has gone viral on social media.

Julie Zawila of Springfield Lakes said her year-long ordeal with her Ford Focus had rattled her nerves so badly at one point that she was forced to pull over, shaking and in tears.

"These vehicles need to be taken off our roads and crushed," she said. "They are absolute lemons and will be a danger to everyone as long as they are on the roads."

Matthew Flannery sympathised but noted: "Every make and model has lemons, and for every lemon will be a person talking about how awesome their version is."

This was certainly the case on Facebook as owners of Mazdas, Holdens, Hyundais and Mitsubishi told us their tales of woe.

Chris Brown wrote: "A mate's brand new Mazda BT-50 does less than 500km per tank (80L). Bought from a dealership who says it's normal. They have his money now and want nothing to do with him. The car has done 3000km. There'll be a story about this soon."

Gary Ba also had a beef with the Japanese car manufactuer: "A friend bought a Mazda. Spent more time in repairs than on the road. Another with a Colorado, it sucked the cat into the piston. An Astra, OH YEAH... it was a bucket as well, and anything Euro designed, well you get the idea. Does not matter if it is Ford, Holden or Hyundai, always bad apples and the dealer should suck it up and fix the issue instead of forcing people to go to the media. Remember the Jeep!"

But Tarmara Cutts and Kristie Allan had nothng good to say about Ford: "Yep, story of my life," said Tarmara. "I have a Fiesta, three-gear boxes later. But I'm very lucky with my dealer, they have fixed the issue. Took a while though. I just hope it doesn't happen again. Sadly I won't be buying a Ford again."

A Ford Fiesta was also the source of much pain for Kristie: "Been fixed once but is still not happening. Took us five dealerships before they actually did something about it. Bummer it never worked."

Angela Abramley-Stanczyk wrote: "Glad I didn't buy a Focus." And Annette Rawlings wondered: "Who would have guessed their slogan 'Have you driven a Ford lately' would be appropriate down the track - or maybe they did and that's why it was dropped, lol."

Ford's great Australian rival Holden also didn't escape unscathed. For Sharon Keillor her Holden Viva was the "worst car I've ever owned". Mick Clifton was no fan of the Holden Cruze and for Colorado 7 owner Katrina Maxwell "the sooner they bring in lemon law the better."

Originally published as Fords, Holdens, Mazdas: Lemons leave bitter taste