Is the 2012-2014 Ford Focus a good car?

I'm a 19 year old male and I'm looking to get a new car in the next year. I'm debating between a few different models but I'm looking at the 2012-2014 Ford Focus Titanium. Most of the time, it's only me in the car and I would be doing a lot of traveling with it. I know the Focus has good MPG but, is it reliable? I've heard some bad things about the transmission.

Added (1). I was also thinking about the 2010-2012 Ford Fusion SEL.

You have not given your location (can't be seen on here) and the engine and gearbox choices you are looking at so I suggest you look at the reviews on the site linked below.

Yes, oh not-so-brave anonymous poster, it's a good car.

Every make and model will have some things moaned about by some people. Don't believe anyone here though, find out for yourself. Do a search on actual car sales in this country (England/UK here). If the Focus was consistently poor, it wouldn't still be THE second most popular vehicle in the country. One of my family's vehicles is a 2008 Focus that's done 200k miles and still good. Only had two expensive jobs in it's whole life so far, outside of servicing and MOT work.

It's average. Asian cars are more reliable. Honda in particular.

I'm usually a ford guy and i work at ford, but if you want reliability, GM is the way to go. A chevy impala, malibu, cruz, or even a 4 cylinder camaro wouldnt be bad options.

I had good luck out of an '01 ZX3 and an '08 ZX5 - the newer ones are fairly expensive (even used, and even with high miles).

I test drove a brand new fully-loaded Titanium (it even had voice activated climate controls) and the damn thing was around 30K.

No, a lot of it is European. I would recommend a Honda or a Toyota

The transmission is fine if you get a manual. My son has a 2014, he's had issues with rattles but mechanically it's been fine since new and it drives well.

Jfjf

Good

There are lots of problems owners have complained of having with this car. Look: http://www.arfc.org/complaints/2014/ford/focus/