2006 Ford Focus

I bought this car for its supposed durability and gas mileage. It does get good gas mileage and I was happy with the price I got on it compared to other comparable vehicles. I recommend this car to anyone who wants a reasonably priced car to any amount of traveling. It travels well and is comfortable to drive even for my 6 ft tall husband. Maintaining this car, however, it has been a mediocre experience. While it drives fine and I have had no huge problems with it, its parts have not lasted as long as I thought they should. We ended up having to replace the alternator in 2008. I thought that since it was an American made car it would be a cheap and easy fix. Unfortunately, Ford interfaces its parts with their computer systems and a normally cheap part ended up costing almost $700. Another problem that has presented is a creaking sound in the body of the car. This is a recent development and may be an easy fix but I figured since the car is only 3 years old should it already be creaking? Don't get me wrong, I don't expect the car to be perfect and it is a good car to get from here to there but it does seem like the car should last longer than a couple years before expensive things start to go wrong.