Yes, that is nonsense. You should be able to engage reverse gear as soon as the car is stopped. The linkage is still not adjusted properly, by the sound of it.

I don't know specifically how the gear change linkage works on this car, but it sounds like it's simply out of adjustment, meaning that the movement of the gearstick hasn't enough travel to fully engage the gear causing the "quiet grinding noise".

Shouldn't need to wait for anything other than the car to stop its forward movement before engaging reverse. Waiting a few seconds would ensute that, but I can't see a good reason why it would be necessary.

Whatever the cause, the car is nearly new and still under warranty. Demand that the dealer sorts it out, with a new gearbox if necessary, and don't let them fob you off.

We have a 2009 focus and a 2014 Fiesta ecoboost - noticed the same "issues" on both - have been described as characteritics - all I can say is that it's not got any worse on thre focus over the years - does remind me of a 1970 austin 1100 I learnt on- sometimes not easy getting into reverse, sometimes we think the cars IN reverse so you lift your foot and you get a funny noise - lift foot off then depress clutch again same advice then as now :(

I have had issues selecting reverse gear, as well as the car actually jumping out of gear while reversing. I have had adjustments and lubrication that eased selection, but did not stop the jumping out of gear. Then the clutch and slave cylinder was replaced as abnormal clutch wear found. However, it still jumps out of gear, and since clutch replaced reverse gear sometimes does not engage when gear stick pulled as far as it will go, car does not move back and there is a quiet grinding noise.

I am told I need to wait 4 to 5 seconds after moving forward, before selecting reverse gear. Surely that is nonsense?

Oh dear 'tindrende' - you have my sympathies - I have owned several different makes of car including Austin A35, Vauxhall Viva, Ford Escort, Austin Maestro, Renault 5, Peugeot 205, Vauxhall Cavalier, Ford Mondeo, Honda Civic and now an excellent supermini, the Hyundai i20 and they have all suffered from an occasional reluctance to engage reverse gear with the handbrake on - starting from cold or first thing in the morning. My solution has always been to simply release the handbrake and allow the car to roll naturally forwards or backwards to supposedly change from misalignment to alignment of the gears to enable reverse gear to be engaged. However, the jumping out of reverse gear that you report sounds as though the gears were not fully engaged.

In any event you should take it back to the Ford dealer network and insist on a proper repair since all that 'grinding' of the gears is putting metal swarf into your gear box oil which will shorten the life of your gearbox and may also contribute to more gear change and engagement problems in future in the forward gears, if not drained, flushed and refilled with fresh new gearbox oil. Frankly, in the circumstances you describe, I would demand a brand new gear box - under warranty - and not settle for anything less !

Edited by Firmbutfair on 23/10/2014 at 20:27