Summary:
Too many flaws to be good, but it's not alone in that
Faults:
Repeated issues with the fuel filter, meaning the car goes into limp home mode - the only cure is replacement every service! Thankfully it's a lease car, so I ain't paying!
Stupid tyre inflation kit - a puncture left me stranded on the A1 in a blizzard for 6 hours. The tyre inflation kit only inflates a DEFLATING tyre. If your tyre's flat, forget it. Then after being relayed home, you can't get to a tyre bay BECAUSE THERE'S NO SPARE, so it took me 3 days to resolve and get a new tyre on the rim.
General Comments:
Comfortable, well equipped, decent MPG (48 overall).
The dealers try, bless them, but in execution it's very poor. I am told at the dealers the fuel filter issues are endemic with the Ford 1.6 diesel engine across all its applications - just poor design. A car should be able to go 12500 miles between services without the filter clogging with water surely?
As for the tyre - Ford aren't alone in this dodge, and AA and RAC men are now all too familiar with having to piggy back cars home that have suffered nothing more drastic than a flat tyre. And I remember when a puncture was just an inconvenience.
Oh and by the way - order a space saver on a new Ford at the point of sale - cost £80. Decide the inflation kit is a bad idea so you go get a spare - cost £350!!?? Go figure dudes!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 20th July, 2013
26th Aug 2013, 00:50
Update - the car continues to be plagued by electrical gremlins - as I type the car sits on my drive flashing a red (highest severity) warning, however the text screen doesn't actually tell me what's wrong. A system crying wolf or a system too shy to fully warn me of impending doom?
Overall the car is a good idea, let down by Ford's inability to assemble a car robust enough to do what it says on the tin. A five out of ten effort at the very best, and enough to ensure I won't chose Ford next time. My nerves just aren't up to it.
29th Aug 2013, 15:06
Further update - it was minor doom. The alarm won't set itself properly when I lock the car - in fact it starts to go off. The remedy is to leave my car unlocked. Super. When it has one of these fits and starts, the immobiliser joins in and intermittently won't disengage; cue a call to the AA. They piggy back me to the dealer who can't find the source of the fault, so resets the system and the next day we start the process all over again. The AA guy tells me this also isn't uncommon on Fords?
Seems to me Ford were OK with Cortinas and Escorts, but as motor car technology has progressed, Ford haven't really been able to fully keep abreast of developments.
Conclusion? After 18 months and 45k miles, the car is garbage.
6th Dec 2013, 13:58
Well 3 months and another 4k miles on and it's at it again - fuel filter blocked, the car is in limp home mode, and will have to be back to the dealers again on Monday - I urge anybody thinking about one of these as a purchase to look elsewhere, as there are vehicles from other manufacturers that do the job more reliably than this. I mean it's one thing to supply and fit parts that don't last as long as they are supposed to, but for those parts to not last as long as the actual service intervals themselves is frankly unacceptable. It's time and inconvenience for me as this is a lease car - for an owner driver - well they'd be paying for all this crap too!!!