1997 Ford Scorpio Ultima X review from UK and Ireland

Plastic door pockets on the front doors are broken.

Bulbs blown in the dashboard.

Computer and trip meter stopped working properly. Computer only works in liters, centigrade and kilometers, while the trip meter frequently returns to zero of its own accord.

If you don't find the styling unattractive, this is a fantastic bargain - a big luxury car that costs peanuts second-hand. The dealer who sold me mine had a Fiat Punto convertible of the same age, costing £1,000 more.

It has very comfortable seats, and lots of room both front and rear. The Ultima Ghia X has every extra known to man, except for two things. There are no cup holders, and the (enormous) boot has no anchor points to strap stuff to.

Acceleration and motorway cruising are excellent. The car is at its best on long motorway journeys, when it gives good fuel consumption: driving around town is a different story - very thirsty work.

My previous car was a Mercedes 190, which was very solid and smooth. Despite being bigger, the Ford doesn't even out the bumps on the road like a Mercedes (maybe because of the tires). Again, it's at home on the motorway.

Apart from the above trivial problems, it has been reliable so far. Unfortunately, the Ford dealers who serviced it have been poor. On the last occasion, when I phoned up on Friday afternoon and got through to the sales department (because the service department doesn't call you when your car's ready, or answer the phone), it was too late to get my car back for the weekend. The bill for changing three or four bulbs in the dashboard was about £140! Maybe that's a design fault with the car, but I had to get them to do it twice, since they missed a couple the first time. As might be expected, I switched to a local independent garage for the next service. They found that Ford had put in three spark plugs of one type, and one of another. The engine is so powerful that it ran OK, but it ran even better when it had the right four plugs.