Hey everyone

[xs2man]

So, this is my first foray into Ford ownership for something like 15 years away from the brand (I was hanging with Ze Germans).

For the past 3 years or so, my family car was a Seat Alhambra (Ok, so the Spanish too.  It's basically the same as a Galaxy though, right?).  But, alas, it developed a catastrophic engine failure (oil pump), and so I was in need of a new(-ish), reliable, cheap(-ish) motor.

So, cue the need to hire a car for a personal trip of over 1,000 miles one weekend, and low and behold, the hire company gave me a...  Fiat Tipo.  It was ok.  But halfway in, when the wife and I were to swap driver, the driver seat height adjustment didn't work.  So I had to do the full 500 mile trip myself.  Having just that morning travelled back from Norway to Aberdeen, I found myself then driving down to Bristol.  Great.

Anyway, got down south, and moaned to the hire car company, who gave me a Focus.  Drove it back up, and quite liked it.  It wasn't OVERLY economical, but then neither was I trying to be.  Instead trying to drive right up the country in the quickest time possible, while keeping my license.  And it didn't quite make it door to door on a full tank.  But apart from that, it seemed like a nice place to sit for such a journey.  So decided to have a look.

Now, I wanted Nav (I liked the Sync 3 system in the rental), and cruise, as I do such trips a few times a year.  Beyond that, I wasn't too bothered about spec.  But once I started looking, I didn't notice too much of a significant difference in price between various level of spec.  Certainly around me (I was willing to travel upto about 100 miles).  Anyway, I found a nice 2015 Titanium X, with 28k on it, and a nice colour (not white or silver), for what looked like a reasonable price.  So I went for it.  Has a lot of nice features, such as the lane guidance thing, adaptive xenons, Sony sound system, self park, full leather etc...  OK, its only Sync 2, but that can be sorted later.

 

Had it 2 days now.  Driven it about 40 miles more than the drive home, and have already updated the maps to the latest, ordered carpet mats, as the dealer included rubber ones, which my wife is allergic to, and ordered a bunch of detailing stuff of the Gtechniq variety, for if it ever stops raining.

 

So that's it.  That's how I ended up with a Ford again.  And I am happy to be back.  Meanwhile, I am looking for a "toy" for me.  Am a little undecided on what to go for at the moment.  I've been looking at Clio 197's amd Audi A8's (for proper luxo-barge cruising down the motorways).  BUT, there is a nice Mondeo Titanium X Estate with the 2.5T I have now been spying...  Maybe watch this space?

[dezwez]

Hi Welcome