11 minutes ago, DG97 said:

Maybe I was a bit harsh with my evaluation... 😁 the positive core of the Fiesta is consistent in all trims imo, the good engines and driving enjoyment so I'm sure you'll enjoy your purchase! Which engine did you go for?  

125ps. I did consider the ST-Line X, and test drove one on Thursday, but I’m more conservative with my cars, I save the flash for motorbikes. 

st line all day! looks alot better also!

Some replies mention Ford Direct. My current Fiesta is from Ford Direct.It was fine.  Where I got it from was 150 miles from where I live. My previous fiesta was also 150 miles from where I live (in a different direction). Not convenient. Both times I drove there on my own to have a look and buy and then drove home (I was not doing part-ex) and then went back on the train to collect. But if you going to own the car a long time (I owned my previous Fiesta 9 years) then it's worth this effort up front to get what you want. My criteria was that it had to have (this is mk7.5 fiesta): less than 1 year old, less than  10k miles, the 95bhp diesel engine-not the 75bhp, Black, 5 door and have the quickclear windscreen. Although mine is the Style level of trim it did come with these optional extras - DAB radio with Satnav (never use the Satnav), Quickclear windscreen (not standard on Style but an absolute must in my view), Privacy Glass (rather not have it), Perimeter Alarm. 

When I bought it I did a bit of reading up on Ford Direct cars. So what you read on the internet might not be 100% true but this is what googling found. They might be ex-hire cars which were leased to car hire companies, ex driving school cars which were leased to driving schools (might have evidence of dual controls having been fitted and removed), or Ford employee cars. On mine it says previously registered to Ford Motor Company (MR). Somewhere using google it said the MR means it was Ford employee car. This might be totally untrue - does anyone know for sure. But some employees will no doubt abuse cars so that does not guarantee it's had a good life so far.

My previous Fiesta was an ex hire car from Guernsey - never had any problems associated with that.

So hold out and buy want you want

1 hour ago, isetta said:

They might be ex-hire cars which were leased to car hire companies, ex driving school cars which were leased to driving schools (might have evidence of dual controls having been fitted and removed), or Ford employee cars.

The Ford website does make clear that some cars may be ex-fleet or multiple user.

It has been suggested to me that ex-Ford employee cars tend to be high specification, both the ones I've had certainly had all the option boxes ticked.There was no travel involved - I simply sat down with a salesman, went through the list of available cars on the computer and they got it delivered to the dealership.

What I have found, though, is that pricing seems to be up to the individual dealership. If you spot something you like on the Ford site, it can be interesting to do the search several times using the postcode of various dealers, and you can see different pricing of the same car. In that case it may be worth travelling to the best priced dealer, or just use the info as a negotiating point. Fortunately my local has always seemed very competitive on price so I've never had to bother.

On 5/13/2019 at 6:02 PM, pompeydave1967 said:

Afternoon all

looking to p/ex my seat Leon soon and looking at the mk8 fiesta. My local dealer seems to have a load of titanium 100 models but struggling on st-lines. At 52 I should be looking at titaniums lol but love the look of the st-line. 

Used to have 2016 st so used to harder suspension but it was toooooo hard after a while so think the st-line would be fine.

dealer is obviously hoping I go for the titanium model but just holding back at the moment. I,m on a budget and reckon with cash my top end is £12k  

also strangely enough the titaniums seem cheaper to buy !!!  So guys what would you all go for ? And any regrets buying what you have ?

interesting to hear your views 

cheers

When I bought my Titanium over a year ago Ford were having a lot of trouble with the leather for the seats,  ST-Lines had partial leather and were on very long delivery times compared to the Titanium, which might explain the lack of used ST-Lines.

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

The Ford website does make clear that some cars may be ex-fleet or multiple user.

It has been suggested to me that ex-Ford employee cars tend to be high specification, both the ones I've had certainly had all the option boxes ticked.There was no travel involved - I simply sat down with a salesman, went through the list of available cars on the computer and they got it delivered to the dealership.

What I have found, though, is that pricing seems to be up to the individual dealership. If you spot something you like on the Ford site, it can be interesting to do the search several times using the postcode of various dealers, and you can see different pricing of the same car. In that case it may be worth travelling to the best priced dealer, or just use the info as a negotiating point. Fortunately my local has always seemed very competitive on price so I've never had to bother.

Mine was a Ford Direct car and was literally packed with optional extras like you mention.  A bunch of them I didn't want but no doubt paid for. 

Wasn't overly impressed with Ford Direct personally as they didn't spot (being kind here) the non functioning SAT NAV and covered up some paint work damage. 

Also the independent RAC inspection certified it free of finance 2 months before Ford actually cleared it lol. 

They told me E in the reg (Chelmsford) meant it was a Ford ex-employee car. 

3 minutes ago, tef89 said:

Wasn't overly impressed with Ford Direct personally as they didn't spot (being kind here) the non functioning SAT NAV and covered up some paint work damage

Yes, one of mine was a bit under par (some dodgy touching up and a strange steering wobble) so I did the 30 day exchange. The other car was absolutely spot on in all respects.

20 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Yes, one of mine was a bit under par (some dodgy touching up and a strange steering wobble) so I did the 30 day exchange. The other car was absolutely spot on in all respects.

I considered that but overall I was happy enough to keep it.  There are some great aspects to the Ford Direct scheme like the 2 year Ford Assistance etc so after my experience with a non-franchised dealer (Honda) selling me a 2017 Fiesta that had been serviced with the wrong oil it gave me more confidence.

1 hour ago, Tiexen said:

,  ST-Lines had partial leather and were on very long delivery times compared to the Titanium, which might explain the lack of used ST-Lines.

Partial leather is only on the X, but lead times on those were certainly long - 6 months for mine and I think others waited longer. Yes, I've certainly seen a lot more standard ST-Lines for sale compared to X models, though the ones I have seen seem to have most of the available extras.

3 minutes ago, tef89 said:

I considered that but overall I was happy enough to keep it.  There are some great aspects to the Ford Direct scheme like the 2 year Ford Assistance etc so after my experience with a non-franchised dealer (Honda) selling me a 2017 Fiesta that had been serviced with the wrong oil it gave me more confidence.

 Thinking back, the "problem" car was ordered for me from the Ford Direct stock so came as it left them. The satisfactory car was a Ford Direct but was already sitting at the dealer and I think may have had the benefit of  an extra "once over" by them. 

When I was at the dealer sorting my car out on Thursday they tried to get me to have a stock car that was close to the spec I wanted. The problem was it was a Vignale minus the adjustable boot load floor, I hate the lip with the rear seats down, and no LED headlights. If it had been a Titanium minus them I may have gone for it but I really hate sunroofs so the Vignale, with its massive sunroof, was out of the question. 

Got to wait till July to get it. I hope their estimated time is reasonably accurate. 

When I was at the dealer sorting my car out on Thursday they tried to get me to have a stock car that was close to the spec I wanted. The problem was it was a Vignale minus the adjustable boot load floor, I hate the lip with the rear seats down, and no LED headlights. If it had been a Titanium minus them I may have gone for it but I really hate sunroofs so the Vignale, with its massive sunroof, was out of the question. 

Got to wait till July to get it. I hope their estimated time is reasonably accurate. 

The only other downside to a Vignale is that you can’t have a towbar fitted, due to the sunroof; fortunately got one fitted to the Mrs mk7.5.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

 Thinking back, the "problem" car was ordered for me from the Ford Direct stock so came as it left them. The satisfactory car was a Ford Direct but was already sitting at the dealer and I think may have had the benefit of  an extra "once over" by them. 

Mine was one Lawtons already had Roger as well.  I should have spotted the touch up paint / damage but it only caught my eye a week later after some pretty heavy rain... Shiny stuff blindness I'm gonna blame lol. 

1 hour ago, tef89 said:

I should have spotted the touch up paint / damage but it only caught my eye a week later after some pretty heavy rain... Shiny stuff blindness I'm gonna blame lol. 

That's weird - normally rain hides dodgy paintwork and you can only see it when it's dry!!😀

2 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

That's weird - normally rain hides dodgy paintwork and you can only see it when it's dry!!😀

Didn't rain when I collected it so either I missed them whilst blinded by the shinyness,  or whatever was used to lessen the effect was washed away lol. 

My money is on me not spotting it.  Wasn't the end of the world as I have on street parking where I live and most of my neighbours seem to be using the scraping sound of bumper on bumper as a parking aid.