Ford Options - Gimmicks Vs Essentials

[Yokomoko]

I am really racking my brains right now looking on the ford website for all the options that you can have, and need some help from people who aren't Ford sales guys. The options I am thinking of:

Privacy Glass - I've seen the rear privacy glass in the flesh and it looks nice, but £200 seems a bit excessive considering I will be getting a 3 door?

Full Dressup Kit - I like the large rear spoiler but haven't really noticed the other parts of the body kit - Am I likely to notice do you reckon? £200 for large rear spoiler, £500 for full dress up kit, big jump! Front grille looks a little nicer with the dressup kit.

Perimeter alarm - Is this likely to lower insurance costs? £100 doesn't seem too bad if I am going to save almost that on insurance.

Driver's seat lumbar support - I am likely going to be a lot of 600 mile round trips - Worth protecting my back? It's only a £50 option.

DAB/Satnav - Right now I happily listen to a 16Gb USB of music, not sure how much I will use the DAB but would be a nice option to have there. Due to the long trips, sat nav is tempting but I have a 4.7" windows phone with Nokia sat nav, but it has messed up in the past and got lost in Horsham for half an hour coming back from Gatwick at 1 in the morning!

£100 for DAB, £500 for DAB+Satnav

EATC - (Automatic aircon) - I've heard rumours that this raises MPG vs manual aircon, is there any truth in this? I'd imagine not if you don't forget you've left the aircon on! Reckon this is generally gimmicky? £275 option

Driver Assistance Pack - I'm unfortunately not fantastic at parallel parking any more, worth getting rear parking sensors? Active city stop (Auto brakes if car in front of you brakes and you don't realise) is alluring (resell value) but not sure whether I will use it.

£400 option, £300 without active city stop.

Keyless Entry - Absolutely not necessary, but sure would be nice to not have to get my keys out of my pocket when I have a hand full of shopping, since I always manage to put my keys in the pocket that is the most awkward to get to (left pocket when my left hand is full, right pocket when my right hand is full). Might prefer to drop the occasional burger king and save the money - I am a sucker for gadgets though.

£425 option

I understand this is very much a personal preference, but was just hoping I could get some feedback from people who actually have these features, and whether they like them or regret getting them.

[FOCA]

Hello and welcome!

I think you have basically answered your own questions - there is an argument for not getting any cost- extras at all, because altogether, they are expensive, on the other hand, some of these items may be regarded as "essentials" by some people at resell time

The dress up kit and privacy glass (tints) could be added at a later date

Im a "stripped to the bone" sort of guy - i don't feel gadgets and gimmicks are really nessesary, toys can be fun to play with for a while untill the novelty wears off

there are over 2k of extras there - its unlikely to add 2+k to the resale value of the car

And a Titanium must be worth more/ possibly cost less than adding all that stuff

edit - typo

[The Dark Knight]

I have had previous motors with auto lights and wipers which are a gimmick imo. How hard is it to do it yourself? The only time auto lights were useful was when driving into a tunnel/underpass. Don't miss them at all.

Next gimmick for me is that keyless entry. It will be useful in certain circumstances but overall a gimmick.

Cruise control depends on your driving. Long motorway miles its essential but for town driving and short trips more of a gimmick.

Climate control is leaning more towards gimmick for me. Had it before but its not like I can sit there and feel the difference between 21C and 22C lol.

An essential imo is heated windscreen (although standard on mine). Yes you can live without it but the difference it makes is amazing, I would hate to buy a car that didn't have it. Fantastic

[Yokomoko]

Thank you for you reply. I am the opposite generally, latest phones, tablets, TV's etc. Showing them off is fun but as you said, gets boring and becomes the 'norm' pretty quickly. Options just justifies upgrading from my 2003 1.6 petrol focus to a new fiesta (which strangely is somewhat larger than my car..).

This is probably the first purchase that I am trying to be sensible about for years! Monthly payments for all of these is roughly an extra £40 a month.

Do you know if Ford do the tinting/dressup kit and whether it is the same price post-purchase? Wouldn't mind it if 3 months down the line I could pay for the extras in cash so it doesn't raise monthly payments with the interest rates attacking. Would probably get my hands on the car earlier will less options too.

[Yokomoko]

Ooh thanks dark night, I think from my brochures that heated windscreen is standard on most models now, heated wing mirrors I think would be useful too. Agreed on the auto lights and wipers, the lights turn on far too early and it's not exactly difficult to understand when it is raining enough to turn the wipers on.

[Stoney871]

Dress up and spoiler essential.

You'll only regret it later.

Car has to show as well as it goes.

Satnav is pretty steep imho, i use free nav software on my phone and find it just as accurate.

Also the updates are a rediculous price, £300+ for an SD card?

Parking sensors are very useful but parking assist is a gimmick.

[b1g_dav3]

If you want all of that, you'd probably be best looking at a Titanium or a Zetec S really.

I'll go in order of the items just to break it down nice and easily;

Privacy glass - This is the most pointless added extra I've seen at build, I'm unsure if Ford's even use tinted glass on the Fiesta's either. Look round your local area and have a chat with people who specialise in tinting, you'll probably even find the one that your dealer uses; the one local to me charges £80 for a rear end on a Fiesta and does them for my dealer, as well as Vauxhalls, Volkswagens, Toyota's, Nissan's, Renault's... Well, every local dealer in the area :P you get the idea.

Full dress-up kit - Like explained previously, it might make the car sell quicker, but you'll never get that money back. If you really want it, then the Zetec S is the way to go (or the 'Platinum edition' that Evans Halshaw are offering, which is a 5 door Zetec with the dress-up kit, but I'm unsure which engine is being offered with it). Trouble is though, it really does finish off the car, it was a deal breaker for me, I wanted the 1.6 TDCi and the dress-up kit, and only the Zetec S could come like this.

Perimeter alarm - Again, I don't see this being massively useful, if you live in an area high in crime then sure go ahead, but really not all that important.

Driver's seat lumbar support - I have a Zetec S and have no problem whatsoever, and have been in a few Zetec's and never had a problem with comfort, and I believe the new comfort seating is better than in the pre-facelift. If you really want it though, it is only £50.

DAB/Sat Nav - The DAB is nice to have, as it add's the Sync/Emergency Assist for just £100 which is quite a bargain. The Sync is at the moment a little buggy, but no major issues. You'll be glad of the Emergency Assist if ever it's needed, if not then really 100 notes isn't much, but I'm sure I read somewhere that FM radio may be phased out, so that DAB will come in handy, and you'd probably get at least some of that back come sale time. Sat Nav most certainly not, get yourself a tomtom for less than £200 (for a top model one, you can get the middle ones for £130ish).

EATC - Never seen a point for this really, some people will probably disagree though. Normal air-con is fine, it's the same thing anyway just it's automated, so you set a temperature and as soon as it drops the air-con kicks in. To me this is pointless, my air-con is never used really except for a 10 minute blast every week to keep it happy. You'd probably just turn it off a lot of the time and use it on demand anyway.

Driver Assistance Pack - I have the sensor's and they're pretty good, they have a visual and audio aid. They're also quite a bad habbit to get used to, you go in another car and you completely forget and oops! There are decent aftermarket options too for quite a lot less. The active city stop is a plus I suppose, it's a fair back-up, but I've never once been in a position to use them, most of the times I'd have a use would be at high speed when some little darling cuts you up, and then you shouldn't be so close to stuff that you'd have an accident anyway and should be concentrating :P it just depends if it's something you fancy really, but you won't make any of it back up on resale really. It's just another bonus rather than a value addition.

Keyless Entry - Most certainly not. Sure it's nice to have, but you're paying £425 for it.

Just depends on what you want, but if you want all those toys it'd probably be cheaper to get the Titanium with a dress-up kit.

[Yokomoko]

Perfect! I agree with you on all points I think. I was initially thinking the Zetec S for the slightly more powerful engine, but Titanium is looking nicer now, cheaper insurance due to the lack of 'S' that insurers hate (I presume), and also has Cruise Control where the S doesn't - I will probably use this a lot for the long haul drives if it is easy to set up on the go.

I'm guessing the ACS is probably only at stupidly low speeds anyway which I likely won't be doing! Time for a re-spec I think!

[b1g_dav3]

The Zetec S is about the same really, they're only very low insurance groups across the Fiesta range (excluding ST). Just remember cruise control and mpg don't mix :P

The Active City Stop works up to 20mph if I recall correctly, if not it's not much more than that. There was talk of it lowering insurance but it's never happened.

Titanium also gets the LED daylight running lights if you're a fan of those.

[Philf1]

It really is all about personal preference with a lot of these. Mine is a pre-facelift but....

Privacy glass-always thought this was for boy racers, till I got it on mine, I love it now just finishes the sporty appearance off.

Dress up kit-I have a Zetec S need I say more?

Perimeter alarm-might be worth a call to insuracne to see what difference if any it will make.

Lumbar support-get it for £50 bargain especially on long drives.

DAB/sat nav-sounds expensive, I have Tom Tom on my iPhone works perfectly, app costs about £30.

Aircon-just push the button yourself.

Diver assistance pack-sounds like gimmicks to me.

Keyless entry-my son has this on his Clio Sport 197, its OK you have to stand right up to the car for it to unlock, keyless start is good, only problem with his is you have to lock it manually which is odd. I certainlay wouldn't pay £400 for it, but if buying 2nd hand might sway me.

Whatever you get you are bound to enjoy it, these new fez's are really great little cars.

[Yokomoko]

I agree. My boss had one whilst his Aston got repaired from him smashing in to the front of some Yaris! He had a diesel version and it didn't seem too nippy but I was in the back of a 3 door model and there was so much room in comparison to the 5 door MK4 fiesta I had, and even in my 3dr mk1 focus, his was just a little noisy though but was a pre-facelift small diesel so can expect that.

Titanium raises more issues and options.......

Heated Front Seats? Sounds gimmicky, not sure why you'd need it? £175!!

Rear View Camera - £250 for a camera? I suck at parking but £250 seems excessive.

Looks like Titanium comes with lumbar support as standard so happy days!

Edit - Looks like Titanium includes privacy glass too!

[samjprobinson]

I've got pretty much every option you have listed as standard on my Titanium X, apart from the Sat Nav system, ACS and the dress up kit. I have got the sat nav and love the fact you don't have to do anything to it when you get somewhere. No taking it off the windscreen and putting it in the glovebox and all that fad. Also all the cables running around with my old Navman was an annoyance! ACS works well (tried it with a willing friend ) and it stopped the car about a foot off his big rubber bouncy castle! Love using the DAB and the Keyless entry is nice to have as standard but if I'd gone for the Titanium I wouldn't have coughed up for it. The EATC I leave in the Auto mode at 22c all the time just without the AC on, so its just running as a climate control system without AC. Pretty good however had to resort to turning the AC on today on my commute home in the traffic!

Interesting to hear about MPG and cruise control. I use my cruise control all the time on the motorway and I get better MPG than using the old right foot. Averages on my daily commute about 78.8 over 80 miles on the cruise control and only 72.4 without cruise on. I also use V Power Diesel which has greatly improved fuel consumption so will put that in as a recommendation!

[Mark M.K]

Thank you for you reply. I am the opposite generally, latest phones, tablets, TV's etc. Showing them off is fun but as you said, gets boring and becomes the 'norm' pretty quickly. Options just justifies upgrading from my 2003 1.6 petrol focus to a new fiesta (which strangely is somewhat larger than my car..).

This is probably the first purchase that I am trying to be sensible about for years! Monthly payments for all of these is roughly an extra £40 a month.

Do you know if Ford do the tinting/dressup kit and whether it is the same price post-purchase? Wouldn't mind it if 3 months down the line I could pay for the extras in cash so it doesn't raise monthly payments with the interest rates attacking. Would probably get my hands on the car earlier will less options too.

Ford wont allow you to add the bodykit at "factory" prices once the car is built. You would need to buy the parts and paint them yourself, which would be well over £1,000. So if you want the bodykit, add it to the car while it's a factory build.

[FiestaZS90150]

options i took on my car:

Heated seats and windscreen: Gadjet, this is my first car with heated seats and well apparently i will never buy another car whithout heated seats. Thats what i have read. I haven't had the chance to test them yet.

17 alloys: I would say gadjet cause its just for looks

Privacy glass: Gadjet just for looks

Auto lights and wipers

Pack Sony radio: essential. I love a good stereo system in the car. It has 8 Speakers and a color screen (Like your TV)

Perimeter alarm i don't think is essential.

SatNav is just too expensive to run. you could buy the best tom tom on the market and still have 100€ left in your pocket.

Citystop gadjet for me

Keyless entry: Gadjet.

Cruise control: i hesitated a little but i thought i would do without it cause its a sports car lol.

Now i really think its up to presonnal preference. I'm a gadjet kind of guy lol

[samjprobinson]

Heated Front Seats? Sounds gimmicky, not sure why you'd need it? £175!!

Rear View Camera - £250 for a camera? I suck at parking but £250 seems excessive.

Heated front seats are pointless unless you've got full leather pack as the seats are freezing in winter! But just the cloth seats, no point; use the £175 and put it towards the camera. Its brilliant and well worth the extra! Guide lines and everything. It is a superb extra!

[b1g_dav3]

I've got pretty much every option you have listed as standard on my Titanium X, apart from the Sat Nav system, ACS and the dress up kit. I have got the sat nav and love the fact you don't have to do anything to it when you get somewhere. No taking it off the windscreen and putting it in the glovebox and all that fad. Also all the cables running around with my old Navman was an annoyance! ACS works well (tried it with a willing friend ) and it stopped the car about a foot off his big rubber bouncy castle! Love using the DAB and the Keyless entry is nice to have as standard but if I'd gone for the Titanium I wouldn't have coughed up for it. The EATC I leave in the Auto mode at 22c all the time just without the AC on, so its just running as a climate control system without AC. Pretty good however had to resort to turning the AC on today on my commute home in the traffic!

Interesting to hear about MPG and cruise control. I use my cruise control all the time on the motorway and I get better MPG than using the old right foot. Averages on my daily commute about 78.8 over 80 miles on the cruise control and only 72.4 without cruise on. I also use V Power Diesel which has greatly improved fuel consumption so will put that in as a recommendation!

Cruise control doesn't work on efficiency, it works just to keep to a speed, so where you might slow to 60 from 65 going up an incline to keep it at a constant % of power, the cruise will increase power and therefore fuel to keep it at 65. Once you get the right foot carefully able to keep within a mm of a position, the high mpg's come on by :P

[E5GDM]

Keyless entry-my son has this on his Clio Sport 197, its OK you have to stand right up to the car for it to unlock, keyless start is good, only problem with his is you have to lock it manually which is odd.

Not sure if your talking about your sons 197 still, but my Renault locked by double tapping the door handle lock/un lock sensor with my thumb. Either way you shouldn't have to manually lock a hands free entry system.

[FiestaZS90150]

The heated seats were in a pack with the heated windscreen which helps alot here in France =)

A camera for reversing? I personnally have never had a car with sensors (well i have but not for long) nor camera to park correctly. I can park fine on my own, this wasnt essential either for me. I can understand that people who have already had them might not buy a car without them anymore.

And prices are not the same apparently.

Sat nav was 500 odd € and thats without the updates every year, which cost around 90€. You don't have to update every year. I prefer to have a nice top range GPS For half of the price.

Like said you will be reading everyones preferences but it will only come down to what you really want and essentially what prics they go for.

Just like Cruise control, some people use it dome don't. I had it on another car and i never used it even when driving down to spain on a 12 hour journey.

[b1g_dav3]

Not sure if your talking about your sons 197 still, but my Renault locked by double tapping the door handle lock/un lock sensor with my thumb. Either way you shouldn't have to manually lock a hands free entry system.

You have to both unlock and lock on my dad's Quasqai with a button on the door handle.

[cuke]

Not sure if your talking about your sons 197 still, but my Renault locked by double tapping the door handle lock/un lock sensor with my thumb. Either way you shouldn't have to manually lock a hands free entry system.

Hi, of course you can do either. On the subject of this topic, we've just purchased a Titanium X and the only option we needed was the Candy Blue paint...

[Yokomoko]

Thanks guys. I think I am agreed on the Sat nav, and I don't think I fancy heated seats when the seats will be fabric anyway (how long will my bum stay cold for anyway?!).

I was going to go for the white, but the standard 'Red' is tempting now, as that adds enough back in to the kitty to get the rear view camera.

Does anyone know why you can't have the dressup kit on the Titanium X? Seems a bit silly!

[b1g_dav3]

I went for white, and not a clue why you can't have it on a Titanium X, I'd have probably gone X spec if you could, as the Titanium which can have the dress-up kit, can't have the 1.6TDCi -.-

[Yokomoko]

Looks like I actually went for gimmicks so I could get it quicker. Got £2500 off so I am not complaining! White with the 1L T Ecoboost 100PS, full leather seats, dressup kit, 17" alloys and keyless entry.

Miss out on the powerfold wing mirrors, active city stop, rear parking sensors, and the rear view camera, but got some other nice options for cheaper, as well as their GAP insurance thrown in for free.

After test driving the car, I realised that the visibility wasn't as bad as what reviews had mentioned when going from my older Focus, so didn't think I needed any sensors or camera.

Pick it up 26th June!

[FiestaZS90150]

nice

[Yokomoko]

Can't come soon enough! Think the cat is going on my focus that I am part ex-ing. I am sure fords know when they are about to get sold and start self destructing!!!!