Morning everyone

Picked my car up yesterday afternoon after what seemed like an eternity - saying that I ordered it on the 7th October so it was 6 weeks all in all. I think my dealer had initially put the order in on the 31st July and then just altered it further down the line to suit the options that I wanted. I've done just under 100 miles so far in it and I'm really impressed. For a start it looks absolutetly awesome in frozen white with the big alloys, so much better in the metal than it looks in pictures, really well proportioned and I now love the big zetec s spoiler that I was a bit unsure about when I ordered it! I had a mk6.5 1.25 zetec for the past three years which I was very happy with but the mk7 is a league apart. The 1.6 engine pulls pretty well in the lower gears but its in 4th and 5th where I really notice the difference between my old car. The 1.25 was really nippy in second and third but fourth and fifth had practically no acceleration whatsoever, especially when trying to move into the outside lane on the motorway or overtaking... although it never promised to be good at this I'm just trying to highlight the difference. The 1.6 above about 3000rpm (not too often mind!) really shifts in any gear, it's caught me by surprise a bit a couple of times where I was going a bit quicker than I should've been! The ride on the mk7 is also much improved - it doesn't crash over bumps like my old zetec did occasionaly and it feels like a much bigger more stable car.

The only slight negatives I can think of are that the new electric power steering isn't quite as full of feel as the hydraulic system in the previous model and that it feels a little more likely to tramline but I think that's just down to the bigger wheels.

The interior looks great on the inside and the quality is pretty impressive - especially things such as the knob for the lights, climate control and stereo. Not so sure about the plastic on the glovebox or the feel of the inner doorhandles though. Wasn't really fussed about having leather seats, I just wanted the alloys and the ESP and traction control but saying that they feel comfortable and supportive and make the inside of the car smell really nice! The leg room in the back is also much better behind me (I'm 6ft3) and it's much easier to find a comfortable driving position, with my lower back supported properly rather than the sitting on a stool kind of arrangement I had in my old car.

To summarise I'm pretty happy with the car! Going on a bit of a road trip today and tomorrow to Wales to give it a proper run and get the engine breathing properly so will take photos and post them on here soon!

Andrew.

Congrats, but as for the running-in process, take a read of this: http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

(basically you need hard acceleration in 2nd, 3rd, 4th gears within the first 20 miles of that engine's life to make sure the piston rings seat properly - despite this being written for motorbike engines, the priciple applies to ALL engines, cars also.)

I've run in all my cars by revving them hard from the moment I've got them and within the first 50 miles; they've all been great engines, use hardly any oil and never had any problems. :)

Can't wait to see your pics :)

I'm officially annoyed. You ordered your car over a month after mine, and got it probably a month before I will get mine (if I'm very very lucky). It's even the same spec (1.6 Ti-VCT Titanium), so I really don't know what there excuse is. They don't have an excuse themselves. When the build date slipped a month, the 'reason for delay' section of the computer screen remained empty.

Having had my little moan, glad to hear of another satisfied customer ;) . Look forward to the photos. Can you tell us a little bit more about what you got (extra kit, 3/5 door etc.) ?

Can't wait to see some pics! Titaniums look stunning in Frozen white :)

Have fun in Wales, we have some roads that are perfect for driving the Mk7 on

Nooooo - my car was unique on the forum before yours arrived <cries>

(actually, have you got keyless?)

In seriousness - I bet it looks great, very glad you're happy with it :D

Bit of an update, covered about 550 miles over the last few days, all of them massively enjoyable! The car didn't miss a beat the whole time, engine feels like it's loosening up nicely already - really eager to pull though the rev range, I can really notice the smoothness that the variable cam timing gives, especially between about 3 and 5000 rpm. For anyone who's interested we went from Leamington to Porthmadog on Tues via Bala and Dolgellau and then yesterday carried on around the north coast to Holyhead and back home again.

Thanks everyone for the replies -

FMC - thanks for the info, all the stuff on the site made decent sense to me to be fair and it all kind of made me feel better about the fact that I wasn't driving it too gently!

Silent Shark - sorry to hear about your massive wait, it must be really frustrating, I was pulling my hair out after 6 weeks. The only thing I can think of that may slow it down is interior pack 2- think I read something about it on here before. My car's a 3dr frozen white 1.6 Ti-VCT titanuim with dress up kit and titanium x pack by the way.

ChrisZetecS- There really are some amazing roads in Wales, can't remember which road it was but I think it was around Bala somewhere in Snowdonia. It was a windy single lane half way up along a mountain that looked down over the huge valley underneath. I took some photos of the car there but they didn't come out very well as it was a bit dark by that time.

DanGull- you'll pleased to know that I have no keyless so your car is still unique! Couldn't afford the tech pack really and the only thing that I would've wanted that much from it was the USB port for my iPod... oh well maybe next time.

Will get the pics on soon, in the process of sorting them out.

Glad to hear you're enjoying it more and pleased to be able to help re the running in process :)

Here's a link to the photos that I took on my trip as promised , sorry they're not the best quality and that there's not many of them.

http://s791.photobucket.com/albums/yy197/A...r%20Wales%2009/

Also, was a little bit gutted last night when I got my first stone chip (two of them after four days!) just above the windscreen, they're not very deep or big at all though so I've ordered a Ford touch up stick to try and cover them over. Does anyone have any advice as to how to apply it best and leave the best finish?

looks great , where in wales did you visit?

Here's a link to the photos that I took on my trip as promised , sorry they're not the best quality and that there's not many of them.

http://s791.photobucket.com/albums/yy197/A...r%20Wales%2009/

Also, was a little bit gutted last night when I got my first stone chip (two of them after four days!) just above the windscreen, they're not very deep or big at all though so I've ordered a Ford touch up stick to try and cover them over. Does anyone have any advice as to how to apply it best and leave the best finish?

Nice pics!

I wish I'd specced the EATC now i've seen a pic of yours - never mind, maybe next time.

How far did you have to go up the mountain to take this pics? And in the rain too! Hardcore lol!

Lol, I'd never have gone up there. I pulled over to take a photo of the car from the road against the waterfall that was running up the mountain and my crazy Welsh mate started sprinting up the mountain with the camera. It was peeing it down at the time aswell, suffering for your art I suppose!

nice motor ! im in warwick not far from you ! youll probably see me about in my mk7 in grey though !

FABOLOUS

White seem to do the MK7 justice

Thanks for the responses everyone.

WelshAde - travelled up around the North Coast mainly, never been around there before... some brilliant roads to play on.

Sammy - I'll keep an eye out for you, I shouldn't be hard to spot... I've always got a huge grin on my face when I'm driving around!

Sherry - Thanks! Congrats btw, just read you just bought your new car... 7 days is a long time when you're waiting for a new car!

Sorry to drag up my old thread but didn't want to start a new one just for this.

Anyone want to buy my old car?

http://www.allenfordhypermarket.com/used_c...egPlate=BG07NKO

They're selling it for nearly £1500 quid more than they gave me for it! Saying that it wasn't in quite the 'best' condition when I gave it in.