dejong Diesel

I'd have thought they would have to stick to the agreed contract, ie Car X for price Y. Although in the pages of small print there is probably a get-out clause for them.

I'm remember now that I had to use a drill to enlarge one of the holes, I think on the rear flaps but managed to get the clips to fit using brute force and a selection of pliers. On reflection unless you have a wide selection of tools (torx drivers, large and small drivers, drill, large water pump type pliers etc etc), a couple of hours+ to spare and are quite DIY experienced, it could be a big PITA job. Totally agree not the best design, fitting wise

Our import didn't have the UK standard Ghia flaps so bought some and fitted them. Quite easy, and found there was enough room without jacking car up or removing wheels. The weird thing was that you need about 6 different kinds of screw drivers, pliers and water pump pliers to handle all the different screws, clips and brackets that need removing and replacing.

Just looked at ours and under boot mat on drivers (UK) side there are dropplets of water. Without pulling all the interior to bits its difficult to say where exactly its come from but its below the end of the gutter shown above. The boot hinge looks sealed OK. Do you need to pull the gutter trim up/off to see the hole???

Don't forget its not just the quality of the oil but how long its been in there. Lots of other manufacturers are extending their service schedules....and so need better (ie more expensive) oils to compensate. Renault are on 18K miles or 2 years, in theory Diesel VWs on extended servicing can go up to 30K+ miles :shock: My Clio at 53,999 miles had only had two oil changes.... (except that I am old school and dropped the oil at 9K halfway to the 18K)

Seems Ford doesn't have the technology or knowledge how to paint a car so its all the same colour. :roll:

What, like the Senic is available with 7 seats and the C-MAX was a panic reaction to the whizzpopper Zafira et al when Ford was caught with is strategic pants down?

Best mates brother had a Mk1.5 1600 petrol from new, EVERY service they replaced the pads and discs, he eventually got so pee'd off he wrote to Ford asking why they can't design a car with brakes that last longer than 12,000 miles. He eventually got some money back! Other mate had a 1998 passat TDI estate from new, lots of problems from a nearly £20K car but he was amazed that the front brakes lasted 50,000+ miles before needing replacing.

You can get MPG and degrees C at same time. I had to mess with menus for a while to get correct combination. Done @1,400 miles and measuring by brimming tank is giving 51MPG, trip computer is almost exactly correct (within <1MPG). 1.6 TDCI 70% motorway rest cross country so far.

Residuals on all the mainstream stuff looks bad as it compares 2nd hand prices with list. No one should pay list. If you compare used prices with what people actually pay Ford/Renault/Citreon etc will probably have similar depreciation to VW/Toyota etc Buying new only works if you buy with a decent discount and run the car for 3+ years, unless you have a massive employee discount its bonkers to buy new and sell within 1 year. When buying new I've tried not loose more than approx £2K a year depreciation for the 1st 3 years. PS if I really was going to spend £20K on a hatch it would have G

I can try and answer some of your Qs. You can alter the steering from standard to comfort or sport but at low speeds it always (temporarily) reverts back to the lightest setting. We have a Ghia and if the Titi is the same there are about 15 lights that come on when you open the car with the remote, foot wells, in bottom of door mirrors, rear cabin, front cabin etc etc :lol:

5dr Ghia TDCi, built 4 months ago in Germany and has both plastic strips and submarine lighting, or atleast it does now that I have pushed the wiring connector into the light fitting in properly, map lights now also work. :D

Not driven our 1.6 TDCi that much but yes found that if you try and rush the change from 2nd it seems to hit the 'notch' between 1 and 3rd instead of slotting into 3rd. Found that pushing the stick out of 2nd and then pushing into 3rd relatively slowly works. I think its just a slightly different technique rather than a problem. :?:

There are lots of supermarket and internet setups selling imports. Don't want to advertise one against another as the ones we didn't use may be just as good, but entering simpledeals into google will give you an idea of whats what. :idea: We went with them as they were only 1/2 hrs drive away, sorting a deal was quick and easy with no haggling or having allsorts of add-ons being flogged to you. I think it helped not having a trade in to complicate matters. The entire operation was as painless as parting with large amounts of money can be :D

Didn't track it as such, just know it was made 4 months ago and so must have been in Europe somewhere for some of that time before it was imported. Insurance know its an import, didn't seem to make any difference.

Was a good saving (@£5k off list) esp compared to local dealer who wanted £13,700 for a LX :shock: . Shame really as they are the closest garage to us only 5 mins drive away. They seemed more interested in signing us up for 'options' than actually doing a good deal on a car. :x Looking around since then places like Broadspeed claim to offer UK cars for approx £500-1000 more than what we paid, they might have been a better bet if we run into problems later without the 3 year UK warranty, ours is supposed to be 2 yrs.

Took delivery of wifeys new Focus Ghia 1.6 TDCi on Wed and now done a few hundred miles in it. Came via an importer. So far only spotted 2 differences from UK Ghia spec, there is no ‘volume sensing’ alarm (although the basic alarm is there as it went off when I opened the bonnet with the car locked) and no locking wheel nuts. Do you think the UK has a problem with car thieves :x ….. Bought some locking wheel nuts along with a full set of mud flaps and fitted them this weekend. According to the chassis number it’s made in Saarlouis Germany and has been travelling around Europe for the last 4

Becasue its a Diesel doesn't automatically mean that you get 50mpg, esp 2.0 versions. 130+bhp has to come from somewhere. The only place it can come from is by burning fuel, i.e. a 20-25% more than the 110/115 versions. In the quest for more performance manufactuers use bigger engines. Also all things being equal larger engines are less effiecient than smaller ones, pumping losses, more friction because of bigger pistons, heavier blocks etc etc. Peugeot fell into this trap in the 1990s with their 2.2IDIs Turbo Ds, they ended up fast but MPG down to petrol levels... might as well get a petrol

Ford Europe will spend hundreds of £millions on IT systems. Supply chain management, outward and inward bound logistics, JIT stock control etc. They will know where anything and everything is at any given time.

I think the tax on ownership should end and it be put on fuel, the more you use the more you pay. However putting up petrol prices causes blockades and riots and is now politically unacceptable. Ignore all the green claptrap, its simply about taxing people. To stop £50K Range Rover owners you would need to make top rate tax be £thousands a year. :shock: I think the pre 2001 system needs more brackets, say <1000cc, 1001-1300, 1301-1500,1501-2000 and above 2000cc tax. I have 3 cars and both my older low annual milage hobby cars cop for the £175. Very unfair. On a better note my dail

No the one big catch with an import is only 2 years warranty :cry: . Apprently the 3rd UK year is added free at purchase by the dealer so I have to arrange that bit myself :?: (for a fee of course)

Just joined and posted in the new members section but its been suggested I ask in here also; Fantastic site, well done. Only found it after we'd ordered the car though.... Better half has opted out of compnany car scheme and we've ordered via an importer a 1.6TDCI Ghia 5dr. Promised to be exactly same as UK model and £3-£4.5K saving (depending on what offer Ford are doing this week). Delivery in approx 3 weeks. I'm a Diesel convert, my second ever car back in 1986 (i'm 40 this year ) was a 1.6D VW. Currently drive a Clio dCI and getting almost 60 to gallon so have high expections