Ford Vignale
- Thread starter Ricochet J
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No, I mean generally. At £35k you'll buy the better car, be it a Dacia or a BMW. Mercedes or a Ford. Audi or a VW etc.
My point is don't judge a car by its badge.
Soldato
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- 9 Jan 2008
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If the centre console was nicer, I'd consider one but definitely not brand new.
I use mine every day, it's one of my favourite options on the entire car.
You might, thousands wouldn't and are quite happy driving around in their base spec executive marque car because well look at the lovely badge!
Doubtful.... Had a quick look on Drive The Deal and the car isnt on there. Like the Mustang and the Focus RS, only designated Ford Stores can sell Vignale so mebbe the brokers dont have access to them?
You see all of that IMO is perceivement, similarly priced rivals like the 3 series and C class have also had some poor interiors, so Ford is not the only one, and they can have really bland designs which is somehow percieved to be a good thing yet other cars get derided for it, so technically speaking the Mondeo as a car alone, does it fall short on those things? I'm not so sure.
Badge snobbery here will always be a problem, I'm not a badge snob myself, but even me reading the price tag, I though thats a lot of money for a Ford, if the same car had a German badge or some other premium badge I wouldn't bat an eyelid.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
The typical non Ford buyer. They are trying to appeal to those who don't buy Ford.
I do know what you're saying r.e perception of quality, but go look inside a mk3 focus (though it is admitedly better now than when released) - it's absolutely rotten compared to a golf, a3 or the newer 1 series.
That is absolutely fine, because it doesn't compete at the same price point - but clad some more bits in leather and it doesn't suddenly become less tacky and overburdened with buttons, so wouldn't be able to compete at that higher price point.
Even comparing our 3 year old fiesta to my 6 year old honda, the Ford has a very cheap looking wheel, bits of trim are starting to look a bit tacky, things like the coin tray have lost their solidity and the general dashboard design just looks stupid. Sure the civic creaks and rattles but it still all looks and works the same as it did when new
That is absolutely fine, because it doesn't compete at the same price point - but clad some more bits in leather and it doesn't suddenly become less tacky and overburdened with buttons, so wouldn't be able to compete at that higher price point.
Even comparing our 3 year old fiesta to my 6 year old honda, the Ford has a very cheap looking wheel, bits of trim are starting to look a bit tacky, things like the coin tray have lost their solidity and the general dashboard design just looks stupid. Sure the civic creaks and rattles but it still all looks and works the same as it did when new
Ive been in a new Mondeo and Focus and neither compare well (feel, noise, quality) to a VW, Audi, BMW etc. I always struggle when people say they do because my experience is they are tinny in comparison. Good cars, no question and I am sure they drive nicely as they always have, but they feel a class down.
Test drove a couple of MK3 Focuses and the silver bits on the interior trim and steering wheel either peel or rub off. I don't know why something like that is so hard to get right. Both were Titanium X spec too. Engines are good and they always drive well but Ford never seem to get it right with interior styling or design. 1.0 and 1.6 Ecoboost engines are great and would sooner have one of those than a TSFI.
That said they are much cheaper compared to the equivalent Audi/VW etc on the used market.
No one is going to spend that much on a Ford Mondeo, even if it was the best car in every area, because the British buying public want BMWs and Audis.
That said they are much cheaper compared to the equivalent Audi/VW etc on the used market.
No one is going to spend that much on a Ford Mondeo, even if it was the best car in every area, because the British buying public want BMWs and Audis.
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Maybe I need to try out a new Ford product, I thought they are supposed to be very good from what I have read and heard, I've used new Golfs, Touran, Polo and A3 and never really understood the hype, the A3 was quite nice but the VW's felt average and nothing special at all.
[TW]Fox;28943174 said:
Did they redefine dull as the new exciting?
Speaking as a Ford Focus '06 Mk2 1.8TDCI Titanium spec from-one-year-old owner with from about 3K to 59K on the clock.
Fords do everything "ok" but it's like the line they're attempting to exceed is the lowest line of expectation in a dependable dull fashion. Whereas BMW & Mercs etc are at least attempting to push some top line boundaries as a marque (that filters down).
£35K+ car owners aren't buying for "dull" or "ok". And it's very unlikely that said ford will actually need 12K's worth of "fixes" over it's entire life let alone any additional service consumables.
Whereas everyone else is pushing electric. Ford is attempting to push the first step in rending a "transportation service".
In reality this is taking the "would you like additional product protection plan/insurance" that always gets offered with electrical - but camouflaging it as a premium service.
It's highly unlikely that the "personal assistant" will be able to make your car a priority for the cost.. no wait.. they could - at the over priced Ford dealership that everyone avoids.
I had an alternator go.. the dealership stated "we can order the piece ahead of schedule in case it's required" then when it got the garage they'd not ordered it when they stated outright they would.. and I needed the car for the saturday for a week camping trip with the inlaws from france.
So they then stated there's no alternators and they'd have to order it from the distributors but at the end of the holiday..
I call around - find a rival with an alternator in stock just up the road from them, the take the car back and fitted the damn thing myself. Saved the camping trip.
Just loads of baloney off the site service manager and only after twitter bashing to Ford's corporate account did he move after the marketing director complained.. but everything was done by that point. Too late Ford - never lie to your customers (now to be ex-customer).
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Same. Driven a couple of Golfs and Passats and the interiors don't really feel any higher quality than my Mondeo, just a little more 'Germanic' in appearance. Probably not as "overburdened with buttons" because the average VW's standard equipment levels seem poor
No qualms about the fact that it's nothing like a BMW though. But then it costs a lot less (in most cases...!).
Ford are consistently better, IMHO, than the likes of Renault/Citroen/Peugeot, Vauxhall, Kia/Hyundai etc, and that's where their main competition lies.
The Vignale is an odd one. I can't see they'll sell many. If they do then I'll have one for £6k in a few years
I find it genuinely surprising that anyone finds the inside of a new Ford nicer than its equivalent from Hyundai or Kia (not talking a few years ago, anything from the latest ceed to now), but then the prices of those have creeped up to near enough match Ford, unsurprisingly.
Howard I don't really mind the interior of your shape mondeo at all - particularly with dark trim or after the facelift, but stick some more leather on the dash and it's hardly going to move it up a class is it?
Howard I don't really mind the interior of your shape mondeo at all - particularly with dark trim or after the facelift, but stick some more leather on the dash and it's hardly going to move it up a class is it?
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Nowt wrong with dudley Ive had 3 new cars in my life, a focus ST3,Accord Diesel and my current Audi A4 avant. The ford was the best car to drive and overall the most reliable, Honda and Audi were on a par for me in terms of reliability and build quality, with the honda being the better car to drive.
But, when i did have something minor go wrong with the Ford, it was like pulling teeth to get decent service. Both my Honda and Audi had more go wrong, but the dealers have been awesome in every aspect.
That said, the ford was driven bloody hard for 95k miles and it was solid as the day i got it, the audi shows much more wear and tear.
Percieved quality is better with ze germans, but actual quality? nah.
I never said it would
Oh speaking of the Koreans, I had a Hyundai i40 hire car a couple of months ago. It was sparsely equipped, not very ergonomic, the bluetooth audio quality was absolutely awful (serious compression/clipping issues, something you'd expect to be picked up at the first round of testing any piece of audio equipment, automotive or otherwise), and the interior certainly wasn't any higher quality than any Ford (or Vauxhall, or French car) I've driven. Quite a nice drive though, but I think they've still got a bit of a way to go.
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