Ford make bloody good cars

[Chestrockwell]

I have a new job at a big car supermarket, I find myself briefly driving a lot of mundane, popular budget family cars and one brand I never want to get out of and continue driving are Fords.

There has only been a few and most have all been 1.0 non eco boosts. One of them was a part ex, 04 plate Fusion, was a banger, £200 px value and nothing has surprised me more, it was nice to drive and handled well.

I drove a 69 plate 1.0 Ford KA today and loved it, not sure what it is, it just felt right, it was very slow but it didn't matter at all.

Does this extend to all of their models? I feel like I have just discovered sliced bread

[Len Clifton]

Ford have always made great cars.

[Mr Tidy]

You've got that wrong - Ford used to make bloody good cars.

But they don't actually make cars any more, just various Cross-over, SUV sort of dross.

[Patio]

One of my first company cars was a 99 mondeo turbo diesel

Probably the worst car I've had the displeasure of driving

No support in the seats, go round a slight bend and it felt like I was sliding in to the passenger seat

I once tried overtaking a fully loaded cement truck in Hull, suffice to say I didn't make it and it needed to go into the garage for bodywork repairs

Hated it every day, it was known as the turbo slug

I've driven other, nicer ford's but that one always sticks in the memory

[Len Clifton]

Patio said:

One of my first company cars was a 99 mondeo turbo diesel

Probably the worst car I've had the displeasure of driving

No support in the seats, go round a slight bend and it felt like I was sliding in to the passenger seat

I once tried overtaking a fully loaded cement truck in Hull, suffice to say I didn't make it and it needed to go into the garage for bodywork repairs

Hated it every day, it was known as the turbo slug

I've driven other, nicer ford's but that one always sticks in the memory

So you were poor. Doesn’t make all Fords poor.

[Ecosseven]

1990 and 2000 era Ford's were great drivers cars. My mum had an original Puma, my sister has 2 fiestas, and I had a 1989 Sierra, a 1996 Mondeo, and a 2005 Mondeo. All were great to drive

[Pica-Pica]

We had a bloody great Vehicle Engineering team back in the day. Happy memories.

[Patio]

Len Clifton said:

Patio said:

One of my first company cars was a 99 mondeo turbo diesel

Probably the worst car I've had the displeasure of driving

No support in the seats, go round a slight bend and it felt like I was sliding in to the passenger seat

I once tried overtaking a fully loaded cement truck in Hull, suffice to say I didn't make it and it needed to go into the garage for bodywork repairs

Hated it every day, it was known as the turbo slug

I've driven other, nicer ford's but that one always sticks in the memory

So you were poor. Doesn’t make all Fords poor.

Len, did you read my post?

Where did I indicate I was poor?

[Len Clifton]

Patio said:

Len, did you read my post?

Where did I indicate I was poor?

Because you could only drive the poverty spec cars. Better versions were available. Great thing about Ford was they had a car for everyone.

Edited by Len Clifton on Saturday 22 March 23:55

[Robertb]

It’s worth reading some of the articles online about Richard Parry Jones.
He was responsible for the way that modern Fords (from Mk1 Focus) feel. Massively gifted man who understood that driving pleasure sold cars, and how to achieve it.

[cerb4.5lee]

I used to be a massive Ford fan and I've had 7 of them over the years, but I have switched over to BMW over the more recent years though, and I'm on my 9th beemer now.

Ford's were absolutely ace though for me back in the day, and I still miss my Ford days to be honest. The only Ford that I'm interested in now is the V8 5.0 Mustang though, and that makes me sad to be fair really.

[Len Clifton]

Robertb said:

It’s worth reading some of the articles online about Richard Parry Jones.
He was responsible for the way that modern Fords (from Mk1 Focus) feel. Massively gifted man who understood that driving pleasure sold cars, and how to achieve it.

Indeed, MK1 focus, MK4 Fiesta and Mondeo were all brilliant.

[Lo-Fi]

Chestrockwell said:

I have a new job at a big car supermarket, I find myself briefly driving a lot of mundane, popular budget family cars and one brand I never want to get out of and continue driving are Fords.

There has only been a few and most have all been 1.0 non eco boosts. One of them was a part ex, 04 plate Fusion, was a banger, £200 px value and nothing has surprised me more, it was nice to drive and handled well.

I drove a 69 plate 1.0 Ford KA today and loved it, not sure what it is, it just felt right, it was very slow but it didn't matter at all.

Does this extend to all of their models? I feel like I have just discovered sliced bread

Wasn't the second gen KA actually a FIAT? Or vice versa?

[njw1]

Patio said:

One of my first company cars was a 99 mondeo turbo diesel

Probably the worst car I've had the displeasure of driving

No support in the seats, go round a slight bend and it felt like I was sliding in to the passenger seat

I once tried overtaking a fully loaded cement truck in Hull, suffice to say I didn't make it and it needed to go into the garage for bodywork repairs

Hated it every day, it was known as the turbo slug

I've driven other, nicer ford's but that one always sticks in the memory

So its Fords fault you had a crash?

[Olivera]

Robertb said:

It’s worth reading some of the articles online about Richard Parry Jones.
He was responsible for the way that modern Fords (from Mk1 Focus) feel. Massively gifted man who understood that driving pleasure sold cars, and how to achieve it.

RPJ era cars are hated by Ford enthusiasts and are worthless in comparison to the 80s Fords that preceded them. They undoubtedly drove well but simultaneously jettisoned the aspirational models and cachet of the 80s era cars.

[Chestrockwell]

Lo-Fi said:

Chestrockwell said:

I have a new job at a big car supermarket, I find myself briefly driving a lot of mundane, popular budget family cars and one brand I never want to get out of and continue driving are Fords.

There has only been a few and most have all been 1.0 non eco boosts. One of them was a part ex, 04 plate Fusion, was a banger, £200 px value and nothing has surprised me more, it was nice to drive and handled well.

I drove a 69 plate 1.0 Ford KA today and loved it, not sure what it is, it just felt right, it was very slow but it didn't matter at all.

Does this extend to all of their models? I feel like I have just discovered sliced bread

Wasn't the second gen KA actually a FIAT? Or vice versa?

Yes but I think the one i drove is a rebodied Fiesta

[daqinggregg]

Most manufacturers have had their time (BL included) in the sunshine; equally they’ve all had their wilderness years.

That being said, Ford through a mix of good design/engineering and clever marketing, have enjoyed more sunny spells than most.

However, late 80’s/90’s and early 00’s were a little overcast for Ford in the Europe/US, GM Europe on the other hand, were enjoying a rather bright outlook.

However, government’s short sighted view of taxation for company cars all but killed off any sunny outlooks, with people prioritising what they considered ‘premium’ brands.

Outlook for the future looks extremely overcast for Ford, not because of a lack of engineering/design or marketing talent, but a dearth of managerial direction.

[Lo-Fi]

daqinggregg said:

Most manufacturers have had their time (BL included) in the sunshine; equally they’ve all had their wilderness years.

That being said, Ford through a mix of good design/engineering and clever marketing, have enjoyed more sunny spells than most.

However, late 80’s/90’s and early 00’s were a little overcast for Ford in the Europe/US, GM Europe on the other hand, were enjoying a rather bright outlook.

However, government’s short sighted view of taxation for company cars all but killed off any sunny outlooks, with people prioritising what they considered ‘premium’ brands.

Outlook for the future looks extremely overcast for Ford, not because of a lack of engineering/design or marketing talent, but a dearth of managerial direction.

Erm, what? You're saying the KA, Fiesta, Puma, Cougar and Mondeo were all over-shadowed by the... Vectra?

[seabod91]

Bought a mk1 focus 2019 for £500 for a work / tip run car. Only scrapped it feb just gone. Cracking car and nothing went wrong with it.

[ATG]

Olivera said:

Robertb said:

It’s worth reading some of the articles online about Richard Parry Jones.
He was responsible for the way that modern Fords (from Mk1 Focus) feel. Massively gifted man who understood that driving pleasure sold cars, and how to achieve it.

RPJ era cars are hated by Ford enthusiasts and are worthless in comparison to the 80s Fords that preceded them. They undoubtedly drove well but simultaneously jettisoned the aspirational models and cachet of the 80s era cars.

I don't think one can speak of Ford enthusiasts as if they're a single group. Clearly there are a lot of people on this thread who think the post-80s cars are great.

Having lived through the 80s, I'd say that they produced a great deal of embarrassing crap in the form of Capris, and the XR2 and 3 Fiestas and Escorts, while everything else was bland at best and crap at worst until they started producing turbo Sierras in various different guises, and the Granada was an OK midmarket saloon. So they had a pretty awful brand and a couple of OK models. And it takes a long long time to rebuild a brand's reputation, and that process started with the Mondeo and Focus and was a pretty major success. When someone says "Ford" my immediate association is mid-80s dreadful Escort. But I can 100% see how a younger person might now think "hot version of a Focus" or "Dad's competent, comfortable Mondeo".