[mcoops]

I popped into our local Ford dealership too today, trying to leave my prejudices at the door!

Ours does have a Mustang, and it was very impressive. Extremely handsome from the outside. I was also pleasantly surprised by the interior - the materials were mostly a touch better than I expected. The trim around the gear lever and transmission tunnel was OK, and the dash top really quite nice. The worst was probably the trim around the steering wheel controls, but overall, pretty good. The general feel was of being cocooned, it was a enjoyable place to be. It's clearly not a choice you make with practicality top of mind, but the boot was also bigger than I expected - shallow, but quite deep. On the other hand the legroom in the rear seats is terrible. I'm 6'2" and my son struggled to squeeze his legs in behind me. I'd always had in the back of my mind that this might be a car I could justify even if I still had to do the occasional school or club run for the kids, on the assumption it had more cabin space than say a GT86 or a TTS. But it didn't seem like it.

In terms of the other models, I can't say I left feeling much different to how I came in. The Fiesta and Focus are great, provided you are looking at ST-Line trim or of course a full ST model. They had a Fiesta ST in which looked spot on, especially the seats. My 8 year old actually preferred the front of the Focus ST-Line to the Mustang! On the other hand, the Focus Vignale just looked how I expected - mutton dressed as lamb. The inside trim is just jarring - leather and fake wood next to very low quality plastic on the door bins. I just don't get the point of these.

To be fair, the Kuga looked solid. Not very exciting, but I can see how it would come into the consideration set for that price point. One thing I did notice was that the Kuga has the last-generation Ford dash design which sort of slopes towards you - I really dislike this. The new Focus and Fiesta on the other hand don't have it, and for me are much nicer places to sit as a consequence.

Finally, I found the showroom and staff pretty good. Modern, pleasant environment, and I was asked a couple of times if I needed help, but not badgered. The guy near the Mustang was chatty without being in your face as we looked around it.

Back to the original topic of the thread, it did leave me thinking there was nothing terribly wrong with the experience. They had 3 of the top 10 selling cars in UK last year, so they are doing something right. Yet outside of the sportier models, I did still come away feeling there is a lack of brand personality there.

[MashinBenzin]

@mcoops did you look at the Edge?

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

@mcoops did you look at the Edge?

I've looked at them and I like them. List price too high for me though, only the basic 2 wheel drive, low powered engine, is under £40k.

Can't bring myself to pay £450 a year to tax a Ford.

[mcoops]

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

@mcoops did you look at the Edge?

Good point, no, I don't think they had one in, which seems odd in retrospect. They had a Transit though as it's a commercial vehicle dealer too. Maybe they couldn't fit them both in! I'd have ditched the Vignale...

[mcoops]

Just spotted this on Autocar. All-new Kuga incoming next year, and SUVs to play key role in recovery plans:

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...ge-restructure

[Vasumir]

Originally Posted by Goneinsixtyseconds

Some cars don't have discount and you just have to put up with it if you want one. The best broker price now only shows £1500 discount on a Mustang, so probably quite right that there was none back when you were looking.

It's sounds to me like you might have forced their hand on the ecosport engine. If they pushed that after you said you wanted them to cover the £2k road tax, you can't really blame them.

Volvo have always offered big discounts, but when the new XC90 came out they were banned from discounting for the first 18 months or so. The threat was Volvo limiting supply to the dealer if they were caught. At the same time you could still get £7k, 30% off a V40.

Comparing the discounts from Ford on a Fiesta or Focus to those on a Mustang is pointless.

I didn't force their hand on anything.
They started talking about the ecosport straight away and used the £2k road tax as an example as to why I should pick it over the 5l.
They just didn't seem very interested at all in selling a car!
The saleswoman literally sighed when I said I was interested in the Mustang.

Also to the previous poster(s) mentioning about not all dealers selling the Mustang, you are correct. Or certainly were at the time I was looking, I had to look up on Ford's website which dealerships were selling them back then.

[JustChris]

Originally Posted by Isow

I’m not certain, but I don’t think that every Ford dealeris a Mustang dealer.
Please correct me if I am wrong.

Has to be a Ford 'Store'

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by JustChris

Has to be a Ford 'Store'

Just looked on website and you can search separately for them, Mustang/Focus RS dealerships. Although I guess you can't buy a new RS right now.

Building up my knowledge of Ford dealerships. Although it might be better to forget it, at my age there's no point in using up valuable brain space with knowledge I'm never going to need.

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by Vasumir

I didn't force their hand on anything.
They started talking about the ecosport straight away and used the £2k road tax as an example as to why I should pick it over the 5l.
They just didn't seem very interested at all in selling a car!
The saleswoman literally sighed when I said I was interested in the Mustang.

Also to the previous poster(s) mentioning about not all dealers selling the Mustang, you are correct. Or certainly were at the time I was looking, I had to look up on Ford's website which dealerships were selling them back then.

Apologies, your original post didn't read that way.

Getting a test drive proved incredibly difficult and when trying to discuss a potential deal they turned round and said "we are ford, we don't need to discount our vehicles'.
They then tried to push the EcoSport engine rather than the 5l, telling me they wouldn't cover the £2k road tax and that it was more than good enough....

Reads like you asked them to discount and when they said no they pushed the ecosport.

[Vasumir]

Originally Posted by Goneinsixtyseconds

Apologies, your original email didn't read that way.

Getting a test drive proved incredibly difficult and when trying to discuss a potential deal they turned round and said "we are ford, we don't need to discount our vehicles'.
They then tried to push the EcoSport engine rather than the 5l, telling me they wouldn't cover the £2k road tax and that it was more than good enough....

Reads like you asked them to discount and when they said no they pushed the ecosport.

Yeah sorry, I didn't word that very well.
The whole experience was very strange to be honest! It basically came across like they didn't want my money haha

[MashinBenzin]

Ford overhauling the European business.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/i...opean-business

[mcoops]

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

Ford overhauling the European business.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/i...opean-business

The opinion piece linked from this article is worth a look too. Pretty much all as discussed here from a product POV - ditch the C Max, better interiors and more/better SUVs. The prospect of a Mustang-inspired SUV is mind-bending!

[JustChris]

Would a raptor or an F150 type sell over here...too big?

[MashinBenzin]

Originally Posted by JustChris

Would a raptor or an F150 type sell over here...too big?

Yeah, I think so. On the rare occasions that I have seen a F150 over here, they look like the size would make them a real handful. I envy the US for the space to drive this kind of thing, my boss has a raptor over in NJ, lucky bugger!

[MashinBenzin]

Originally Posted by mcoops

The opinion piece linked from this article is worth a look too. Pretty much all as discussed here from a product POV - ditch the C Max, better interiors and more/better SUVs. The prospect of a Mustang-inspired SUV is mind-bending!

Yes, I read that one as well. Plus the first review of the new Explorer, which looks interesting if it does make it over here. The interior looks a decent step-up from the Edge, at least in pictures.

[Bibbles]

Originally Posted by JustChris

Would a raptor or an F150 type sell over here...too big?

The Ranger Raptor should be available here shortly, although they're still not putting any proper engines in it.

[mcoops]

Originally Posted by JustChris

Would a raptor or an F150 type sell over here...too big?

Probably too big to make it a volume seller anyway. You might just about get parked, but you'd have to bust through the rear window to get out!