| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 1332.1 | | SUBURB::PARKER | GISSAJOB | Mon Jan 07 1991 17:55 | 6 |
| Fords have a scheme whereby you can take any Ford for 24 hours,
provided you are a company car driver. Fleet VTX has the number to
phone; it is basically Ford hiring it for you. You may have to phone
round to find one, tho.
Steve
|
| 1332.2 | Not that good? | OVAL::SAXBYM | Contentious?Moi?Rides again! | Mon Jan 07 1991 18:05 | 9 |
|
As a member of Talkback I find that I'm not eligible to test drive
any of the cars I'd be interested in in the Ford range. It doesn't
sound like much of a scheme to me.
Perhaps a visit to a Ford dealer might get me a day's loan of an RS
Turbo Fiasco, but Ford's scheme doesn't.
Mark
|
| 1332.3 | | KERNEL::SHELLEYR | | Mon Jan 07 1991 18:14 | 9 |
| re: .2
Mark, you would probably have to convince them that you could buy/lease
the car from them. I managed to get a short drive of an RS Fiesta
from Anchor in Reading with a salesman breathing down my neck telling
me not to go too fast. It put me off the car until I could drive a
friend's one here at work.
- Roy
|
| 1332.4 | Volvo drivers do it eventually :-) | SIEVAX::CORNE | Sometimes you get the Elevator, sometimes the Shaft | Mon Jan 07 1991 19:47 | 15 |
| re the Ford scheme...
When I had an Audi 100, Ford "suggested" that I might like to borrow a Granada
Scorpio for a days testing...(seems the computer matched up cars in roughly
the same price range).
Could I find a dealer that would let me borrow one though? Nearest I could get
was one in London, but I would have to collect and return - thats 300+ miles
of my own petrol/time - not worth the effort. I didn't take a Ford car next time
either!
Talkback ignored my letter of complaint!
Jc
|
| 1332.5 | | SUBURB::PARKER | GISSAJOB | Tue Jan 08 1991 15:09 | 11 |
| Re .2
Ford will automatically send a voucher for the car thet see as
commensurate with the one you have. They also state that if you want a
different one, to send it back and they will change it. My expewrience
was a good one, but then I was prepared to be flexible on trim level.
If I wanted , eg, a Scorpio, and could not find one, I would have
changed the voucher for a Grandad, and used my imagination for the
toys. The running gear is all the same.
Steve
|
| 1332.6 | As you said, running gear is what matters. | OVAL::SAXBYM | Contentious?Moi?Rides again! | Tue Jan 08 1991 15:30 | 14 |
|
Re .5
>> The running gear is all the same.
Exactly, but it doesn't work the same if you are interested in a
Sierra Cosworth, or an RS Turbo Fiasco!
Picture this, toodling along in your Fiasco 1.1L...
"Right if I accelerated here I could get past that old lady on
the bike!" :^)
Mark
|
| 1332.7 | Dont mention Company car | YUPPY::ELLAWAY | | Tue Jan 08 1991 15:46 | 9 |
| Maybe their few and far between but the RS dealer I went to were quite
prepared togive me a test drive of their brand new, still in the
showroom Escort RS Turbo. I think the trick is not to mention the fact
that it will be a company car and just say your interested in a private
purchase.
Martin
p.s. RS dealer I went to was Trimoco at Dunstable
|
| 1332.8 | Sierra 4x4 "owner" reporting in | TRUCKS::SMART | Beware the passing bandwagon | Tue Jan 08 1991 16:01 | 32 |
| Re .1 I applied to drive a 2.0L 4x4 in July and i'm still waiting....
Despite that my Sapphire 4x4 Ghia was delivered in October and
currently has 7k miles on it. It is *very* tractable. The LSD
and ABS assures that locked wheels are a thing of the past. The
handling is very reassuring - slight understeer that will turn to
mild oversteer if provoked but you've got to be a real loony to
loose it!
It got off to a bad start as the engine was *tight*. The first
1500 miles was done at less than 3500 rpm and I got a worse fuel
consumption than my old rwd Pinto engined GLS. Suddenly it all
freed up and the car changed charater completely. A colleague with
the 2.0L XR4 (rwd) had a similar experience.
I drive "enthusiastically" and return about 32mpg. It will cruise
at 90+ all day and it very quite and comfortable. The hatch version
doesn't come as the Ghia and has differing trim.
I'm pleased to say that Ford have now got the PAS feel and weight
right at last. Gone is the vague, overlight wooly feeling. Most
of the time you don't even notice the PAS which is how it should
be (Austin Rover take note!).
The load area should be unaffected by the 4wd system as the rear
axle location is the same as all Sierras. The front drive is mounted
on a cast sub frame that carries the front suspesion as well.
So far, mine is the only Sapphire 4x4 I've seen and I'm told they're
very scarce hence the 18 week lead time.
|
| 1332.9 | | OVAL::SAXBYM | Contentious?Moi?Rides again! | Tue Jan 08 1991 16:20 | 18 |
| RE .7
As a contrctor my company car is purchased by my company. I always
explain to dealers what the situation is while looking at cars, for
the very reason that I want them to realise that I may well be
spending REAL money with THEM if they have a good product and provide
good service.
The point I was making in .2 is that Ford EXPRESSLY exclude the only
models in their range that I might be interested in from their scheme.
I'm sure that an RS Dealer would be happy to give me a 10 minute round
the block 'test-drive' with the salesman telling me that it has manual
power steering and mechanical ABS by means of having brakes on all
the wheels, but this is exactly what the Talkback scheme is supposed
to counteract.
Mark
|
| 1332.10 | better than the average testdrive | YUPPY::ELLAWAY | | Tue Jan 08 1991 18:14 | 10 |
| Mark,
As far as test drives go it was a testdrive i.e about 30 miles
around a,b roads with the salesman urging me to exploit L.S.D
to its best. I dont suppose this is true of all garages but
nonetheless closer to a test drive than most.
Regards Martin
p.s.5GT was better
|