1.5 TDCi 120 Zetec Ecoblue 5dr Hatchback

Consistently awful in every area.

I was provided this vehicle as a company car at the end of 2018. I have the Estate however that is not available to pick from the list above.

Trouble started on day 1 of ownership where the radio (upgraded to Satnav) would not save settings on power off. Any radio settings changed would all be reset the next morning (the Sat nav Sync 3 system runs on Blackberry software!) - it was only fixed in May 2019 where finally a USB based software update was made available. Aside to not saving, it regularly crashes and what shows how unreliable it is - is that there is a button sequence to reboot the unit. On probably half of the occasions when you stop, park and get out - the screen will remain on for up to an hour before it finally goes off.

Issues escalated on the car where at around 2500 miles it asked for an oil change. Ford said this was expected behavior and only after arguing on the phone did they backtrack and agree it was wrong. The oil was changed at 3500 for free. Now at 8000 miles in May 2019 it wants another oil change.

There are inherent software issues on this car. If you pull up and a passenger gets out, the seatbelt alert takes over the display and beeps at you - unless you open your drivers door and close it. This was reported to Ford but so far no fix on the 3 occasions it has been back to the dealer. Additionally the software on the driver display usually takes up your attention for the first 10 seconds or so as you clear all of the pointless notifications it gives you. At the least it should allow you to pick what pointless notifications you want.

I expected excellent MPG from the 1.5 TDCI, however it only averages 42 on daily use. My 15 year old Passat delivers better daily MPG. Only driving it incredibly gently means you'll be awarded the prestigious 50+ MPG, it becomes a chore to drive efficiently.

The dash also has a number of entirely unnecessary LEDs which cannot be turned off. These tell you things you already would expect to know (such as the temperature control is on) so will eventually burn out no doubt.

The Estate features handles on the side of the boot which you pull from the rear to pop the rear seats forward. The theory is great, however the flimsy design snapped on first use making it unusable. I cannot be bothered to book it in to Ford again as their like for like replacement is always a Ford Ka+.

Furthermore, good luck if you get a puncture. I've been driving for 15 years and it took me nearly half an hour to figure out the jacking system in the boot. The documentation in the manual for it is almost entirely non-existent.

All in, an awful car, awfully basic items on the Zetec, awful software & a very poor design process. I've successfully talked 3 people out of buying/leasing this vehicle.

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