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PG

Ford marketeers need shooting

I could not believe that a Ford spokesperson said of the new Fiesta Titanium special edition “We’ve gone for a funky interior,” said a source. “The special edition is the most premium Fiesta around but we’re still pitching it a younger audience.”

Funky?     Funky?   It's the noughties my friend, not 1976.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/244189/
"him"

mmmm...



Lovely!  

But then I am outside their target demographic!
Humphrey The Pug

Radical dude!!
woof woof

Maybe you could drive while movin and groovin with some energy to Funky Town.
PG

I look at that funky interior (......sorry, I just puked.....) and the interior of the new VW Polo suddenly seems so appealing. Dull, worthy, solid, lots of black. Excellent.  

Now, a VW Polo with red leather seats would be really racy
TimR

PG wrote:
I look at that funky interior (......sorry, I just puked.....) and the interior of the new VW Polo suddenly seems so appealing. Dull, worthy, solid, lots of black. Excellent.  


You're showing your age there
gonnabuildabuggy

Given the age of most Fiesta drivers I see then "younger" will be about 55yrs old. Radical for them I'm sure.
Gurney

Dreadful interior, if you are going to style your interior like a mobile phone at least do it with a classy one in mind (Porsche & Vertu) rather than Sagem.

Spoils a good car.
Roadrunner

Ford seem to have dropped the ball when it comes to interiors.  The awful Mondeo cabin is almost a deal breaker for me.
woof woof

Being curious I looked...




Jesus.
"him"

This is more like it...



Not sure how well it would sell these days though?
Blarno

If it wasn't brown, that would be great. Simple and effective.
gonnabuildabuggy

in theory right now it would sell pretty well - MK2 Sports go for around £3-£4K so that means about 100% retained value over 30 yrs.

Of cours a Ghia interior is far classier    this a MK2 Ghia like the one I had when I was 18 - happy days.




and the outside whilst we are at it. I sold mine for about £1300 I think so perhaps I should have kept it to double my money (this ones up at £2,500).




and the joy that is a 1600cc Kent with twin choke weber.


Blarno

There was an absolutely mint bronze Mk1 1300E at the MOT centre today. I wish I'd got some pictures, but I was too busy trying to get Jo's Vectra to pass it's emissions test.
gonnabuildabuggy

Nice cars - MK1 1300E's were rare even when I was younger, most had rotted away nicely.

Hope the emissions was passed - usually an Italian tune up does the trick!
PG

The MkII Cortina 1600E was the pinnacle of Ford interior design. If you don't like wood in your cars, look away now.......




Blarno

Nope, failed for the 3rd time. CO is way too high at fast idle. It's had super unleaded, methanol and injector cleaner through it, a damn good redlining and even a new coolant temp sensor (which is apparently part of the injection circuit on Vauxhalls).

Pass is 0.2 and it's running at 0.51.

Me? Stumped.
Bob Sacramento

The marketeers are spot on, we're just off the pace.

"Funky" has gone all round the block and is hip again in a post-industrial ironic way..
simonp

woof woof wrote:
Being curious I looked...




Jesus.


Hmm. I was looking at Mondeos the other day and quickly switched to the Insignia as soon as I got a gawp at the dash. Who thought silver plastic was a good idea?
TimR

simonp wrote:
woof woof wrote:
Being curious I looked...




Jesus.


Hmm. I was looking at Mondeos the other day and quickly switched to the Insignia as soon as I got a gawp at the dash. Who thought silver plastic was a good idea?


That a bit of a 'dropped ball' then because I remember being impressed that my inlaws Focus C-Max basic had real metal on the steering wheel spokes when my newer, more expensive Alfa had silver plastic.
simonp

Maybe it is metal, but it looks like plastic, thus defeating the object of having the metal in the first place. Looks like an 80s Amstrad stack system!

And what are the 2 triangular bits either side of the (shit looking) stereo for?
Matt

Depending on RHD or LHD, the one nearer the driver houses the Start button on ritzier models.
"him"

Matt wrote:
Depending on RHD or LHD, the one nearer the driver houses the Start button on ritzier models.


Martin

simonp wrote:
woof woof wrote:
Being curious I looked...




Jesus.


Hmm. I was looking at Mondeos the other day and quickly switched to the Insignia as soon as I got a gawp at the dash. Who thought silver plastic was a good idea?


Silver plastic might look crap when used in that quantity (and that style), but it's better than the wood option!!



The Insignia is much nicer inside, but I still prefer the Passat even though it's older than both of them.
Pkh72

I can't stand people calling something funky.
It's the same as somebody calling themselves wacky or zaney. No you're not wacky or zaney, you're a cunt and nobody likes you.

Blarno

It's not funky unless it has a big Afro, tight kecks and a chest wig.

PG

simonp wrote:
Maybe it is metal, but it looks like plastic, thus defeating the object of having the metal in the first place. Looks like an 80s Amstrad stack system!

And what are the 2 triangular bits either side of the (shit looking) stereo for?


In a Titanium the central section is real (but incredibly thin - none of your machined from a single billet of aluminium thanks) metal, but the bits on the steering wheel still looked like plastic. On the rest of the range it is all plastic.

Actually Martin I think I'd take the wood option  

TimR

The centre console facing on Alfa Breras is made from real metal too but although it does look like metal it's somehow bland.
Maybe I've grown so used to fake elephant skin print moulded plastic dashboards that a piece of flat real metal doesn't move me
cbeaks1

I prefer the ambience provided by real elephant skin.
Martin

PG wrote:
simonp wrote:
Maybe it is metal, but it looks like plastic, thus defeating the object of having the metal in the first place. Looks like an 80s Amstrad stack system!

And what are the 2 triangular bits either side of the (shit looking) stereo for?


In a Titanium the central section is real (but incredibly thin - none of your machined from a single billet of aluminium thanks) metal, but the bits on the steering wheel still looked like plastic. On the rest of the range it is all plastic.

Actually Martin I think I'd take the wood option  



Then that picture obviously doesn't convey how awful the plastic wood is!!
DarthBalls



That is what 'funky' looks like.

Remember, you can't fake the funk or your nose gotsta grow.
gonnabuildabuggy

Martin wrote:



The Insignia is much nicer inside, but I still prefer the Passat even though it's older than both of them.


I prefer the Cortina, that's 4x older than all of them added together
Humphrey The Pug

I have driven many modern Ford's on Renault launches and yes they indeed drive very well but the interiors are truly shocking to look at and the build quality is distinctly average at best.

The new Fiesta is getting there in quality terms but having a go in an Enterprise one a few weeks back there were many downsides to the overly styled and fussy dash design:

Why do you need a seperate button for each of AUX, CD, Radio, Phone and Menu when one button can scroll through the lot?

The indicator on the central heater rotary knob, the one that indicates where the air is being directed, is barely visible to the driver it's so small.

The elecric window switches on the drivers door card are so set so far back that you need to have a double jointed wrist to operate them comfortably.

Progress I guess.
gonnabuildabuggy

Interesting point re progress - there aren;t many dashboards that beat my E36 in usability terms IMHO.

No steering wheel remotes needed, the radio buttons are as close to hand as the wheel thanks to the "cockpit" design style.

Re the sep buttons for CD/Aux/Etc, my pref is seperate as scrolling usually pulls your eyes of the road but the rest seems to be going backwards.

Mind you, who remembers when Ford stereos required matchsticks for fingers?
Humphrey The Pug

My E30 had a fantastic dash, simple, angled slightly towards the driver, brilliant.

The main advance to me on dashboard design or interior dash usability are the remote controls on a seperate stalk behind the steering wheel, all operated by a couple of fingers that are already in that area.
Matt

The E36 interior with E46-level quality would be an absolute peach.
gonnabuildabuggy

Humphrey The Pug wrote:
My E30 had a fantastic dash, simple, angled slightly towards the driver, brilliant.

The main advance to me on dashboard design or interior dash usability are the remote controls on a seperate stalk behind the steering wheel, all operated by a couple of fingers that are already in that area.


Ditto the E36 re angling, upto the E39 all BMW's had that then they went away for the E46 for some reason.

My Peugeot 405 had the stalk which was a lot easier in many ways than the wheel controls widely used nowadays.

Matt wrote:
The E36 interior with E46-level quality would be an absolute peach.


I'm not convinced the E46 is that much better...when I first had an E36 I chose it over an E46 (albeit I really needed an estate so the E36 fitted my needs better), slightly softer touch controls but not a lot better - and those wear worse - my "courtesy car" when my BMW is serviced is a 150K mile E46 and my 170K mile E36 has worn better.
Roadrunner

TimR wrote:
simonp wrote:
woof woof wrote:
Being curious I looked...




Jesus.


Hmm. I was looking at Mondeos the other day and quickly switched to the Insignia as soon as I got a gawp at the dash. Who thought silver plastic was a good idea?


That a bit of a 'dropped ball' then because I remember being impressed that my inlaws Focus C-Max basic had real metal on the steering wheel spokes when my newer, more expensive Alfa had silver plastic.


My basic Mondeo has silver plastic everywhere, except for the steering wheel inserts which do feel like metal.  The silver plastic is inserted into a dash and door cards made of hard, scratchy plastic.  Nice...
Martin

gonnabuildabuggy wrote:

I prefer the Cortina, that's 4x older than all of them added together


Yes, but you are just weird  

The 1 series has a centre console that's angled towards the driver, so it's not completely gone.   The 5 series is very driver focussed, hardly any buttons at all!  You can also change everything without moving your hand from the one place and with the latest idrive, you get the separate buttons fro phone, Nav, Aux etc

You also get the 8 quick access buttons, which are very cool because you only have to put your finger close to the button and the function you've assigned to it comes up on the screen before you're pressed the button and therefore selected the option.
gonnabuildabuggy

For some reason the 1 (smaller so more "wrapped around" the driver?) and 5 (quality post facelift) seem better than E90 3 by a long way.
Martin

gonnabuildabuggy wrote:
For some reason the 1 (smaller so more "wrapped around" the driver?) and 5 (quality post facelift) seem better than E90 3 by a long way.


Can't sleep?!

The centre console is angled slightly towards the drive on the 1 series, I don't think it's because it's smaller.  It is fully because 6 months ago I would have been delighted with an E90 320d, but having had the choice of the 5 with it's nicer and (much) higher quality interior, the 3 series wasn't really an option any more.

It's a shame in a way, because a 330d would have been a mighty car.

I will have to wait until next time and the new 3 series is out!
Blarno

Wood is a building material, it has no place in a car as decoration.
Humphrey The Pug

Blarno wrote:
Wood is a building material, it has no place in a car as decoration.


I disagree, done well it looks fantastic, Bentley's, Rolls', Jag XJ, etc.
Martin

I would have agreed with you Blarno, but I didn't like the std aluminium option in mine, the bamboo looks great in comparison. I like piano black, but the black option on the 5 is painted plastic unless you spend a fortune on the Individual option.

I still hate light wood and shiny wood in cars though.
TimR

Martin wrote:
You also get the 8 quick access buttons, which are very cool because you only have to put your finger close to the button and the function you've assigned to it comes up on the screen before you're pressed the button and therefore selected the option.


That could be a bit alarming if you're hands are a blur during one of those many 'Dab of Oppo' Queef moments and the radio suddenly changes to a dramatically different channel or your hand passes near the traction control on/off button
Martin

The buttons aren't next to the steering wheel.....!!
TimR

I assumed they were on the spokes.....





.....or that in your Queef moments you flap your hands round like a non-swimmer in the deep end
Martin

That's entirely possible, it must be down to all the power.......!!
Dr. Hfuhruhurr

Martin wrote:
I still hate light wood and shiny wood in cars though.

Great quote from photographer Stan Papior in last week's Autocar, discussing the wood trim in his Lexus long termer: "I saw a tree the other day; it didn't look like this".
Grampa

PG wrote:
The MkII Cortina 1600E was the pinnacle of Ford interior design. If you don't like wood in your cars, look away now.......


Ford interiors were so much nicer in the late sixties and seventies - simplicity of the Escorts, even the fake wood of the Mk1 XL models had a kind of charm to it, the 1600E already shown, Mk1 Capri, Mk2 Capri especially the Ghia, Granada Mk1 etc - what went wrong?
gonnabuildabuggy

Grampa wrote:
PG wrote:
The MkII Cortina 1600E was the pinnacle of Ford interior design. If you don't like wood in your cars, look away now.......


Ford interiors were so much nicer in the late sixties and seventies - simplicity of the Escorts, even the fake wood of the Mk1 XL models had a kind of charm to it, the 1600E already shown, Mk1 Capri, Mk2 Capri especially the Ghia, Granada Mk1 etc - what went wrong?


They tried to hard to be funky?

Whereas everything in the 70's was funky, full stop.
Roadrunner

While we are on the subject of Fords,    and    at this:

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C110772/
gonnabuildabuggy

There are quite a few of these about. When I did Santa Pod a few yrs ago there was a gorgeous cossie engined MK1 running that was perfectly detailed in the engine bay and stripped but 100% immaculate (resprayed shell) interior wise.
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