Bye Bye Ford Mondeo...

A great deal has happened since the last post... The new tyres were great, but then the car started making a squeaky/whining noise (the alternator was starting to go). There was about 4 months wait for the alternator to come from the other side of the planet (apparently Ford Australia didn't have a genuine one in the country!!) At the same time they changed the alternator, they found the power steering reservoir was starting to go, so that got replaced as well. Coming up to late 2012, we started thinking of getting a new car to replace it. We looked at the Kuga (The kids absolutely loved the Titanium with the full glass roof, back seat trays and higher seating position). Unfortunately, there was none at a reasonable price, and with the new model Kuga coming out, it didn't make economic sense to consider buying one. For me, it ticked most of the boxes with the exception of the automatic gearbox. I want a manual and I simply didn't want to compromise on that. Ford lost a customer when they decided that they were not interested in bringing in a top-spec new generation Kuga in manual. Ford did not want me as a repeat customer when they decided not to bring in another Mondeo with a manual gearbox. The Focus ST is nice, but too small for my needs. Sorry Ford (Australia) - your marketing department scores a big fat fail. Going to fully importer status won't change much. I've now sold the Mondeo and moved on. Thanks Ford, but you don't show that you know how to look after your existing customers by providing an upgrade path....