USED Ford Galaxy MPV (06 - )

My car

Early 2010 I had a rental Galaxy diesel 2.0 Ghia & loved it. Great cabin, DAB & Bluetooth, averaged 42mpg etc It convinced me to buy a Galaxy. By then the models had been replaced, instead of 2.0 Ghia they offered the 2.0 Titanium X. Apparently the new engine is more efficient, lower CO2, higher BHP and improved MPG. Ford claim this within all the marketing bumf. I was suckered in, & I bought a new (June 2010) Galaxy Titanium X diesel 2.0 & stuffed it with options. It is fine except that I cannot for the life of me get more than 36 to 37 MPG out of it! The economy has gone backwards rather than forward as they promote! A steady 55Mph in top gear on a level motorway would give me 45 to 47 mpg in the old model. This new model returns 37MPG tops! That is 10 mpg less than the old model. How can this be? I’ve had the dealer check the car out & they say the computer says there is nothing wrong with it. 10 mpg LESS than the older, less efficient model! No support from Ford! BUYER BEWARE! The published MPG stats for this model are wildly inaccurate (by over 10 mpg on average). Also, with this £32,000 car I got no tonnueau cover (covers the luggage area from view) which was standard on the old model – you need to be aware of this tight-fisted omission if you carry anything attractive or valuable in the boot it will be on view. Drives fine & is comfortable & well equipped, but I feel duped & deceived by the wildly exaggerated MPG. The lost 10 miles every gallon will cost a fortune!

My car

We got our 57 plate galaxy to replace our depreciating Espace. We instantly liked the improved space, but we had downsized the engine from a 1.9 dci in the renault to a 1.8 tdci in the ford. This quickly revealed itself as a problem, since the car struggles and stalls whenever it pulls away from a junction unless the junction is perfectly flat. The drive is less car-like and heavier than the espace but the interior space is fantastic, and the clever seat folding system is useful too (although seat comfort does suffer) especially considering the heavy individual seats of the espace.

We recently considered going back to an espace (this time a grand espace model) after around 2 months of ownership out of sheer frustration at the lack of power it provides but reconsidered due to the fact we will no longer need a car of this size in a year or so.

I urge you not to buy a 1.8 galaxy but a more powerful model, or if you are looking for a large mpv, i'd still go for the fantastic espace and grand espace range, which also come with a spare tyre!

My car

I've now put 60k on a 2008 Ford Galaxy 2.0 TDCi Edge. Other than a bulb and some loose interior trim, nothing has gone wrong. MPG is around 42, which includes occasionally towing a fairly heavy caravan. It is a large vehicle so parking takes care, and it's more suited to a relaxed rather than press on driving style. Having said that, I find the driving position comfortable and it's a good long distance cruiser. Down sides - as others have said, the interior trim feels a bit low rent. It also seems to need disks replacing almost like brake pads, I had the disks changed at 30k and now its done 60k I think it'll soon need them again. But the flexible seating is fantastic, I tend to use the car mainly as a 5 seater and leave the rear two seats folded into the floor. This gives a van sized boot, which is great for carrying all our camping bits and pieces. Overall, while there are clearly cheaper cars to run than a full sized MPV, for anyone who really needs such a big vehicle it is very capable, seems reliable, and I'll most likely buy another one.

My car

Purchased a Ghia X back in 2008 after looking at several alternatives. From a space point of view nothing comes close, but I hate to say it, mine too pulls dangerously to the left. The car is now 1yr old, and has been back to the dealer 3 times purely for this issue. The standard response from the dealer is "all cars pull to the left" i.e. because of the road camber, but never have I experienced anything like this. Anyway, the dealer finally accepted somthing is wrong and kindly replaced the tyres and checked the tracking/geometry of the vehicle - but to no avail. So, having read some of the other reviews on this site it does indeed look like there could be an issue with this car. Sadly, this is very unfortunate, as the car could be really really good, but for £28,000 I don't think it is much to ask for it to go in a straight line, do you?