A lot of bang for your buck (Ford Galaxy Ghia 2.3)

Member Name: MJohnO

Product:	Ford Galaxy Ghia 2.3
Date:	06/11/09 (12 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent engine, smooth cruise, practical, lots of equipment

Disadvantages: Fuel consumption, known quality issues.

I'll put this in context to begin with. This car is an addition to my family, acting as a pseudo camper van for days out, due to its swivelling front seats and plenty of space and cubby holes. It also doubles as a tow car for our caravan.

Budget dictated that this car had to be a Ford Galaxy. That and Renault Espaces not really being to my taste (no offence intended to satisfied Espace owners). After a short search which revealed a lot of tired, high mileage examples, I stumbled across ours, a 2002 Ghia with 70,000 warranted mileage, two previous owners and a full service history. Cost? Just under £4,000. Good ones are out there if you shop around a bit. And remember, if it's a petrol, it's extremely unlikely to have ever been used as a taxi!

I have to admit I like this car - a lot. It's a Ghia so it's loaded with kit, including air con, alloy wheels, cruise control, computer, CD interchanger, and of course the seven seats. I do feel quite posh when I'm driving it (probably slightly sad but I don't care).

Mine is a petrol engine model. I'm not going to go into the petrol or diesel argument - ultimately this is down to personal choice. But if you do go for a petrol make sure you go for a 2.3. The engine is a cracker! I've driven a lot of cars over the years and I can honestly say I can't believe a four cylinder engine could be so smooth. It's a delight, with a good spread of torque across the rev range - handy for towing. Also it has chain driven camshafts, so no expensive cam belt changes!

Fuel consumption? It's not the lightest in the world, but the engine is lugging quite a big car around. However with sensible driving you should be able to average the low 30s per gallon. It does dip a bit around town, though. A petrol engine in a car of this size is never going to be as fuel efficient as a diesel and I think you just have to accept that. If fuel consumption is the most important thing for you, go for a diesel.

To drive, it's an absolute peach. Especially on motorways. The high driving postion plus the smooth petrol engine makes for a very relaxed cruise. I've never done this myself (and I never will) but you do get the feeling this car would cruise comfortably at 100 mph all day if asked to do so - but you'd probably need to go to Germany to do that.

Noting's gone wrong with mine so far and it's just been serviced/MOT'd with no trouble. Thankfully Fords are quite cheap to fix and run expecially if you use a trusted independent garage. Expect to pay around £160 for a fuill service on the 2.3 which is pretty good actually. You shouldn't find the insurance too salty either as these aren't really classed as high risk vehicles.

I think I've got quite a good one but I know Galaxys have their weak points. The biggest one is the air con. If you buy one secondhand you must check that this works and blows nice and cold, otherwise you could be setting yourself up for frequent and expensive regasses.

Practically this car is great. It has seven seats, although as we have two kids, we never use the back two seats. The one disadvantage is that you have to take the seats out if you want the space and store them somewhere, and they are very heavy to lift in and out. But if you can find the space to store them, then this shouldn't be a big deal.

So to sum up, Series 2 Galaxys are extremely good value for money if you can find a good one. As the title of this review suggests, I can't believe I've got as much as I have for the money- and that engine!!! Happy hunting.

Summary: A fantastic car for the money

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