So, today I may be starting the process of buying a car. Specifically, a citrus (greenish-yellow) 2004 Ford Territory. I pretty much know nothing about cars, especially this kind (given I pretty much hated them until the other day when I sat in one and realized it's probably the best kind of car for me!), so I need your help.
Tell me about yours. Your friend's. Whoever you know that owns one. Tell me everything you can think of. Is it easy to drive? How much would I be spending on petrol per week? Is it a safe car? Am I crazy for wanting this? And most importantly - IS THE CITRUS COLOUR PRETTY ENOUGH?
And what if I decide I don't want it? What other kind of similar car might I like instead? Tell me about that.
ETA: I just looked at it again, and the licence plate is TAC***. Obviously, that stands for Teni's Awesome Car.
ETA2: The numbers after the TAC add up to my favourite/lucky number. It seems this car is destined to be mine
Last edited by TeniBear; October 24th, 2011 at 11:29 PM.
Friends of ours had a Territory and hated it they had a 2007 model and said it was gutless and lacked power. They sold it for a Lexsus 4wd LOL.
We have a Captiva 2010 and love it, it is a Diesel motor and gets much better millage than petrol equivelent. I love it because it is high and comfy and then off course all the cool extra features etc.
1 thing that was said to me about a non standard colour (eg silver, black, red, white) is that you get bored or put off by colour rather quickly but most likely wont happen for everyone if you like it go for it!
DP is a ford man but even he said he wouldn't buy a territory, he's not a fan at all and I've only heard bad things.
We bought a Toyota kluger, not too bad on petrol but would be better in diesel which are hard to find.
On my phone but will try and give more info in the morning.
Sent from my iPhone, more than likely while I should be doing something else!
We would have 6 friends all with Territories and they all love them! We had DH' dads territory gia here for a couple of months and while it was the turbo and has all the bells and whistles I wouldn't buy one. I felt to big on the road compared to my Holden wagon and thee definatly wasn't nearly as much room as my wagon.
Each to their own though! We would all be boring if we only liked the same things!
We have a Toyota kluger just in case you wanted to look at something similar. BEST. CAR. EVER. Only bad thing is that the tow bar sticks out a bit and I've banged my shin a couple of times. It's such a great family car!
when we were looking at a territory a few years back (2006) our friend, who is a mechanic, told me he'd kick my backside if i bought one, as the models released to that point had been somewhat problematic. after that, i'm not sure what they've been like
we compared (redbook) the stats on the territory and the santa fe (hyundai) we ended up buying - the santa fe was heaps cheaper, more powerful, more economical, a little more roomy, cheaper to service - and looks better (IMO!).
i'd suggest talking to a mechanic (a non-ford biased one) that will give you feedback on the specific year you're looking at. i know for the santa fe, anything before may 06 model is rather gutless - they changed the engine from may 06 and they've been fantastic, including adding a diesel version in september 06.
also, for any second hand car, don't go just on the km's it's driven as an indicator of how much a car has been used - city km's and country km's are very different. our care has done 120000 since we bought it five years ago, but they're all country km's - always getting up to operating temp cos all our trips are long. city km's don't necessarily reach operating temp so can be more detrimental to a car at lower km count kwim?
We have a Territory (2010), we looked at Kluger, Santa Fe, Captiva and the Kia that was similar Sorento I think? and the Kia Carnival.
We chose the Territory for the reasons:
Better view outside the side windows and back window
Good boot space
Liked the way it drived better than the others.
Cheaper than all of them but the Captiva
We didnt like Kluger at all as the middle seat is 1/2 the side of the other two seats, have a look at one, We just couldnt work out how to fit 3 kids across there in carseats as the middle was smaller and the back 3rd row doesnt have anchor points so that option was out for me.
I spend $90 on petrol and that lasts me 2 weeks, I used to have a mazda 3 which was cheaper on petrol so fortnightly I am up about $25.
I love driving it we went on a holiday and it was awesome to drive.
Same as BG, we went with the Santa Fe over the territory even though I really wanted one. It just didn't compare, the Santa Fe ticked all the boxes, although the newer model has improved. The biggest drawback was the third row didn't fold down in two sections which meant you couldnt fit the pram in too easily.
The Dodge Journey is another option. People rave when they get in our car. They say it feels so comfortable (And this is in the back seats too!). It drives so smoothly. We love it Never had a problem with it, and it feels slightly more luxurious than the other SUV's around.
I have a 2004 model territory and I looove it!!! Easy to park, lovely to drive!! Two seats fit great in the back, easy to get the kids in and out- room for a third seat if needed- easy access to the rear for the pram and shopping. It feels like a smaller car to drive, but has all the extra room!! And our has grunt!! No problems there at all!! And it isn't terrible on fuel.. its not fantastic, but its not terrible
The problems that I think BG is referring to is that in some models they had a tiny issue with the entire engine falling out or something silly like that :P No seriously, pretty serious.... and very true. I think it was from the 2005-2008 models where they tried to improve things or something, but when we researched the 2004 models were ok
We love our car. It is in need of a bit of TLC at the moment though- so depending on the KM's on the car and the condition and what you are planning on paying for it, i would say go for it!! And if you have managed to find the one in the colour you want, I say it is meant to be!!!!
Last edited by ~StarBright~; October 25th, 2011 at 12:07 PM.
I have an 04 Territory and it's great. Plenty of room in the car, big boot (we have the 5 seater). It parks and drives like a car. It tows well and loves highway driving. If we were to get rid of it, it would only be to upgrade to the new diesel model. I doubt I'll ever have another style car.
We took ours to a Ford dealer when we were in the process of buying it to make sure it was mechanically sound. It was a rep's car so we were wary. The ball joints can go and that's expensive, so make sure they've already been done. Ford will also be able to tell you if the recall work has been done too - if it hasn't, they'll do it. Petrol is a bit rough, it's a 75 litre tank and we get about 500 ks of everyday driving out of it.
I can't fault it. There is a stack of them on the road and I know a few people that own one and they love it too. Last service cost me about $300 and tyres cost me $179 each. We've had two carseats in the back with plenty of room remaining and we've had our high chair and three wheeler pram together in the boot with room for more.
We had a 2007 Territory for two years and we're definitely not fans. The car felt "cheap". All the plastic seals seemed to shrink so there was noisy airflow in the car and it also just didn't have the "grunt" that you'd want from a big car. It felt quite heavy when driving it.
In comparison, we now have the 2011 Kia Grand Carnival, and despite it being much bigger than a Territory (just ask Feeb, she saw mine today, lol) it drives smoothly and effortlessly and that makes it feel like a smaller car.
I guess what it will come down to is what you want the car for? It doesn't look like you need it as a people mover just yet (unlike us. We have six of us to fit in already and one on the way). We needed something as big as the Grand Carnival because the three youngest will be in baby/booster seats, and the two older DSS's are getting big (11 and 14). The back two seats in the Territory are basically useless for anyone older than around 10 (and even 10 would be uncomfortable). The leg room is basically non-existent back there. But if you're not planning on putting anyone back there and just using it as boot space, then there's no problem.
Petrol wise, well it's definitely going to take a lot more than a little car, but I can't comment too much because our car was on a novated lease plan and petrol was covered with the plan so I never really took much notice of how economic it was.
The citrus colour is quite nice though Ours was a really dark (almost black) colour that was all metallic so it would shine different colours in the sun.
The Territory was in the mix when I was looking back in 2006. Also looked at the Captiva, Kluger, BMW X5 and Volvo XC90. I ended up with the Honda MDX - was my first choice. They don't import them here anymore but there are some secondhand ones around. Bigger internally than most of the other SUVs, great visibility, really nice to drive and really luxuriously fitted out. I went from driving a Mazda MX5 to the MDX so it was a bit of a difference size wise, but you don't feel like you're driving a truck and parking is easy once you adjust to the size. Economy wise its pretty good as far as these things go and the 7 seats are really handy even if you don't need them for your own family - its great to be able to have the kids and grandparents all in the car together so we don't have to go in convoy. Also has a 5 star safety rating which I value pretty highly.
Talk to me about Ford Territories and similar.
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Never had a problem with it, and it feels slightly more luxurious than the other SUV's around.
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