Hi folks,
Any help and advice would be appreciated. I'm currently looking for a new used car to run into the ground as my 8 year old petrol Mondeo finally starts to give up the ghost and look like costing pots of money to fix.
My run is a bit of a killer. It takes me over some very bad roads, plenty of potholes, corners and steep hills. Almost every part of the Mondeo's suspension has been replaced at least once in the 18 months I've been doing the journey. It's a fairly long one as well and I'd say I average between 100 and 130 miles a day depending on which roads are closed on a given day; currently this costs in the region of £70-80 a week just in petrol -- I dread to think what it cost in tyres, suspension parts and servicing.
My thinking is that a solidish diesel may even pay for itself. The more miles to the gallon it does the more marked the savings I make, given the number of miles I do. Just to give you an idea of the way my mind's been working, I've been looking at a low mileage 1.4 TDi Ford Fusion amongst other things, not the most fun or glamorous vehicle admittedly but cheap servicing and excellent fuel economy. Other thoughts were a Rover 75 with the BMW diesel engine or a Skoda diesel.
I've got a budget to 7k, which I'd be looking to pay back in 3 years, so the vehicle would need to last that long if it cost the full amount. I'd be interested in hearing people's suggestions, either along similar lines or, if you think I'm approaching things from the wrong angle, from a completely different perspective.
It would be really useful just to get some fresh ideas.
Thanks
H
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have you done the sums for keeping your mondeo. or is it too far gone.
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Well the last batch of suspension related issues cost £700, this batch feels like drive shaft and brushes and the clutch is slipping. Fuel economy seems to be getting worse as well. It's done 107k but it now feels like a moneypit, £320 a month seems a lot to fuel a car that is in almost permanent need of repairs.
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Is train a viable option? Just wondering...
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Hi Hector - I might approach your problem slightly differently. Have you considered something like a well cared for diesel Xantia ? Thinking being - Purchase price a fraction of your available budget. Wafty suspension. Generally pretty reliable and more the size you are used to ?
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sorry don't mean to be offensive but bluntly are you insane?
a new car is going to suffer the same damage from the bad roads as much as an old car and then cost more in repairs due to more expensive parts etc. a move to a diesel sounds a sensible option but id be looking for something like a mk2 mondeo turbo diesel etc. (maybe not the mondeo as iirc it is an engine out clutch change which may need doing soonish but you get the idea) then put the savings on fuel away to cover repairs.
chris
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Have you cosidered a Landrover Defender? They are very tough, but are not very nice to drive.
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130 miles per day in a Defender....????!!! Are you trying to kill OP off early? ;)
Seriously, OP, if you're in the habit of spending the best part of £1000 for repairs, what about spending £700 on a French diesel with squidgy suspension? Chances are it will do you 20,000 miles without costing you anything - and you can have ten cars like this over the next three years for your budget. Why French? well they're traditionally built for poor roads.
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Sorry, I missed the 130 mile a day bit. A defender is more suitable for 130 miles a year.
On our ZX the suspension was worn out very quickly. It is the only car I have had that failed it's first MOT.
My new advice is to get a tough 4X4. You know the makes.
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>movilogo
>>Is train a viable option? Just wondering...
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I wish. Costs about the same, turns a 3-4 hour daily commute into a 5-6 hour one.
>shoespy
>>Hi Hector - I might approach your problem slightly differently. Have you considered >>something like a well cared for diesel Xantia ? Thinking being - Purchase price a >>fraction of your available budget. Wafty suspension. Generally pretty reliable and >>more the size you are used to ?
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I like your thinking. I?ll have a look.
>thomp1983
>>sorry don't mean to be offensive but bluntly are you insane?
>>
>>a new car is going to suffer the same damage from the bad roads as much as an old >>car and then cost more in repairs due to more expensive parts etc. a move to a >>diesel sounds a sensible option but id be looking for something like a mk2 mondeo >>turbo diesel etc. (maybe not the mondeo as iirc it is an engine out clutch change >>which may need doing soonish but you get the idea) then put the savings on fuel >>away to cover repairs.
>>
>>chris
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I'm not offended Chris, thanks for taking the time to reply. I dunno if I'm insane but I'm rubbish at buying cars. Rabbit in headlights. How many miles were you thinking on the Mondeo? I was really aproaching this from the angle of turning 30mpg into 60ish, thus saving around £160 a month on fuel, I also thought I might make some savings on repairs by getting a newer car, particularly as I'd been led to believe that Mondeos were particularly prone to suspension issues.
Thanks Mapmaker and Quizman. I'll look into French diesels but not the Landrover Defender ;) , to be honest I'd not considered 4x4s due to pre-conceived ideas about running costs; fuel, tax, insurance, tyres, parts etc.
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A 4x4 won't fill the bill. For that sort of commute on roughish roads (but not cross country), good fuel economy and bareable comfort, imho I reckon you need a Skoda Octavia diesel. Their economy/reliability is excellent - my mate has an estate - now at 145k miles - and it purrs like a kitten (well, ok). It averages just over 60mpg.
The only thing I can't vouch for is the strength of the suspension, though I'm sure it must be better than a Mondeo (I know, I've had to replace suspension parts on mine).
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Re potholes and suspension damage. Warranty Direct have checked repair costs: guess which vehicle has the greatest claims? Not mimsy little runarounds but rugged hairy chested Jeep. 95% of use on road. Not just dimensionally challenged then. Should make drivers use 2 wheels first: then they might not drive directly into pools of water and holes in the road.
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well i used to commute 250 miles each day & used a 2.0tdci & used to get 48ish & sometimes used my wifes 1.4tdci fiesta & used to get 53 mpg. the fiesta was fine but a little noisy if you had a hard day. Mine was all motorway . Fiesta good on country routes as well because it was so flexible it didn't need lots of gear changes.I have to say the Fiesta was refreshing and has been 100% reliable after our peugeot 206 HDI which spent most of its time at the dealer with severe electrical faults. We now have 1.6 tdci fiesta Ztec much much quieter & loads of zoom It is quite remarkable & I'm happy to use it all the time. 1.6 still low on insurance & get 57mpg local & 48-52 on long fast motorway runs. 1.6 also in low road tax cat as well £35 year!
Rover 75 will beak the bank if it goes wrong & thats if your garage can find out whats wrong & you could end up waiting for parts. Nice car & should be reliable but electrics too advanced for there time which can let them down & sluggish on performance for modern diesel.
It may be worth considering a Xantia as they were always an underated car, good economey plenty zip. Buy one cheap & spend some money running it.
You can't knock a Skoda apart from the roomster!
Doc
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if not a mondeo again something like a resonable mileage (early 100k) audi a4 tdi could do the job? i loved mine to bits and regularly got 48mpg with spirited driving and had no trouble with it at all, they can be had for between 1-2k now and would happily serve for up to 3 or 4 years with routine maintenance
chris
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I have to say that I think the Ford Fusion is an abomination of an ugly vehicle.
However, I did have one as a company car for a while and would say:-
-It handled pretty well as it had a Fiesta chasis (mine also had a 1.6 petrol engine!)
-It was spacious
-It was well equipped (Fusion 2 spec)
-It was comfortable
-I managed to bounce it all the way to the top of Tunstall Hill in Sunderland to watch bonfire night one year without even a hint of difficulty (the only way that I can describe the track up there is worse than third world)
-Nothing dropped off despite it getting royaly abused every single day that it was in my tender loving care.
-The storage space was amazing for a car of it's size, I was impressed with the secret seat compartment.
So, if you don't mind driving something that's quite frankly pig ugly, I would recommend the Fusion, it's a damn good little car.
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if not a mondeo again something like a resonable mileage (early 100k) audi a4 tdi could do the job?
I am an Audi fan and am on my second A4, however, I would wager that an A4 for £1K-£2K could get very expensive to run. A4's are a relatively complex and non-diy centric car, and at that sort of age and price could be financially messy..
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Skoda Superb Comfort 1.9 (130bhp) or Octavia Ambiente 1.9 (105bhp I think) diesels.
(the latter with estate option too)
2004-5 (54 to 55)car at your price point, dependent upon mileage.
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"if not a mondeo again something like a resonable mileage (early 100k) audi a4 tdi could do the job?"
An early 100k A4 would be just about ready for a suspension overhaul, and we all know how complicated the front setup is on one of these (same as the Passat).
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Skoda Octavia (last of the old shape) PD 130 - 50mpg easily, and reasonably comfy.
As a Golf PD 150 driver doing a 110mile commute daily, they are the engine for me. Some may say they are unrefined and noisy, but so far (fingers crossed) mine hasn't missed a beat in the 4.5 months and 14K that I've had it.... Admittedly its only got 121,500 on the clock, so is barely run in.
I would suggest that you look at your local private hire taxi fleet - these should tell you the cars that will last and be cheap to run.....
I would guess at the following:-
Vectra DTI
Passat TD - 130 (been in one of these with 330K on the clock)
Toyota Avensis
Other thoughts
Audi A6?? They depreciate worse (or should that be better for the buyer?) than the A4
Your other option is a Hyundai with a 5year unlimited mileage warranty.
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Judging by what's driven on (and survives) the battered backroads of Ireland, may I suggest:
1) Toyota. Anything from a Corolla up - new models are road-tested around Clifden in Galway to ensure they can survive serious potholes. But that sturdy suspension doesn't necessarily make them the most comfortable. Local taxi drivers love them.
2) Skoda Superb or Octavia. Also seem durable (though see other posters' comments on repairts to the Passat platform suspension), and 50+ mpg attainable from the 1.9 TDI. And if an Irish cab isn't a Toyota, its a Skoda.
3) Citroen XM/Xantia/C5 or Peugeot 405/406. Should be big enough to take a battering, cheap second-hand, soft ride, lots of older 405s and 406s still survive here.
Hyundai not a bad idea (second hand Sonata or equivalent Kia?) but wouldn't wear and tear be excluded from the warranty?
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Have you thought of a new / different house! Depending on how long it is to retirement, it may save you 1] bucket-loads of money, 2] add 10 years to your own life.
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Can you make life a bit easier - my DiL commutes and works 4 x 9.25 hours per week rather than 5 x 7.2 hours - saves 20% of her petrol money and 20% wear and tear on car + her health.
Not as good as moving nearer to work but as Tesco would say - every little helps
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Don't bother with the Fusion 1.4 diesel. It's probably the worst diesel I have driven in many years. Worse probably than the old Mondeo 1.8TD lump. Refinement and performance were dreadful. Fuel economy might be good, but there is only so much rubbish it's worth putting up with to keep costs down!
The Fusion itself is okay, nothing to get too excited about.
I would look to the many good suggestions on here.
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Have you thought of a new / different house!
A lot of people, who are contracting in my office, are on same boat. They now stay in a B&B (or similar) between Mon-Thu and travel home in weekends.
Few others commute daily, but they do car share. So, don't have to drive everyday.
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The problem with commuting like this is that you want to live in a nice house, but there are no jobs where the nice houses are so you spend a couple of hours a day travelling 110 miles (in my case - South Shropshire to Coventry, managing an average speed of 55mph on the way and 40mph on the way home)
The Golf does cope rather well with the journey though...
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The problem with commuting like this is that you want to live in a nice house but there are no jobs where the nice houses are so you spend a couple of hours a day travelling 110 miles
When I read this, the words 'nail' and 'head' came to mind if know what I mean.
I work for a largish company which is almost entirely staffed by supercommuters who like the money in the southeast, but want to live in the cheap North or Midlands.
I can think of about 10 colleagues without trying at all hard, who commute 160+ miles almost every day.
No newspaper journalist or politician ever seems to want to understand that this is why the UK is like it is, with regard to traffic congestion.
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Yes, I do 130 mile round trip in my lovely green Vectra, living on the edge of the New Forest and working in Farnborough, and that's about the limit of what I can cope with in terms of travel time.
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Roly93 - its not the cheapness, for me its wanting to live in the countryside. Where we live there are 2000 people, 2 butchers, a grocers, a post office, 8 pubs, a primary school, a high school and a sports centre. Oh, and there are fields and animals etc...
Sorry for hijacking this thread!
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>>Where we live there are 2000 people ..... school, a high school and a sports centre. Oh, and there are fields and animals etc...
But no job there , right?
;)
Edited by movilogo on 08/01/2008 at 14:41
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Roly and SuperBuyer both hit the nail on the head for me. I commute from the Cotswolds to Slough every weekday. 155 miles a day.
Timewise it's not too bad, approx 1 1/2 hours each way as I leave early in the morning and leave my office before rush hour. I haev colleagues that live 10 miles from the office and becasue they travel in rush hour it takes them nearly an hour.
I enjoy where I live AND as a bonus, it's cheaper than the South East for housing.
Fortunatly I have a company car so they pay for repairs and deprciation on a 40,000 miles per annum car, I just pay for diesel.
Still, thats over £380/month but still cheaper than another £100k on my mortgage (at least)
Edited by a900ss (S-Max) on 08/01/2008 at 14:43
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I'd go for the french diesel. prob with the fancy suspension
A4/passat suspension arms are a pain on normal roads dread to think what it would be like on poor roads
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Are we saying, in this instance, there're are no nice houses nearer to Coventry than Shropshire, at a commensurate price?!
This site should incubate a subsidiary site, so that all of us could swop houses to the one owned by another BR which is closest to work. Imagine how many of us pass each other going the other way each day. Madness.
London-working's the only excuse for long travel in the UK I would think, and then only by train. Can't understand why the M-ways are full heading into London every morning.
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I think you are all looking at this from the wrong angle.
The bumps and potholes are what is costing the money and would for any car (almost) especially hard sprung germanic types like the Audi.
I would look for a Mk1 non-turbo Subaru Forester. Incredibly well built, very long travel and comfortable suspension, capable and designed for this type of work. Not hugely economical, but very reliable and with a reasonably torquey engine for a relaxed commute when conditions allow. If my father's Mk1 had all the toys, we would not have bought the Mk 2 and I would not now have my Outback.
Other than that, staying at a B&B would seem to be cheaper than the commute as mentioned above. Surely you can get a deal somewhere local for £100 for four nights inc breakfast. Not only would it save fuel and money it will also make the car last longer.
Edited by Espada III {P} on 08/01/2008 at 20:12
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A friend of mine leaves his caravan at a site near to where he works. He has about a 2.5 hour journey to or from work. If he really can't be bothered to drive or he needs to work late he just uses his caravan. His argument is that he'd have to leave it somewhere due to lack of space at home and this just helps solve another problem. Must be fairly unpleasant in winter I suppose.
However, I spent years of my life with a long distance commute. It's a thoroughly miserable way of life. Given that time again I'd move house or occupation without hesitation. I still do big mileages but at least I can point the car in a different direction most days. Slogging along the same route day in, day out, truly is purgatory in my view.
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As I'm enjoying the discussion about commuting, I've created a new thread www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=59...1 to discuss the merits of commuting a long distance!
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I was in this position 8 years ago. I chose the cheapest VW 1.9TDI engine I could find as it was the most fuel efficicent, which was a 2yr old VW Vento, for which I paid £7K at a main dealer on a three year bank load (£188 per month). We had a petrol Golf 1.4 as well.
I commuted over 100K miles in four years at an ALL IN cost of 26p per mile. That included fuel (6p/mile cheaper then obviously), tax and insurance, all maintenance (10p/mile) and (assumed) 100% depreciation (7p/mile).
After four years the golf died and I took a Mazda 6 on the company lease scheme. Same total monthly outlay, but obviously no ownership at the end. Stil commute 120 miles/day and the Mazda 6 died. Now looking for a replacement.
My Vento AVERAGED 56mpg over 125K miles, would easily do 600 miles on a 56L tank, NEVER broke down, always started and was a fabulous commuter. If I was in your position I'd source the same engine again, probably in a Skoda Octavia. In fact the Golf, was less practical than the Vento and $2K more expensive.
regards,
Daren
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What about a Verte? Its a Ford Falcon Au III pick up, built in Australia and the saloon version iis very popular with taxi drivers It was imported to the UK by Verte, a firm set up by the boss of AC Cars, but failed (because of poor distribution/marketing) but the motors live on. They have the ford 4 litre straight six engine BUT its LPG powered and built that way by Ford. Everything about it says Ford. The advantage is the fuel costs - LPG cost around 52 pence a litre and if you think there might be a loss of power, you would be hard pressed to tell with 4 litre lump.
You might be able to tell that I own one. Its not for sale. But they do come up every now and then on ebay. Parts are plentiful (in Australia) and the shipping costs are not that bad. They are very solid cars (or UTES). Mine is an automatic with air conditioning, you can also get them with cruise control and electric windows.
Regards,
Weedy
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