I'm still looking. As recent petrol Mondeos are like hen's teeth I'm considering a diesel.. Although I'm a low mileage driver 7-8k per year the mix includes a regular 19 miles each way commute. The 19 is a 7 mile urban followed by 12 mile fast motorway run. So as the engine would be warm when I hit the motorway I'm hoping that would be enough to avoid DFF issues.

I test drove a 2.0 TDCi. At £12300 it is as cheap as any petrol examples I've seen. Drove OK. The salesman was unable to show me any service history though as it was allegedly locked in the admin office over the weekend. As the car was a 2012 with 17K on the clock it was due a service on mileage regardless of first reg date. This was a Ford dealer. Wasn't impressed with the small crack in front windscreen or scuffed alloys either. Though at the price for a 2012 car?... Read more

Hi all,

I bought an 03 plate fiesta at the end of March from an independent dealer about 30miles away.

A couple of weeks ago I was driving and heard a few bangs from the engine, pulled over, smelt petrol, and the check engine light came on. On restarting it was clear that one of the cylinders was not firing. As I was very close to my local garage I took the car there and it turns out that the spark plugs are very old and are corroded in to the engine. It couldn't have got into that condition in the 13 weeks I'd owned the car. When I bought the car I was assured that it had been given a full service which it clearly hadn't as this should have been picked up. The car is currently not drivable. Apparently the repair can get quite expensive if they have to skim the head to get the plugs out( ~£1000?).

I called the dealer and explained the situation. I (through naivety) repeated the phrase my local mechanic used; "not fit for purpose". This set the dealer of a bit who got a bit personal about the whole thing. I asked him to pick up the car and asked whether he would fix it for free. He said that I had to get the car towed to him and he'd look at it but didn't respond to the price question. I rang the DTI who advised me to send him a letter asking him to fix it under the sale of goods act which I have done but on Tuesday the response time I requested ends.

I have photos (which I sent with the letter) and my garage said they would put something in writing with their opinion.

I have a few questions about the situation:

Should I be the one paying for the tow? (under SOGA the repair should be at no cost to me)

What are my next steps if he does not reply?
Given that I have lost confidence in the dealer, is there anyway I can get the repairs done locally and pursue action afterwards?
Am I likely to win in a small claims court and how long do these kind of claims take? Do I need a lawyer?
If I win, I understand that I may never receive anything from them - so should I even bother?

Any advice would be very much appreciated, thanks.
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The real mpg section of this website is a great resource for all car buyers. I do though wish there was a way to quickly find the models that offer the highest absolute (not %) real mpg values. Is there a way of doing this that I am missing? If not adding some way to do so would be an excellent improvement to the site.

The current 'Top Five Best Performers' list is of rather limited use since it tells us how accurate manufactur data is, but when buying a car what you REALLY want to know is which car will offer the best fuel economy... Read more

I've been told that my (just out of warranty) 3-year old Jazz has an electromagnetic problem in its steering rack - sounds expensive to repair.

Does anyone know if this is a common problem, or what the issue might be please? Is there any cheap way of fixing it?... Read more

I've posted this on "Technical" - had only one reply.

Re: Vectra 1.8, Elegance, Petrol, Registered 2 June 2003.... Read more