Hi all. As I am currently doing only 5000 miles a year I am thinking of chopping in my Mondeo for something smaller/cheaper to run, the above model seems the most suitable considering my budget (the part ex value of my Mondeo, around £2k.)
Any owners with opinions out there? Yes I know it will take a fortnight to get to 60mph but as I spent most of my limited miles in 30 zones this does not worry me, and I'm sick of getting sub 25mpg out of my car! TIA for any replies.
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Was OK a few years ago but in the last year lots of new stuff has come out so its near the bottom of the pack.
Sorry not an owner but, check out the Car-by-Car breakdown and www.parkers.co.uk they have customer opinions on all types of cars.
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I'd buy a Suzuki Wagon R, I ran one for 20K miles for exactly the reasons you're thinking of it. Mine was a 1.3 Auto with Air. Good deals through dealers and excellent servicing, average around 36MPG and it can cope on the odd motorway journey.
Jim
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Hang on a minute.
If you're only doing 5000 miles a year, is 25 mpg a problem ?
Assuming 4 pound a gallon
5000/25 X 4 = 800
If you get something doing 36 mpg
5000/36 x 4 = 555
So you save 245 pounds a year.
Seems very little compared to depreciation costs which are probably next to nothing on your mondeo.
Also, assuming you shell out an extra 5 grand on the new car you could be paying (or missing out on) about 245 quid pa in interest.
If you fancy a change go for it, but sounds difficult to justify simply to save money.
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Agree 100% with 'looking4car'...swapping to the Matiz makes no financial sense; even if the insurance costs are reduced a bit. Maybe 300 quid per year maximum saving. Plus IMHO the Matiz looks scary from an accident point of view for rear seat passengers :-/.
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I agree that changing your car just to save petrol money is not worthwhile, but if you want a newer car anyway and size is not important then you might as well go for something economical.
A few years ago I would have considered the Matiz, but now I would look very seriously at the new Fiat Panda. Non of this is based on experience. I have not driven either of these two cars.
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"Hang on a minute - sounds difficult to justify simply to save money" . Easier to justify simply to save petrol, something a few more of us might start thinking about, IMHO. We can always print more money.
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My Matiz (800cc SE+) is five and a half years old now with 26,000 on the clock. Used maily for round town commuting and shopping.
No serious problems, and not a spot of rust (it is parked out side on the road). I put about £20 worth of petrol each fortnight (sometines it's a 3 week gap).
Drive from North West to North Devon for one of our holidays, a 6 Hr "take it easy" drive, 70 on motorways, no problems. (But I would not want to do it every day/week/month.)
Being small, it does tend to get attract the bullies in larger saloons, 4x4s, and Vans (of all colours) etc. but if you drive defensivly and confidently you should not have too much hassle.
Car is worth next to nothing now so I will probably keep it going as long as it does not start to cost too much to maintain.
John R
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Thanks for the replies. I will be looking at a 4/5 year old example so I will not be stumping up any extra cash other than what I get for my Mondeo, I have already took too big hit in depreciation on that to let it happen again!
Assuming I can hit 40mpg I will save £300 a year on petrol plus around £200 on tax/insurance so savings not to be sniffed at (especially on my limited budget!), plus depreciation is not really an issue on anything over 5 years old.
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Sorry, I don't know why i assumed you were looking for something newer. I reckon a 5 year old Matiz would be a good buy. They came with 3 years free servicing from new, so most used examples should have been serviced properly for the 1st 3 years.
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Miller - if you are looking for fuel savings while driving mostly in 30mph limit, you should be looking for a small diesel, especially if the trips are short. Should get 50mpg then.
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Miller - if you are looking for fuel savings while driving mostly in 30mph limit, you should be looking for a small diesel, especially if the trips are short. Should get 50mpg then.
The problem with older diesels is finding a good one. Most people who buy new diesels do so because they are going to do sufficient mileage to recoup the extra purchase cost. So most older diesels are high mileage.
You could consider a Nissan Micra. They are reliable, reasonably economical, and not that fashionable, so quite cheap second hand. The 1.3 is much nicer than the 1.0, but there aren't so many of those around.
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If miller buys a Matiz for £5200 (so £3200 including the trade in, you can the 800 cc for that) it includes 3 year servicing (worth at least £400) a years tax, 3 years warranty & 3 years top AA cover. Uses nearly half the fuel & insurance is cheaper, it might not save any money but its not going to cost much either and theres no repairs to pay for in the next few years.
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The £500 saving may be tempting for you and it's your decision. However a couple of points to consider are:
1 you will be changing from something you know to something you don't;
2 consensus is that the Mondeo is a much better drive than the Matiz (plus better in a crash).
Best of luck.
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I jumped to the conclusion that you were thinking of buying something new or nearly new when you mentioned trade in value.
If you're buying and selling privately you may or may not get a better car for the same money.
If you're looking to change through a trader you're bound to lose out. I would expect to get a 1 grand car in exchange for a 2 grand one.
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I did actually think about getting a matiz once; for round town shopping trolley work: apart from scary rear end shunts the one 'issue' that seemed to crop up regularly on this interweb thingy was windscreens cracking when cornering due to excess body flexing. HJ's C-B-C isn't exactly brimming with praise either.
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If checking a s/hand Matiz bear in mind that they had problems with engine compartment wiring loom internal breaks. Costs about £200 to replace, I understand. Also if the battery goes flat it may well need a trip to the dealers for an immobiliser re-code at £25 a go.
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Keep your Mondeo. £300 per year for far superior crash protection, cheap parts, ample non franchise service specialists and some space to carry people and stuff?
That won't be the Daewoo.
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36MPG !
For driving around in one of those I'd expect a few more MPG
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A few more MPG? It would have to spontaneously make its own petrol which I could siphon off and sell in order to get me in it.
Tinny, ponderous, and ugly. Mapmaker's cars are cheap because they're old. Daewoos are cheap for a different reason.
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I have a Ford Mondeo. My gran has had a string of Deawoo Matiz's.
The Mondeo is fantastic. It's comfortable, smooth, and a joy to drive.
The Matiz is utterly horrible. It's cramped, it's slow, it's cheap inside, it looks cheap outside, other road users fight to pull out of junctions in front of you becuase they don't want to get stuck behind it, etc etc.
Just no. I'd have to be on the verge of bankruptcy before I'd consider chopping my Mondeo in for a Matiz. I also do 5000 miles a year, around town.
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Oh and unless your Mondeo is a V6 you might want to consider easing off the throttle a bit - I get 25-27mpg in my 2.0.
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"The Matiz is utterly horrible. It's cramped, it's slow, it's cheap inside, it looks cheap outside, other road users fight to pull out of junctions in front of you becuase they don't want to get stuck behind it, etc etc."
So why did your gran buy a string of them then ? They must have been doing something right.
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I've got absolutely no idea. I've asked myself the same thing over and over again. She just traded in her 7k mile 02 plate one for a brand new 04 plate becuase she wanted a different colour, despite having had quite a few customer service issues with the previous one.
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