I am looking to buy a Ford Mondeo tdci 130bhp Ghia. I have found a garage that has a 54 plate 9500 miles for £11599. This is the cheapest that I have seen by far. But I was at another garage who said there is no way I could get this price for a ghia. I should him the companies web site and he said the reason that they can do them so cheaply is that they import them from Germany and the warranty and the spec are differant. I advised him that I have looked a few ghias and could not see any differance in the spec.
Is this just sour grapes, as he has put doubt in my mind about the warranty. I am satisfied that the spec is the same.
I have spoken to the other company and he has advised me that some cars are imported but the one that I am looking at is British. How do I go about checking that it is British and not an import or should I not worry.
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Certainly a good price!
Not sure how to check if UK supplied, reckon this can be done via the VIN, someone else will advise on this I am sure.
Re spec, take a brochure and compare visually with the car on offer.
Re warranty ask the dealer to confirm that the warranty is as outlined in the Ford UK brochure, 2 years manufacture + 1 year dealer or 60000 miles, whichever comes first.
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get the vin and ring ford.
if you tell the vn and registration mark of the mondano ghia, they will tell you straight away, if its uk or import.
some local dealers will do this too for free.
you could mention you will be bringing it to them for your services :-)
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The only time I have seen an imported Mondeo with different spec was a 1.8 LX. It had missing rear electric windows and powered mirrors, also the sound insulation seemed as if it was lacking because it transferred more noise from the engine compartment into the cabin than any of the many other Mondeos that I have driven.
However, even *if* this car has come from Germany, then you are unlikely to find that it is poorer in spec, and it certainly won't have poorer quality build or sound insulation, bearing in mind that in Germany it's up against competitors like the BMW 3 series and Mercedes C-Class.
Go for it, at that price I would! :-)
Blue
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bearing in mind that in Germany it's up against competitors like the BMW 3 series and Mercedes C-Class.
What, and it is not up against BMW's and Mercs here too?
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Whilst they are available here, I don't think that it's a serious competitor to BMW 3 series or Merc C-class.
When I was selling Fords, I never, ever, had a customer look at Mondeo and say it was on their shortlist next to a new 3 series or a C-class. Lots and lots and lots said it was on their shortlist next to a Vectra or a Passat. I put a good chunk of this down to badge snobbery, which I'm under the impression isn't as much of an issue in Germany where BMW and Merc are common as muck.
The point I was trying to make was that generally, in Germany, people are used to good quality cars, I can't see how it would be in Ford's interests to produce German Mondeos that have inferior sound insulation or poorer spec than available elsewhere as they would then simply stand no chance against the domestic rivals. Hence, if this car has come from Germany the chances are that it's spec is equal if not better than the UK spec.
Of course I'm not certain that the Mondeo I'm talking about actually did have inferior sound insulation, it certainly sounded like it did, I just don't have a way of proving it. It just seems likely when looking at the other bits of kit that were missing. God knows what country it was built for.
Blue
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Hi Blue,
My current Mondeo Ghia X was a my company car before I took redundancy and bought the car from the company so I have had it from new, when I chose it three years ago I had a budget based on list price (not street/broker price where a Mondeo etc would be less than a BMW/Merc making the Mondeo even better value), I could have had a 320d saloon, a 318i SE touring, an A4 TDi 130 SE, a Passat TDi 130 Sport estate, a C180 (non-mettalic IIRC), an X-Type 2.0 V6 (also the company had a deal on Saab's so a £25k 9-5 2.2 TDi estate was an option) and a Laguna was well up my list. However taking into account CO2, equipment levels etc it was a no brainer, the Mondeo was the obvious choice, the fact that it is great to drive is icing on the cake.
In a nut shell the spartan BMW versus well equipped Ford scenario must apply in Germany and many other European markets.
Regards.
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I agree with you, if the choice is between something spartan or well loaded then a lot of people will choose well loaded, however, you are obviously not a badge snob, whilst a lot of other people are. I know many people who would rather have a 318iSE than a TDCI Ghia X Mondeo purely for the badge on the front. This situation, AFAIK, is not as endemic in Germany as it is here.
Although, whilst I'm on about the equipment differences, apart from heated leather with electric adjustment and the quickclear screen, there isn't a *huge* difference in the spec of those cars, most of it is down to minor add ons like puddle lights etc. on the Mondeo which many people will overlook in favour of a "better" badge on a prestige car.
Anyway, I sold retail, not fleet, and in the retail world the Mondeo simply isn't on many BMW or Merc customer's shortlists. If I could afford a BMW without a great struggle then I'm not sure it would be on mine, and I am a big fan of the Ford range.
Blue
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But just to bring myself back on subject for a second:
Bricam, as you may have gathered, I reckon the TDCi Mondeo Ghia is a fantastic car, it's great to drive and nicely specced.
Go for it and don't forget to let us know how you get on! :-)
Blue
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Hi Blue,
Today for approx the same money you can have an ST TDCi or Ghia X TDCi both 2.2 155's or a 318d! Otherwise an ST220 or Ghia X 3.0 V6 or a 318i!!!!
Yes, I would like a well specced 320d or 330d tourer or perhaps a 330i though they are just not worth the premium.
Regards.
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Cheddar, unfortuantely most people disagree, and those who can afford to pay the premium will pay it, and wouldn't consider buying a Ford. It's nothing against the Ford product, it's badge snobbery, and because of it I can safely say that the only customers I ever dealt with who owned new BMWs and Mercs were coming to see me to buy a second car for maybe a wife or child, they were never looking to replace their own car with a Mondeo.
Anyway, I've now strayed a million miles from the point that I was trying to make, which is that a German Mondeo will not have a worse spec than a UK one, nor will it have reduced build quality, based purely upon the competition it is up against in Germany.
Blue
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It always amazes me how an 'imported' car is almost always labelled inferrior to a UK sourced one. As a matter of interest, where would it have been made and where would a UK supplied car be made (probably not in the UK I think)?
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Aside from what the warranty is, or isn't, I'd be surprised if the car were an import.
Most imports are sold to private customers, and possibly a few small businesses, who are unlikely to keep the car for only six to nine months, like rental companies or manufacturers would, as they can basically sell on at that time for the price the car cost them.
It may well be that the dealer imports new cars to sell alongside the ex-rental stuff but that doesn't mean that the used stuff is imported; almost certainly it isn't. I think this would apply to supermarkets like Motorpoint, Ron Skinner in Wales, Trade Sales and Car Giant.
£11,599 is a very good price for a Ghia, by the way, but not unbelievably so. (Don't forget to add the admin fee :-) I've just found a £12k Ghia tdci 130 from a Ford franchise on a 54 plate with 9k up, for instance, and that's cheap according to AutoTrader.
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I guess that the VIN plate will tell you that it was manufactured in Germany, as all Mondeos are. IIRC it's the V5 that will tell you if it's an import (I could be wrong).
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All Mondeos are built at Genk, in Belgium SFAIK.
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Precisely, so the build quality of all Mondeos will be identical. So an 'import' will differ (if at all) only in specification and warranty, as each market has differences.
Most cars in the UK have sunroofs or A/C as standard. Many in Europe have neither.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Apart from financial manipulations why would a right hand drive Ford be in Germany anyway? Nobody there would buy it for use in Germany, or would they? I often thought that, as all Mondeos are built at one factory, any given car coming off the line must have a notional Euros price on the company books. How is it then that a given Mondeo can be 50% less in Spain that in UK, apart from taxes imposed by the respective governments?
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