Perhaps I should explain. I've got a 1.8 MX-5 which I really like, but I do get fed up when I can't keep up with just about any TDi you care to mention. So I started looking at Boxsters, and then I test drove an 04 2.7. I expected to come away thinking "I LOVE it, I've GOT to have it...". In fact I came away thinking "I quite LIKE it, it's £27K and it's 18 months old..."
Then I crashed my MX-5 and ended up with a 1.2 Corsa courtesy car, and I found I really quite liked it for its' simple cheap gets you from A to B honesty. I live in Devon, much of my drive is on country lanes where cars tend to get trashed, and where you can't drive fast safely anyway. My son will be learning to drive in a couple of years, so I'll want something I can insure for him that's safe. I don't like spending money on expensive tyres, petrol. Hey presto, before you know it I'm looking at Focuses!
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I know how you feel.
Usual motor is Subaru Forester Turbo, but currently in 10 year old Fiesta Zetec. What is remarkable is that the handling is just as good and the steering is better, with a huge improvement in mpg.
The main difference is in general quality of plastics, ambience and overall comfort.
I look it this way... buy a seven year old Merc, Audi or BMW and the car will frequently drive just as solidly as the day it was built and still has a certain 'cachet' despite it age. However, buy a similar age Mondeo or Vectra and the cars rattle, creak and have zero 'cachet'.
It just depends what you want. I'm quite happy driving around in my temporary Fiesta, as its not too baggy. I would be unhappy driving around in a similar age Mondeo. I would be happy in a similar age Audi/Merc/BMW but prefer my much newer Subaru. It's horses for course.
Focuses are superb drivers cars and so are Mondeos and in your position, thinking about children driving, I would go for the Focus, simply becuase of the quality of the drive and new interiors are very good.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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And the insurance may be just about afordable (for your children) with a Focus, when compared to a Mondeo.
Reggie
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However, buy a similar age Mondeo or Vectra and the cars rattle, creak and have zero 'cachet'.
My Mondeo is nearly eight years old but has no rattles or creaks. True it has no 'cachet' and is starting to rust, but as its worth nothing anyway who cares?
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>> However, buy a similar age >> Mondeo or Vectra and the cars rattle, creak and have zero >> 'cachet'. My Mondeo is nearly eight years old but has no rattles or creaks. True it has no 'cachet' and is starting to rust, but as its worth nothing anyway who cares?
I'm struggling to think of anything about an 8 year old Mondeo which would make a Fiesta a preferable car to have.
Ok mine has a few years to go before it's 8 but it's going to have to do some *serious* degrading before a Fiesta becomes a better alternative!
I've driven a few Fiestas and found them to be fundamentally quite horrible cars - from the gutless range of engines to the spartan interiors and non-soft touch plastics. Sure, thats kind of the point in city cars but to say you'd much prefer one - what exactly is it about them? :)
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found them to be fundamentally quite horrible cars - from the gutless range of engines to the spartan interiors and non-soft touch plastics. Sure, thats kind of the point in city cars but to say you'd much prefer one - what exactly is it about them? :)
I take it you have a problem with Fiestas then !
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Perhaps I should explain. I've got a 1.8 MX-5 which I really like, but I do get fed up when I can't keep up with just about any TDi you care to mention. So I started looking at Boxsters, and then I test drove an 04 2.7. I expected to come away thinking "I LOVE it, I've GOT to have it...". In fact I came away thinking "I quite LIKE it, it's £27K and it's 18 months old..." Then I crashed my MX-5 and ended up with a 1.2 Corsa courtesy car, and I found I really quite liked it for its' simple cheap gets you from A to B honesty. I live in Devon, much of my drive is on country lanes where cars tend to get trashed, and where you can't drive fast safely anyway. My son will be learning to drive in a couple of years, so I'll want something I can insure for him that's safe. I don't like spending money on expensive tyres, petrol. Hey presto, before you know it I'm looking at Focuses!
In NORTH Devon by any chance??
Best Regards.........Martin Devon.
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So would you go for...
(A) An 11-14K mile 05 for £8995?
(B) A 3-5K mile 55 for £10,495?
(C) A new one for around £12K?
(all 1.6 Ti-VCT Zetec climates in metallic), or...
(D) None of the above?
Turbodog
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So would you go for... (A) An 11-14K mile 05 for £8995? (B) A 3-5K mile 55 for £10,495? (C) A new one for around £12K? (all 1.6 Ti-VCT Zetec climates in metallic), or... (D) None of the above? Turbodog
(A) without a shadow of a doubt.
15000 miles is absolutely nothing, and within six months the new car will be at the level of (A) anyway.
So why not save the £2-3000?
The only worry I have about six-month-old cars is [i]why[/i] they're being sold at this age.
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In my experience a good source of low mileage used Fords is cars run by Ford employees and registered by Ford Motor Company c/o the employee. They usually only have a few thousand miles on the clock ~ maybe 4000. However, they do tend to be of a relatively high age for that mileage ~ over 12 months ~ and may have stood around for a while. My latest Focus was from this source and the only problem was rusty brake discs. With use the fronts have cleaned up to my satisfaction, but I may have the rears changed at first MOT time. But it was £1000 under book price so I can afford that. If you let your local Ford dealer know what you want they will try to find one for you. Mine took a few days to find. I even managed to get the colour I wanted. And it had a couple of factory fitted options ~ full size spare and reversing sensors.
I would have no hesitation in buying another car from that source.
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L\'escargot.
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Thanks for that L'escargot
I'm going to look into that, but I would want the new model which might not be possible if they tend to be over 12 months. With the money I save I could get one of those lovely looking Sony LCD flat screen TVs......
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>>Mondeo 2.0 Zetec is a good supermarket buy. Will do 99% of what any other 2.0 saloon/hatch does, for less money. Also cheaper and easier to fix than many.>>
Why only 99%, what 2.0 saloon/hatch does more. I would say that a 2.0 Mondeo does everything any other 2.0 saloon/hatch does plus is fun on the back roads.
Re the OP's questions a 2.0 Mondeo is quicker, nicer to drive and more economical than the 1.8.
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Quote : "In my experience a good source of low mileage used Fords is cars run by Ford employees and registered by Ford Motor Company c/o the employee."
Be EXTREMELY careful of these cars... many of them (despite being registered in an employees name) are used as 24 or 48 hour demonstrator cars. Having seen the way some of these cars are treated I would avoid them like the plague.
It's not unusual to see 4000 milers with near bald front tyres - that says a lot about how the car has been driven. Hardly a good way to run a car in is it!
Also steer well clear of any Ford that has a clear sticker in the window which says "This car is fitted with an alarm and immobiliser" or a little bar-code sticker on the back window - these are actually HERTZ RENTAL CARS, despite being registered as a Ford car. (Ford own Hertz).
Again, they lead a very harsh life, and are rarely run-in considerately...
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My Fiesta - ex Jaguar cars- 1 year old and 4k miles- Ford Direct - was perfect. And so far 100% reliable in 3 years.
madf
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The prices I quoted are from the current and large stock of a well known midlands based car supermarket. Where they get them from I don't know, but my assumption is ex-rental. I wasn't overly concerned about the idea of buying ex-rental- I don't think it goes without saying that they've all been thrashed to within an inch of their lives, does it....?
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>>I don't think it goes without saying that they've all been thrashed to within an inch of their lives,
No, I don't think it does. I think that people like to say that they've had a rental car and thrashed it at a million miles an hour, but generally I think that is not the case.
I think most rental car users are like me; the car is just for transport, its not going to get driven any different from how my own car would get driven.
It seems to me that most rental car users are frequent users and the novelty has long since worn off.
I would have thought that the variety of different driving styles/environments would be a good thing more than a bad thing.
Garage demos may well be a different thing though - I think they probably are thrashed about by staff and customers alike - I think its a macho thing. Clearly it would depend on the car though.
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The prices I quoted are from the current and large stock of a well known midlands based car supermarket. Where they get them from I don't know, but my assumption is ex-rental. I wasn't overly concerned about the idea of buying ex-rental- I don't think it goes without saying that they've all been thrashed to within an inch of their lives, does it....?
A mate of mine until recently worked for one of the main car rental companies. His job was to sell the cars off to car supermarkets/ big car dealers, when they got to a certain mileage.
I agree, in my experience, not everyone thrashes their hire car. A small proportion of younger male drivers maybe, but I think the majority will drive a hire car as they would drive their own car.
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Quote : "In my experience a good source of low mileage used Fords is cars run by Ford employees and registered by Ford Motor Company c/o the employee." Be EXTREMELY careful of these cars... many of them (despite being registered in an employees name) are used as 24 or 48 hour demonstrator cars. Having seen the way some of these cars are treated I would avoid them like the plague.
One could always ring the employee at work (name and place in logbook) and enquire about the history of the car.
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L\'escargot.
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Perhaps I should explain. I've got a 1.8 MX-5 which I really like, but I do get fed up when I can't keep up with just about any TDi you care to mention. So I started looking at Boxsters, and then I test drove an 04 2.7. I expected to come away thinking "I LOVE it, I've GOT to have it...". In fact I came away thinking "I quite LIKE it, it's £27K and it's 18 months old..."
You are obviously used to excellent handling rather than raw performance, given your love of the MX-5. I would suggest you get a new Focus ST. Lots of power with awesome handling.
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But didn't you notice the bit "then I crashed my MX-5...."
Not sure lots of power would be a good idea...
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Perhaps a Volvo S60 or a Saab 9-3, if you are thinking of crashing another time?
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Given the hassle I'm having this time (body shop have had the Mazda for 2 weeks, told me this morning they're STILL waiting on the parts, hire car has to be returned tomorrow blah blah blah) I've decided I'm NOT going to crash ever again...
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>>I don't think it goes without saying that they've all been >>thrashed to within an inch of their lives,
>>No, I don't think it does. I think that people like to say >>that they've had a rental car and thrashed it at a million >>miles an hour, but generally I think that is not the case.
Look - I know what I'm talking about - I have seen dozens of cars on rental fleets, and I know what sort of work is done to them to keep them on the road.
Your average rental car is only on the fleet for 10,000 miles or so, and in that time it is common occurance to see cars going for replacement clutches, replacement gearboxes, etc due to driver abuse. It's also common to see body damage - which is often on the underside of the vehicle and therefore invisible and so goes unrepaired.
It is also VERY unusual for the front tyres to last 10,000 miles on a rental car. If this isn't a sure sign of having been abused, then I don't know what is! Wake up and smell the coffee!!!
You go spend your money on an ex-rental if you like... you might get lucky, and you might not!
P.S. I wasn't suggesting that ALL ford-direct are ex-rental, but a significant percentage are. Hertz is owned by Ford. Hertz cars are sold under the Ford Direct scheme.
Things to look out for are :
1. clear "alarm fitted" sticker on the drivers/passengers window - these are fitted by Hertz
2. Barcode sticker on the rear quater window - these are also Hertz fitted.
3. Front tyres a different make to rear, despite mileage being below usual wear threshold
4. Yellow "recorded damege" Sticker on the underside of the boot carpet.
5. Missing literature in the owners pack. The service record and owners manual are usually kept safe, but the other spuffle (e.g. dealer locator, etc) are usually binned.
6. No smoking round sticker on the dash (Hertz standard fit). Usually these get removed prior to sale, but often leave a round 50p sized mark on the dash
7. Small "Collision Damage Waiver warning" sticker usually on the instrument cluster. Again removed prior to sale but you may see the marks
8. Underbody damage
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Well I phoned the Midlands based car supermarket;
The £8,999 Focuses are the less well rated 100 BHP 1.6 petrol engine. The guy suggested I could "get it chipped", but I definitely don't fancy that. So then I got him to quote me for part-ex on a delivery miles 1.6 (115 BHP) Ghia, which they're doing for a very attractive £11,999. Want to know what he offered me for my MX-5 (1.8 Euphonic, June 04, metallic titanium grey, heated leather seats, hardtop, 16.5K miles)?...........£8,325! (ie about 2K under book)
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My advice to any supermarket managers ou there is to be careful about MX5 trade ins. They are often driven hard and are regularly accident damaged.
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My advice to any supermarket managers ou there is to be careful about MX5 trade ins. They are often driven hard and are regularly accident damaged.
That maybe so, but 2K under the book trade-in valuation???
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Check out HJ's recent auction reports in "News" - '04 MX5s making £8k at auction currently.
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Not the best time of year to sell a convertible though, they probably don't want it on their forecourt!
Blue
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How much are used new shape Volvo S40s going for?
Might suit you - handles like a Focus, very safe, and lovely interior. I came close to choosing one as my new car.
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The new Mazda 3 is also based on the new Focus floorpan and the saloon version is quite stylish (can`t personally say the same for the hatch version).
My daughter runs a 1.6 petrol version and has been delighted with its performance and reliability/handling/economy over 2 years/22k since new.
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I like the look of the S40 too, though I'm sure it'd be a lot more than a Focus...
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