Hope this is not a Girl-un-friendly place here - good site btw.
Im looking for a Mondeo and have seen a 1.8 petrol one (in lovely shiny silver, fluff, fluff, pink teddy bears blah di blah!).
Its an S and obviously has been a co. car with 89K.
However, Im going to be doing 180 is per day, so on those calculations I will have done 1k in a week and thus, over 55 K in 12 months time (with a bit of personal mileage in there too).
The body is imaculate (I counted 3 stone chips on the bonnet).
Its £3995 and Im thinking of offering £3,500-600. Would you say a recon engine would suffice in 12 months?
Appreciate your comments.
thanks
Patricia
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180 miles per day !!!
If you're not careful you'll come under the Kyoto treaty !
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Engine should be good for 200k miles, as long as you keep changing the oil every 6,000 miles. Engine ancilliaries (alternator, starter, PAS pump etc) generally go west somewhere between 100 and 150k miles. You'll also be looking at wheel bearings, suspension components etc on a pretty regular basis. Might be better to consider a lease for that sort of annual mileage?
I'd also seriously consider buying a diesel (although not a Ford, as the Endura engine is pants!). IF you consider 35mpg from the petrol and 45mpg from the diesel, then fuel cost over a year (55k) are £5422 Petrol (76p/l) and £4328 diesel (78p/l). Pretty heft saving that would pay for most of the maintenance , and the diesel will usually easily see the thick end of 300,000 miles without a murmur.
Richard
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Thx for this - what are the prices for diesels; I hadn't considered one actually as I've never gone for that type. Interesting thought though.
Patricia
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The price for diesel's all depends on what you would like to buy! I for example have a old Montego diesel for my 150 mile daily round trip which cost me £600!
If you want to spend roughly the same amount as you would have done on the Mondeo, I would personally go for a 405 Hdi. For that you can get an S or T plate in good condition. If you have a look on the roads for them, you can see quite a few of them still around especially G,H,J plates (not bad for a 10-12 year old car).
All I would say is to get an inspection before you buy one. They cost about £100 from the AA and RAC, a small price to pay for a decent car.
Good Luck :)
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Thats a Peugeot 405 by the way!
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It'll be a 406 HDI on an S or T plate, 405 on G,H,J.
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The Ford might not be the smoothest/most powerful of the diesels but it wll still be running long after BMW/PSA have gone to the great breaker's yard in the sky.
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Yes but isn't it 7+ hours labour to change the clutch, however good the engine is or isn't? Most opinion seems to say 'isn't'!
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Clutch replacement is not exactly gonna be much of a problem with this car, my mate's mam with a 100,000 mile X reg Fiat Punto is still on her original clutch and it's working fine.
It will get virtually no wear on a motorway run like this, unless Patricia rests her foot on it of course! Just kidding, I'm sure you don't! ;)
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It sounds like you will add another 55-110k miles to the car. So whether you buy with 90k or 110k on the clock isn't going to make a great deal of difference to you, but you could be buying more cheaply over the psychological 100k miles level.
Personally I would be looking for a clean, full history V-reg with 100k - 130k miles at a fleet auction. Should leave you with plenty of change from £3500.
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Have a look at Jack Ford if you are after a cheap ex-company car... www.jack-ford.co.uk/home.htm ... They seem to have the type of car you are after, how about a petrol Vauxhall Astra 1.4? If you insist on the Mondeo, then they have some of them as well!
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If you're doing mega mileage like that then the Mondeo is probably the best car to do it in. The petrol engines give excellent mpg on long runs, alright it's not as good as a Diesel but at least it's a nicer engine :) My mate has a 94 1.8 LX auto, and gets excellent mileage when he takes it to Scotland...
Also, if you look after the engine really well, then 200,000 miles is the LEAST I would expect from it, you're probably looking more in the region of 300,000+ miles from it. Provided, as has been said, that you look after it and get it regularly serviced with good quality oil.
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Forget the fords ive had ford mondeo 1.8td and do quite alot ov miles like you and beleive me when they go wrong they are quie exspensive to repair depending on wots wrong ovcourse. Ive also had citroen and peugeot diesels which are the same engine mostly and they are alot more better engines, i had a 160k on mine with not a spot ov bother, ford is really a really good engine but when the miles start to clock up you start having problem as i am now with my mondeo,
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B.O. said
>>> BTW, in case the guy doesn't tell you, to help maintain the life of the A/C it's best to use it for at least 20 - 30 minutes a month if you can. Don't know why but everyone tells me it's true! >>>>
HJ's site has a wonderful section entitled "Honest John's FAQs".
For example, one question (Q18) he answers is "What do I need to know about servicing my car's air-conditioning? Read more..."
www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=14
where it says
18. What do I need to know about servicing my car's air-conditioning?
"You should leave the a/c on all the time, even if not using it to cool the car. You should also turn the system to full cold for ten minutes once a week ? even through the winter if you can ? in order to circulate refrigerant which contains lubricants for the system and its seals. Then switch to full heat through the same pipes to thoroughly dry them out. This also blows out any moisture in the ventilation passages where mould and bacteria might be accumulating. etc. - - - - -"
At Q 33, he also answers "Can you give ten tips to extend the life of a car? Read more...". This is also worth reading
www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=34
I hope this is taken to be helpful, as I intend always.
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I acquired an 'X' registration with a lot of miles, original engine for £3000 so if you havn't bought yet - keep
looking. (Selling for £4500 with some 'improvements').
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Ok so I forgot to mention that mine was bought with accident damage but repairable. £3600 seems a lot though for yours.
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£3600 is a lot but I wouldn't sweat it, if she's got a car she's happy with.
I'd have given about £3k for it, BUT at the mileage she is going to do, taking it up to 200k in two years, she is going to have extreme difficulty selling it for more than a grand ot a grand and a half whether it is 6 or 4 years old. The odd few hundred on the purchase price, especially as that includes a warranty, will pale by comparison to the high mileage maintenance bills that she would face if she bought a car with any issues at all.
Of course, things could still go wrong, but if the car and the dealer are as good as they sound, it's hard to argue with the deal that she's got.
Oh and Patricia, what are you doing to be doing such a high mileage?
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Hi all,
the story so far ...
I bought the diesal mondeo (purple!!!), been travelling 150ish miles per day and its working out great! Handles well on the motorways and I feel safe in it.
But I have a couple of general queries.
What is the best oil to use? I have in my mind Castrol GTX or something - god knows where I got it from, but - also, if I go for an oil change (believe me, Im not wrapping cord around any sump lever and wearing Tesco carrier bags, twofold, on my mits!!!) so I take the car to a garrage - how can I make sure they put in "good" oil?
Also, how about fuel additions? I have been recommended a "potion" to add to a full tank of fuel which supposedly reduces consumption and protects the "upper part of the engine" ??? Again, Im at a loss ...
So - what do you think?
thanks again for your help
Patricia
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