Any reason I shouldn't do this ?

DogsBody

DogsBody

DogsBody

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Ashbourne, Derbyshire
I am considering buying a diesel mondeo for about £2k

This puts my in the 2001ish territory with 100 - 130k miles on the clock.

Currently spending about £260ish a month on fuel so would be nice to bring that figure down a bit by going diesel, however I'm not going to do it if there is something massively wrong with these cars.

My other consideration would be a focus (either 1.6 petrol or 1.8 TDCI)
The mondeo is the nicer/comfier car though so am leaning toward that at the moment.

Your thoughts please :)
 
[TW]Fox;18371277 said:
A £2k Mondeo TDCi is a ticking time bomb ready to generate a large bill. Buy a 1.8 litre petrol one instead.
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I did have my suspicion that this would be the case, what exactly is "ticking" so to speak ?
Also how does the 1.8 TDCI fair in the focus in comparrison ?
 
I went from a 30mpg 197bhp petrol turbo car, to a 45mpg diesel and didn't really notice the difference - the fuel is still expensive, you just get a little more out of it. Really not worth it.

£2k seems a bit high for a 2001 Mondeo diesel, you can pick them up for less than that. Just watch out for injector failures, and DMF failure. Both are common around that mileage.

I got my current diesel for £1800 2 years ago, a 2003 ZS TD. Great car, I just really don't notice the difference in economy really... and I spend nearly as much as you on fuel.

Did you previously own a Hummer? :p
 
[TW]Fox;18371277 said:
A £2k Mondeo TDCi is a ticking time bomb ready to generate a large bill. Buy a 1.8 litre petrol one instead.
Click to expand...

+1.

I bought a 2001 TDCi Mondeo for £1400 with 118k on the clock last year and had issues. Clutch is rattling like crazy until i dip it and the pedal does not come up all the way (have to pull it up with my foot). Needs replacing ASAP.

Also i've read that they have common flywheel issue's. Can this be confirmed?
 
^Any 10 year old car is going to be needing a new clutch unless it has been done already, that's just normal wear and tear
 
As above, however that sounds like clutch hydraulic failure if the pedal isn't returning rather than the clutch itself.

Rattling is usually DMF or the clutch springs, although the springs in my clutch rattled like hell when I took it out, but I couldn't hear them with the car running.
 
I don't they are anymore prone to fault than others, but ppl buy diesels to use em, so in 10 years they would be used well.
 
[TW]Fox;18371277 said:
A £2k Mondeo TDCi is a ticking time bomb ready to generate a large bill. Buy a 1.8 litre petrol one instead.
Click to expand...

I tried to explain this to my step dad after hearing he had been looking at an 02 TDCI for £2.5k for his new commute to Cambridge and back everyday. Sadly I was too late and they had already purchased it. The only possible saving grace is that the previous owner is part of the garage where its being purchased from, not that it actually means a great deal.
 
mattyprice4004 said:
As above, however that sounds like clutch hydraulic failure if the pedal isn't returning rather than the clutch itself.

Rattling is usually DMF or the clutch springs, although the springs in my clutch rattled like hell when I took it out, but I couldn't hear them with the car running.
Click to expand...

Think its a mixture of all three if im honest. Im pressuming im looking at an expensive bill?
 
Someone here had it done for about £650 if I remember rightly, but it's imperative none-cheap rubbish parts are used as they're prone to failure even from the factory.

On BuyPartsBy (where I use for parts) the clutch kit and slave cylinder (which is also the release bearing) is showing as £97 +VAT.

The DMF is also listed, at £172 +VAT.

Both these items are made by LUK, who have been good for me in the past.

No idea what labour would be on one of these - I'd leave perhaps 4-6 hours, at £50 an hour at an indie.
 
Most modern common rail diesels have expensive failures points:

Injectors
High pressure fuel pumps
Turbos
Dual mass flywheels

The cost of any of these on a £2k car would be large part of the cars value, and one of or more will fail at some stage.
 
I went for a 2.0 TDCi 53 Plate Mondeo a couple of months back (£1400), but I do quite a lot of miles so my saving in fuel provided nothing goes bang in the first 6 months should more than pay for an injector failure or two or a DMF going pop.

Had the car 2 and a bit months so far and so far have only had to replace 2 tail light bulbs so i'm doing ok at the moment (fingers crossed). My Girlfriends dad has 2 in his taxi fleet, a 54 plate and an 06 plate (both TDCi 115's) he's had them a while and had no real issues with DMF's or injectors.

However one of his staff liked the cars so much he bought his own (6 Speed TDCi 130) and the DMF went a month later, ouch!.
 
Current car is a written off 172, getting about 30mpg.
Got a 1.2 corsa 60 plate courtesy car at the moment and it is properly awful, I cant say a good thing about it, other than it's getting me to work at the moment.

I notice no one has commented on the focus 1.8 TDCi yet, is that not worth considering ?
 
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the 1.8tdci is also a ticking time bomb, my sister had a very well looked after (full ford service history etc) 2005 one and it cost about £3k in repairs whilst she had it over 18 months....turbo went, injectors went and in the end the engine catestrophically failed (cant remember the exact details), at which point she sold it for spares and repairs.
 
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