A boring dilemma, sorry, but help?

Syph

Syph

Syph

Soldato
Joined
22 Jan 2004
Posts
5,524
Location
Nottingham
Not the most interesting motoring thread, no fancy cars or spec me for £30k or whatever, but quite stuck.

Currently own a 53 plate 1.8 petrol Mondeo LX. Absolutely bog standard, bar some 17" Ford alloys. Interior is in reasonably good nick, it still drives nice, costs us nothing to run each year really and has done 87k. However, the exterior is bumped, dinged and scratched. The alloys have seen better days. It scrubs up OK, but not the best. It has slight water ingress when weather is terrible, but no rust on arches, sills or anything. It's served us well and I feel no guilt getting it bogged up camping and stuff.

Now, dad has just retired and treated himself to a new car. We can have his old one for £400, just to pay for his new tow bar.

His car is a 54 plate 1.9 CDTI Signum 150 Elite. It's immaculate inside and out, nice leather seats, bigger (or feels it) compared to the Mondeo. It moves quite well. Dad has really looked after it, serviced every year and just had a new dual mass flywheel. Downsides - air con has gone on it (culprit is the condenser, looking at £235 to fix and gas) and it's done 160k between shed dragging and his 40 minute drive to work.

Not sure what we'd get for ours, as to be honest, I'm trying to save money (wife at uni). The Signum is more economical by at least 10-15mpg, cheaper tax but 40 quid a year more insurance. Financially, I think I could end up neutral on the trade, provided mine goes for a similar amount.

Should I stick or twist?

Sorry it's not very interesting, but really would appreciate some opinions.
 
Personally I'd be inclined to stick with the ol' faithful Mondeo that's done nearly half the miles and is a quantity you know, the Mondeo is arguably the better car anyway!
 
Honestly there's not much in them, not sure it's even worth the hassle changing. They're worth about the same.
 
Not driven dad's yet. I know it shifts, the Mondeo isn't exactly quick. The Signum is definitely quicker. It did 60mpg or something ridiculous today driving Notts to Chesterfield. Best the Mondeo had is nearly 40 I think, might have only been 35!

Thanks for the input so far, given me more to think about.
 
That Signum will without doubt cost you more to run than the Mondeo. You have the extra costs of a potential Turbo bill and all the other crap that breaks on diesel cars. I'm Sure the 1.9 cdti engine from that era can be quite problematic and costly.
Stick with the Mondeo If it's never let you down. They are good reliable basic cars to run the petrol engines of that era
 
Is there any reason you can't have both? A car for each of you could prove quite useful. And if it breaks, well, it was only £400.
 
As above, run the Signum for a couple more months with the Mondeo laid up then decide what you'd like to do?

If not practical then given they're both older cars now that you know the history of I can't see one being much more of a risk than the other really. Yes the diesel has more to go wrong, but if it hasn't regularly fallen apart to date it's not all that likely to suddenly start disintegrating.

I'm assuming the likes of mpg and the different drive of the turbo charged car are appealing to you from your original post. The Signum was a decent enogh car in its day really. Pick whichever you fancy I'd say
 
Quartz said:
Is there any reason you can't have both? A car for each of you could prove quite useful. And if it breaks, well, it was only £400.
Click to expand...

Yeah - though my dad isn't desperate for the cash, I'd like to pay him and I'd have to sell my car to do so really. August is about the most expensive month in the world for me and eats my disposable.

rodenal said:
As above, run the Signum for a couple more months with the Mondeo laid up then decide what you'd like to do?

If not practical then given they're both older cars now that you know the history of I can't see one being much more of a risk than the other really. Yes the diesel has more to go wrong, but if it hasn't regularly fallen apart to date it's not all that likely to suddenly start disintegrating.

I'm assuming the likes of mpg and the different drive of the turbo charged car are appealing to you from your original post. The Signum was a decent enogh car in its day really. Pick whichever you fancy I'd say
Click to expand...

Dad's kept the Signum serviced. The air con is literally the only thing he hasn't fixed, it went at the end of the Summer last year and he knew he'd be getting shot so left it. Everything else, including doing the dual mass in Feb has been sorted.

Still not sure, I have to be honest. A friend made the point that I do very short drives to work each day (~10 mins) and a quick blast to a nearby village once a week (~15mins). We do go out and about most weekends that involve a bit more of a drive, but it's my understanding that diesels like to have a good blast with regularity. Is that true or a bit of a myth? Dad was doing over an hour each shift at work driving, so it's always been used that way.
 
Syph said:
but it's my understanding that diesels like to have a good blast with regularity.
Click to expand...

That's sort of correct. The DPF - diesel particulate filter - needs to be kept clean and to do that it needs to get to a certain temperature and stay at that temperature for a while. Once a week is fine.

If your commute is only 10 mins, could you cycle?
 
Yeah cycling is possible, but it's not regular as I've often got boxes of stuff to take or kids to drop at childminders.

Leaning more towards the Signum at the minute. Might get a drive of it tonight, which could seal the deal. Thanks all.
 
Not a huge different between the cars I would be more inclined to stick with the Mondeo with it being a solid reliable hassle free car over the years and get rid when something expensive comes up.

My 2p worth
 
I would say you know the history of both so mileage may not matter to much, Down to which you prefer to move about in, also depends how the history of the cars is i.e yours costs nothing to run each year what about the other 1
 
Quartz said:
That's sort of correct. The DPF - diesel particulate filter - needs to be kept clean and to do that it needs to get to a certain temperature and stay at that temperature for a while. Once a week is fine.

If your commute is only 10 mins, could you cycle?
Click to expand...

Just to point out a 54 plate diesel won't have a dpf so won't be an issue.
 
Right. Had a drive of the Signum last night. It's like night and day from the Mondeo. Not that that Mondeo isn't particularly smooth or nice to drive, but it's absolutely gutless. The Signum really shifts - in each gear it responded quickly to the pedal being pressed. I'm guessing because of the turbo?

Dad gave me a run down on the work it's had:

New swirlflaps a few years back
New dual mass flywheel this year
New tires end of 2016
Cambelt changed around 100k (assuming it's probably due this one soon?)

There was something else as well a couple of years ago. Last serviced (full) towards end of last year.

Have a mobile air con guy coming to look at the air con, confirm it is just the condenser.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom