Need a car for a mate - £2k

Kitchster_uk · 10 May 2006 at 17:55

Hi all.

Mate of mine has finally seen sense and is going to stop attending main stealers. He is going to flog his 54 plate focus 1.8 TDCi while he can still pay off the finance with the residual value (getting divorced, needs to keep outgoings down atm). So, he liked my Accord and was looking at those and also likes the ST24. However, new missus strikes. She's bleating on about runing costs (18k miles a year) and has picked out a 2.0 SDI rover 220 on the 99' S Plate, £1695, 68k miles and no service history. I am right in thinking that this will, more than likely, be a hound, am I not?

He has to drive 150 miles up here on a Saturday, to see his kids and then 150 miles back on the Sunday to get to work monday. Budget is around the £2k max mark and my suggestions have been very mondeo-centred, a la rep-mobile. So...

Is the Rover 200 SDi a pile of the proverbial and what suggestions do others have?

[TW]Fox · 10 May 2006 at 19:12

No service history but low mileage? Don't bother - it may well be clocked. You don't just 'lose' the service history unless you are inept or hiding something.

If he's bothered about running costs why not consider a 2.0 Mondeo instead of the 2.5 Mondeo? Certainly the best Mondeo-like choice for £2k, thats for sure.

Kitchster_uk · 10 May 2006 at 19:33

Fox, what sort of MPG are you looking at - Town, Motorway & Combined?

My car brain tells me it would possibly be cheaper to service and maintain than the Rover as it wouldn't bin it's HG every 18.6 seconds (joke btw

). Tyres are gonna cost the same, similar oil & filter changes, pads/discs etc.

I need arguements for the new missus of diesel evil!!!

[TW]Fox · 10 May 2006 at 19:35

Kitchster_uk said:
Fox, what sort of MPG are you looking at - Town, Motorway & Combined?

Around town 24-25mpg but I've given up driving in an economy minded fashion, I used to get 27-28mpg before I realised I wasn't 55.

On the Motorway though I get 40-43mpg depending on speed - indicated 75mph gets about 42mpg. If you go over 80 it drops quite noticeably.

mattpc · 10 May 2006 at 21:04

rofl hate to say it matey but the Xantia HDI for the WIN!!!! Otherwise the 1.8 and 2.0 Mondeos are ok on fuel for motorway cruising it's only when they hit town the MPG plummits. Why not persuade him to spend 3.5k and get a mk3 Mondeo either a nice petrol or high mile diesel?

Foghorn Leghorn · 10 May 2006 at 21:19

The Rover 220 SDI is a cracking little car with a very lively Diesel engine (makes mincemeat of the fabled 306 DT

). But, I wouldnt want to do a 300 mile round trip every weekend in one. Go for a 406 or Passat Diesel, much better for blatting up and down the motorways.

Fog

Kitchster_uk · 10 May 2006 at 21:45

mattpc said:
rofl hate to say it matey but the Xantia HDI for the WIN!!!! Otherwise the 1.8 and 2.0 Mondeos are ok on fuel for motorway cruising it's only when they hit town the MPG plummits. Why not persuade him to spend 3.5k and get a mk3 Mondeo either a nice petrol or high mile diesel?

Matt, you know what Wayne is like - he could never accept the pure 'special' looks of the Xantia. He is not going to go over £2k and wants a 'reasonable' miler so it isn't scrap in 18 months - 2 years.

The big grey matt-mobile maybe soldiering on, but mr L would not love her!!!

mattpc · 10 May 2006 at 21:49

Yeah but no but.. Well looks like Wayne is firmly in Mk2 2 Litre Mondeo territory! Unless he's a Primera GT candidate of course. To be honest he would be better just settling with one car. I dread to think the ammount of money he has lost on his last 3 cars..

Kitchster_uk · 10 May 2006 at 22:00

GT will be too expensive on insurance tbh. He's lost many thousands over the last few years, buying from stealers and not asking advice. Actually, he's taken advice, just from people who know **** all

Kappa · 10 May 2006 at 23:58

while I was looking around for a car in this budget, all I could find was naff escord 1.8's which had no FSH and old fiesta's, as well as dead old golf's, best bet is a mondy, should get a 2000+ model easy.

MuvverRussia · 11 May 2006 at 00:13

Kappa said:
best bet is a mondy, should get a 2000+ model easy.

2000 onwards model for £2k? You may be able to get a dog of a late mk2, but that's all you'll get. Best bet would be to go for a mondeo, but look around the late 90s. They're likely to be higher spec and in better condition.

Kappa · 11 May 2006 at 09:15

MuvverRussia said:
2000 onwards model for £2k? You may be able to get a dog of a late mk2, but that's all you'll get. Best bet would be to go for a mondeo, but look around the late 90s. They're likely to be higher spec and in better condition.

If you just look at autotrader prices then yeah its a bit more than 2k, but they should bring the prices down. They're normally worth around 2.2k, but thats when with average mileage and fsh etc, you can then bring that down through haggling.

Tesla · 11 May 2006 at 09:25

The first car I ever bought was a P reg 2.0 Mondeo Ghia X.
Cost me £900 but then I spent £150 on a cam belt change and £170 on tax. So say it cost me £1200.

It had loads of service history and new tyres and recent MOT.

It was a lovely car and I would still be driving it if I hadn't of been rear ended by a white van.

I have recently (last week) bought another Mondeo. Circumstances have changed so I need an estate.

I was also on a very tight time scale and had to find a car within 3 days as I had sold my little run around I had whilst my insurance was sorted from the rear ending.

I have ended up with a 1998 R reg Mondeo Ghia Estate, again in 2.0 flavour.
It has new tyres and front pads and discs. Also the cam belt was changed last year. The car has service history to 80k and nothing for the last 5 years.

Crazy I know but I am quite sure it's not clocked (clock is on 117k!) and the sellers were a very nice couple who I did not get a bad impression from and everything he said he has had done checks out. (I know posh people can lie too, i'm not stupid). The only thing which lets it down is the paint work as there is a little bit of surface rust around the filler cap/wheel arch. I will probably get this sorted out though.

All in all it has cost me £850! It has lots of MOT and tax and all the consumable have been replaced (bar the exhaust) so should be relatively cheap motoring.

If anything does go wrong then I know I can fix most things myself, there is a Ford parts place in Bristol supplying Ford parts at a cheap price too!

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WW...category=CARS&channel=CARS&id=200618234574396

Mad old tory · 11 May 2006 at 09:26

406 diesel? Not really sure whether 18k is enough to warrant going for diesel based purely on economy, but they've always been the best looking in the class standard. Not as good to drive as the mondeo but a worthy alternative nonetheless.