Spec me a user car........

Banzai_Joe

Banzai_Joe

Banzai_Joe

Soldato
Joined
30 Sep 2006
Posts
5,280
Location
Midlands, UK
Hi all,
hardly ever frequent the Motors section, but i need your help please.

Looking for a change of car.

Previous cars
Astras
Vectras
Clio (bleugh)

Current car
Laguna 1.9dci (2001 'Y' plate) :mad:

Right the Laguna's a/c has now packed up and i'm wanting to just change it for another diesel and possibly a smaller car. So i've been looking at Astra's, even Vectra's (even though they're as big as the Laguna).
I'm getting about 44mpg out of the Laguna, so it's pretty economical for its age.

I like comfort and gadgets in the car, and the luxury of NOT hearing the sound of the engine when driving (especially with diesels).

I was initally looking at cars under 4 years old up to £6000 with as little mileage as i can find.

I'm open to other makes/models, but with so many out there, i'm open to suggestions.

Thanks.
 
I don't know much about cars but it's probably worth posting up roughly how many miles you expect to do per year and what the general use(s) of the car will be. For instance is there a particular reason that you want a diesel?
 
Thanks for the suggestion SPW.
Yeah, diesel for mileage economy really. General use of a car i guess
Averaging about 12,000 miles per year.
Weekly travelling up the M1 (about 30 miles each way)
The Laguna was used as a truck for the past 2 years, carting crap all over place, heavy tip runs etc, but i don't want to do that with a newer, nicer and possibly smaller car.

I've recently split with the mrs (and her 2 kids), so there's just me and my son (from previous marriage) really, so ne real need for a big car anymore. Except to fit the lads ice hockey kit.
 
You'll be told to suffer with 30MPG fuel economy and buy a petrol because diesel is a waste of money unless you're doing ridiculous miles (regardless of whether it saves you money or not).

In all seriousness - £6k will get you a MK2 Focus. It'll be easier to find a petrol but there are Diesels around (Edit: AT has 133 1.8s nationwide) - I'm told the 1.8 Diesel is the pick of the dervs.
 
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Banzai_Joe said:
I like comfort and gadgets in the car, and the luxury of NOT hearing the sound of the engine when driving (especially with diesels).
Click to expand...

Yet you want a smaller car?

Given your previous cars you're clearly going to be happy with very little, so although it's a massive cliché in this forum, I'm going to be the first to state the obvious and say 2.0 petrol Mondeo.

This one for example:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1972815.htm

Ghia spec so a nice place to be and plenty of gadgets.
2.0 so frugal yet not terribly slow.
12k miles isn't very much really so if you don't want to hear the engine, I'd go for a petrol.
 
To give you an idea on fuel costs between the three (assuming local prices here £1.17 and £1.19 and 1000 miles a month)

Laguna (44MPG) - £122
Mondeo (30MPG*) - £177 *And 30MPG is generous tbh!
1.8D Focus (50MPG) - £108

By the time you consider insurance and tax differences(£105 for Diesel, and £235 for Mondeo), it isn't as clear cut as "<20K a year? PETROL" when you're buying a car that doesn't really cost any more for the Diesel version.
 
30Mpg isn't being generous.

It takes either the DMF, injectors or a turbo to go and those savings are blown into the water.
 
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MikeHiow said:
To give you an idea on fuel costs between the three (assuming local prices here £1.17 and £1.19 and 1000 miles a month)

Laguna (44MPG) - £122
Mondeo (30MPG*) - £177 *And 30MPG is generous tbh!
1.8D Focus (50MPG) - £108

By the time you consider insurance and tax differences(£105 for Diesel, and £235 for Mondeo), it isn't as clear cut as "<20K a year? PETROL" when you're buying a car that doesn't really cost any more for the Diesel version.
Click to expand...

It's not clear cut, no, but if he doesn't want to hear the engine, surely it's got to be a petrol? I'd pay £199 extra per year not to hear the diesel if that was one of my criteria.
 
Those figures are per month - It's not £199 a year, its nearly £1000.

The OP claims he wants another Diesel - I assume he doesn't want to hear the engine at cruising speeds, which you probably won't with most Modern cars, diesel or otherwise. But not hearing the engine at all? Not even a petrol Mondeo can pull that off.
 
There certainly seems to be a far greater choice of diesels for the four year old Mondeo. As long as he can live with the chug chug at idle.
 
Janesy B said:
30Mpg isn't being generous.

It takes either the DMF, injectors or a turbo to go and those savings are blown into the water.
Click to expand...

Surely that relies on one of those things breaking consistently every year for him not to make any savings?

By reading on this forum you'd think that EVERY diesel car will blow a turbo, injectors or DMF within 80k miles... :rolleyes:

I'd like to know the actual failure rate of these engines to see how overblown the problem really is
 
sovietspybob said:
Surely that relies on one of those things breaking consistently every year for him not to make any savings?

By reading on this forum you'd think that EVERY diesel car will blow a turbo, injectors or DMF within 80k miles... :rolleyes:

I'd like to know the actual failure rate of these engines to see how overblown the problem really is
Click to expand...

No but it's a higher RISK, one you have to take in consideration.

It's no good screaming from the rooftops about how amazing they are, how cheap the tax is or how many MPGZZZZZ you get, without considering the risks.
 
MikeHiow said:
Yes, both he and I addressed the risk in our posts.
Click to expand...

Sorry, where? Or am I being hard of reading? If you're going to be harsh on the petrol by quoting a silly low MPG, I'm going to counter that by showing up the diesel for the potential bag of issues that it is.

Considering the Diesel Mondeo sounds like a Transit at idle and low speeds, a nice petrol might be what he's after.
 
It might sound a bit tractor like at low speeds but they're perfectly fine at cruising speeds. For most people who do moderate mileage diesels are perfectly fine.

I owned a diesel MK2 focus for 3 years and 60k miles and it was great, cheap motoring.

I only sold as i wanted something faster and more interesting hence going back to petrol.

Keep it properly serviced and drive it properly and it shouldn't give you any more issues than any other kind of car -i.e. don't rag it away from cold which a lot of people seem completely oblivious too :S
 
Lol, you pistonheads are really passionate arne't ya?!
Either way thanks for the replies.
My OP was my wishlist really, if i have to compromise so be it. The Laguna has blown the turbo 2 months after buying it, luckily warranty covered it otherwise i'd have been bummered.
The engine on the laguna isn't too loud at all tbh, i just remember (and i'm probably being way out of date here) that smaller cars didn't muffle the engine sounds as much as larger cars do/did.
That said, i was driving a 307 the other week and at traffic lights it was so quiet i thought it had stalled.

If i said, "spec me an astra comparable" (still diesel though please), would that help?
 
I didn't suggest a Diesel Mondeo.

I can't see a 2 litre Mondeo getting any more than 30MPG unless it spends its life on motorways, and if that was the case, the OP would be getting more than 44MPG out of his previous diesel.

It was addressed in the fact that a Diesel could save him £1000 a year, which means even if one of those issues you mentioned caused an issue every year (which they won't), he'd still be making a saving (albeit a small one).

OP: Go test a Petrol and a Diesel MK2 Focus - both are good cars, and the 1.8 Diesel is even supposed to be quite reliable.
 
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