Putting the handbags aside for a minute, both are perfectly good cars that can be run on next to nothing. In reality it'll come down to whether the op wants a mondeo sized car rather than whether its any more expensive to run etc (and if it is its a miniscule difference)
What car for approx 2k? Looking for something nice but reliable
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You could have that or spend the same money on a 2002 Focus Zetec.
I feel stupid saying the Mondeo is much better value after buying a Focus, but insurance really was that stupid for me
No they are not, if they were it would be utterly pointless to buy a 1.6 focus, and why would they have ever sold a single one!
I have already posted that a 2.0 mondeo is going to cost you more than a 1.6 focus to maintain.
Tax - £70 difference per year.
Fuel - £200 difference (7,500 miles per annum) If you were average Joe doing 12,000 miles per annum it would be even more expensive...
Insurance - JanesyB has already pointed out a mondeo would have been £500 more to insure.
Parts - Actually more expensive, front discs alone are £16 (each) more expensive on the mondeo than the focus Mondeo Front Discs - Focus front discs
Because purchase price brand new was quite a big difference, obviously.
Yes, yes you have, but they are not 1,000,000 miles apart now are they.
OMG, £70, that's almost crippling!
Best get saving that 19p a day you'll need extra over the focus.Small price to pay (£3.50 a week) to drive a better car.
Completely subject to area, age, and history. For me the difference would be incomprehensible. For example, the difference between insuring an Audi A1 1.2, and an Audi S4 V6 Turbo is a staggering £23.
So, £16 extra every 2 years? That's comparable. Again, best get saving that ridiculous 2p a day you'd need to save up the difference in 2 years.
I never said they were the same to run, they are comparable.
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Focus 1.6 Zetec list price: £12,400
Mondeo 2.0 Ghia X list price: £19,450
I think that's why people bought the Focus, it was 7k cheaper when it was new. Now you can have the car that was 7k more when it was new, for less than a Focus of the same age. Great deal surely?
Is anyone really going to feel that sort of cost anyway compared to the fact you get a car that is so much newer and well equipped? A single parts failure on a Focus would soon even out the difference. A 10 year old Focus will need the replacement of the rear suspension bushses (mine have just been flagged up by Ford) where as a newer car probably wouldn't need that work.
Some people don't even pay that much to insure their cars, I already explained the abnormality with my area.
Just LOL, who would really spend £36 on a single Ford disc when you can get a Mintex brake box for the front for £45 delivered on ebay, Mondeo one is £50. Okay 'same' isn't the right word to use, but it's so similar the difference is negligible.
If you shop around and buy smart, you can save a lot of money. Although I doubt the only person in the world that managed to buy a Zetec without AC and a heated screen would understand that.
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Dear JanseyB + Paradigm,
Your points are all noted, and as far as I can see this is going to go round in circles. OP has already stated he has an unclean license, so this could potentially lead to him having to pay a greater amount on insurance alone for the 2.0 mondeo over the 1.6 focus.
Paradigm, I'm glad you can insure an Audi S4 for similar cost to an Audi A1 1.2, you are very lucky. So on your terms why do you have a 4 pot petrol A6? If maintenance and running costs will be so marginal....
In the end it's entirely up to the OP what he chooses. His budget is £2k, if he chooses the focus it could potentially save him ~£500 per year (wild stab at insurance cost for him). So that is 25% of the value of the whole car. Which must be a great deal to consider when you are buying such a cheap car in the first place.
Paradigm's sig obviously shows he's not shy of cash, therefore wanting to save £300 a year clearly doesn't interest him in the slightest. Other people have other priorities, and if the OP buys the focus or the mondeo, then it's his choice and therefore no one can argue, as both are good cars, it's all down to preference. I have merely shown the best car in class, which is slightly cheaper to run than the mondeo which is best car in class.
Thanks
Your points are all noted, and as far as I can see this is going to go round in circles. OP has already stated he has an unclean license, so this could potentially lead to him having to pay a greater amount on insurance alone for the 2.0 mondeo over the 1.6 focus.
Paradigm, I'm glad you can insure an Audi S4 for similar cost to an Audi A1 1.2, you are very lucky. So on your terms why do you have a 4 pot petrol A6? If maintenance and running costs will be so marginal....
In the end it's entirely up to the OP what he chooses. His budget is £2k, if he chooses the focus it could potentially save him ~£500 per year (wild stab at insurance cost for him). So that is 25% of the value of the whole car. Which must be a great deal to consider when you are buying such a cheap car in the first place.
Paradigm's sig obviously shows he's not shy of cash, therefore wanting to save £300 a year clearly doesn't interest him in the slightest. Other people have other priorities, and if the OP buys the focus or the mondeo, then it's his choice and therefore no one can argue, as both are good cars, it's all down to preference. I have merely shown the best car in class, which is slightly cheaper to run than the mondeo which is best car in class.
Thanks
A few reasons. Firstly I got the car cheap. Secondly the running costs of an S4 avant/S6 avant over my lowly 2.0T are verging on triple the costs, not a few quid here and there.
For what it's worth I'm looking to get back into a 6 or 8 cylinder car this year.
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rossk26 simmer down.
Remind me what car you have again?
er what? I bought a 20 year old e28 535i for less than that and ran it for 5 years . Some of the most trouble free driving I have ever had.
that said I know bmw have dropped the quality control over the last 15 years
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Compared with more modern cars the E28 is very simple mechnically and nothing mechanical is particularly expensive to fix, so thats both hardly suprising and not really relevant to the point at hand. Probably the bigger issue with an E28 now is rust.
Nope. He actually bought a 1.6 focus. Yet is calling me dense for suggesting the OP buys ones. So therefore this would also make him dense?
He's already raised the insurance point is different for him as he lives in a poor postcode, for someone living elsewhere it's not a problem.
Yes I have a 2003 1.6 Focus Elle with heated leather seats, AC and heated windscreen & mirrors. I could have bought a newer 2.0 Mondeo for my money with climate and electric seats, I weighed up all the running costs and the only thing that stopped me was the fact it would be £500 a year more to insure and the fact I liked the looks of the Focus more (lol I know, I just prefer 3 door cars). I have already explained that insurance in my area is disproportionately high and when I try other postcodes the difference is £50 - £100 which I wouldn't mind paying. There is no real excuse to dismiss one because of running costs which you try and make out to be much more than they really are.
If you read the opening post you'd see the OP got a reasonable quote on a BMW 3 Series, I think he could manage to insure a Mondeo at a reasonable cost if that's the case.
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OP states he is clueless with mechanics and you suggest an E28, perhaps BMW will sort the rust for free
