Cars, don't you just hate them

[barb]

Hi All
sorry about this but I feel I need to have a good moan about my car.
I have a 8yr old ford mondeo 1.8 TD and because of the mileage I do for work (average mileage 30,000 pa) I feel loath to go out and buy another car (it is generally a good work horse, reason we bought it) and also due to financial reasons would be unable to get another car for a short while.
My car is in the garage again today having a new radiator fitted, it was in there last month for a new cambelt, month before starter motor, before that heating matrix and lots of other bits in between, I have spent in excess of £1700 (would have been spent of golf equip otherwise) in the last 6 months and now I feel that I can't go back finanicially as without my car I can't do my job, does this ever end or am I just unlucky
Please tell me (lie if you have to ) that there is light at the end of the tunnel and the car will settle down
Thank you
Barb
( hopefully it will get me to the golf club this weekend)

 

[birdieman]

Barb, there is no light at end of tunnel, you need to get hold of a suitable tree branch and give the car a good thrashing John Cleese style!

 

[Up_Point_1]

Barb, from the safety of my office I shall ask you this question.

Would it not have been cheaper in the long run to buy another car?

I can't imagine an 8 year old Mondeo being worth much more than the £1700 you've already shelled out on it.

I will now take cover

DHM.

 

[barb]

Thanks birdieman
I think I may have to start saving for a another car and when I get one the tree branch shall be a welcome sight.
Sorry to hear your off your feet , hope the back gets better soon but keep moving if you can.
Kind regards
Barb

 

[barb]

DHM,
with hindsight we would have just got another car but financially we have passed the point of no return, I shall start saving now, an donations welcome
And no the car isn't worth that much now, well maybe only in parts

 

[medwayjon]

Best bet for somebody doing your mileage levels is to buy an above average mileage car, keep it for a year, and move it on. I know it is a pain but the repair bills you have just forked out is over double the car's value based on it having done only 80,000 miles currently.

The other alternative is to buy a bomb-proof car like a passat/octavia/406 and run it into the ground as these cars will do 300k easily.

What are the garage charging you by the way??? Do they charge £/hour labour rate?

 

[Nico]

Barb

I love my car but I am on the cusp of selling it because of the bills (£850 for the last service).

It is still worth something but another 20k miles and it starts to drop dramatically.

 

[medwayjon]

Nico, £850 for a service??? Is it a bentley???

 

[barb]

I am relatively lucky in that the garage I use (small independent garage) is really good and their labour charges are minimal, a service is generally only £60 full service and if the repair is big bill (i.e. over £150) I can divide the payments up.
The car is above average mileage but until recently has been a really good runner and it's also a diesel.
But I think it's time to change , think we may go for another mondeo, newer model if we can get a cheap one (no cambelt change then )

 

[medwayjon]

The new TDCI mondeos are good but expensive potential (and common) problems include; clutch (dual-mass flywheel system) is £600 + Vat, Injector failure anything upto £1200, Turbo failure anything upto £1000, Engine Management (ECU) failure £500, just to name a few. They are great cars though and probelms only occur after 80,000 plus miles generally.

Also beware clocking, these are one of the most commonly clocked cars, a lot of people doing space-ship mileages on lease cars, to avoid mileage charges have them clocked anually before their servicing so as far as the National Mileage Register goes, all is well and good.

I sold a lot of these until recently but lately I have only been offered nice low mileage examples with "lost" service history and an interior that was very lived in.

If it was my money I would buy VW/Audi/Skoda or a mercedes c220 cdi. These are all cars that will do scary mileage without too much trouble as long as properly serviced.

 

[Nico]

Medway

I wish!!

It's a Merc CLK430 and it needs a big service.

It drinks like a Bentley but is an economy car next to my old Rangie (4.6 Vogue)

 

[medwayjon]

That makes sense, I just sold a 7 year old e320cdi and it had over £41,000 worth of servicing/maintenance invoices with it. Ouch.

 

[TonyN]

i knew you were in trouble when you said ford, barb, godbless you dear.

Vauxhall diesel engines are damn good in my opinion.

But i dont think you wil get anythin better than (as MJW said) Anything from the VW group.

 

[barb]

Hi Guys
Just thought I'd let you know we have just been offered by relative his VW Passat(well looked after)if we can hold on for about 4 months as he's buying a new one just before the 58 plate comes out, I think this is what we are going to do.
Thanks for listening guys, much appreciated
Barb

 

[Up_Point_1]

Barb,

Don't think you can go too far wrong with a VW.

I could well go for a VW myself for my next car. Really like the look of the new Tiguan, although I will need to win the lottery to buy one

DHM.

 

[medwayjon]

Just sold 2 passat diesels, they are such good, reliable and economical cars that there is always strong demand for them.

Well worth holding on for that I would say.

 

[barb]

Hi jon
we are going to do just that as I know the service history but it's petrol (not a problem) and it's the turbo model 1.8 I think and it's a V reg 109000 on the clock. What would you pay for it?
Barb

 

[medwayjon]

I, bearing in mind I would pay trade money, Which would be around £1400 for that car.

They are good cars, the only faults they suffer commonly is an abs unit for £150 (re-con) and an oil-pump which is around £250 fitted.

 

[barb]

Thanks jon
Wil bear that in mind
Barb

 

[madandra]

Barb, just when you think you see light at the end of the tunnel, its a mechanic with a torch telling you the engine is shot.