So the mighty Mondeo has finally ground to a halt with a failed DMF. 😐
2002 TDCi model, 180k, not a bad innings.
Cost us little more than a yearly sump of oil, tyres & fuel for the last 6 yrs.
£700 fix, so not really worth it. 😐

So looking at medium (Golf/Focus) size cars.
Not bothered which fuel, probably prefer petrol if honest.(DPF’s etc…shudder).
Economy not really an issue, neither of our commutes are very far.

Golf ?
Mondeo ?
Astra ?

Anything else worth considering ?

Drawn to a Golf if honest, 1.4 petrols seem plentiful. Any negatives with that engine ?
Just after a basic runabout that will do us for 4-5yrs or so.
Its a second car, so wont see a lot of miles (3-5k pa).

Is that the twincharged 1.4? I think those can be a little problematic. Have a search on pistonheads.

I am a bit old school and think a 1.4 in a Golf which is quite a heavy car isnt a big enough engine. At your mileage a
I’d say petrol definitely. On another thread I suggested an Auris as Toyotas are so reliable and the car seems a bit unloved (dull to drive) so quite cheap.

I’m old school as well and was of mind that the 2.0l petrol in our 900S was about right. Pleasantly surprised by the 1.4l TSI in our Octavia estate..

Mind you I drew the line when the car salesman in Inverness tried to sell me a Skoda Rapid on the basis that 1.2l was all I’d need – family of four, weekends and weeks away on activities, you must be bloody joking 🙂

Better the devil you know?

£700 is alot of money but if you’ve had no issues in 6 years of ownership then is it worth fixing?

Failing that, standard STW, Skoda Fabia or Octavia?

Avoid the Astra. Hateful cars.

I’d go for the Focus personally, definitely the equal of the Golf without the VW brand premium in cost.

just out of curiosity, was that the original DMF?

my (2002) mondeo had a DMF replacement at 89K, long before I got it. It’s now up to 162K and I worry that the clock might be ticking on this one…

When it gets to situations like this I think “what can I buy for £700” and it’s usually not very much. Better the devil you know, as suggested above.

The only time I get rid of a car is that it’s gonna cost serious money to fix, AND I know there’s a list of other problems that will need fixing very soon and the car is really ready for scrapping.

However, if you want to change your car anyway, and feel yours is pretty much ready for scrapping, then it’s probably the right time to do it.

Autotrader has a really good search function I find, gives me an idea of what is available, locally, within my specs. A good starting point (even if most of the listed vehicles are already sold!).

kcal – Member
Pleasantly surprised by the 1.4l TSI in our Octavia estate..

I’d second the Octavia (estate or otherwise) 1.4TSI. Non diesel estates are relatively rare though.

Petrol C-Max? A bit more usable space than Focus.

I thought you had to change the DMF every ~100k miles in the Mondeo. Mine was on the way out when I flogged my old one at ~130k miles.

I’m in the process of flogging our fantastic 54 plate mondeo and am genuinely shocked how little they are worth.
You’d get a good one for a grand.

What about some sort of Toyota or Nissan? They’re about as cool as socks with sandals, I can’t even remember the names of the models, but they’re usually very well made and very undervalued relative to the life you can get out of them.

Avanis or something? I think they do an Estate too.

You’d probably get a pretty good one for £3k off the 75 year old guy who’s selling it because he’s handed in his license.

You get an awful lot of mondeo for that money. Not in any way a medium sized car, mind, but you know that already! Smaller cars tend to carry a price premium, they’re more in demand. Focus can be good but I kept comparing the prices and specs to mondeos and going “I get 25% more metal for 75% as much!”

@P-Jay I suggested the Auris which is the Corolla replacement, dull to drive but Toyota reliability and often cheaper and easier to buy than smaller Yaris.

@jambalaya yes that’s the one – I just had a quick look if they made a fun one, the Corrola 180 is meant to be really good and super cheap to buy – they do, another 180, but they’ve even made that a bloody diesel.

I’ve gone right off diesels.

Thanks all. Actually had a Corolla some years ago, loved it. Dull as hell but incredibly well built. Not thought of the Auris, will take a gander.

Going to call a few garages but loathe to chuck too much at fixing the Mondeo.
Yes, pretty sure the DMF is the original one. Have pretty much all the history from new but no receipts or service book notes for a DMF. It’s spent its life at 60mph ferrying the sales rep who had it from new, then the Wife up & down the A38 every day. Towed the caravan for a couple of years too, in fact towed it back to storage a few months ago, did a grand job. 🙁

Petrol C-Max? A bit more usable space than Focus.

+1

My 1.6 has been great, comfortable, moderately economical, no faults apart from a hose split at 33k (now at 83k). It even goes round corners with an acceptable degree of fun.

In fact its so good it’s dull, I might have to swap it for a 159 or something to get some engineering excitement/irreliability!

Citroen Berlingo or Peugeot equivalent.

In the same boat and Focus seems to be what mechanics and a couple of AA blokes rate. Or go Japanese, like a Civic, but perhaps pay a premium. I’m replacing a 1.6 petrol Focus with another one. Was happy with the car for several years and it only cost £1k, but now it’s uneconomical to fix. I’d rather a Golf in some ways, but the Focus is a good safe bet according to everyone I’ve quizzed. Paying around £2.5k for one with air con, 73,000 miles, service history, fully serviced from a reputable local garage with 6-month warranty.

Who reckons the Corolla 180 is good?!

There’s a lot of options at that price. Do you care about spec, age, speed, fun, image etc?

Have emailed you.

Based on my old Mondeo, I would say it’s worth fixing.
Very good cars in terms of size, cost, comfort and handling.
At somewhere beyond 200k we sold it (and in hindsight, wished we hadn’t)
2 clutch assemblies, a turbo, 2 sets rear wheel bearings and an oil cooler melt down. Otherwise just consumables. Most of that was done in the first 130k/4 years whilst with a lease company. The second clutch was down to the lease company skimping on a bearing at the first change.

Sorry I’m thick…
What’s a DMF?

EDIT google to the rescue!

Don’t forget a Mazda 3, tad bigger than Golf/Focus, try a mk2 petrol, 1.6 or 2.0, or diesel if u want, good to drive, bags of kit,roomy and reliable.currently om my third, much underated, try one !