Cheap Mondeo - should I?

the one redeeming feture of a car that didn't handle and didn't stop with a big engine they went like stink (i had an SRi130 and it was the bollocks) but brake fade was terrible and the "which way shall we steer today" torque steer was the worst i've ever felt

who was selling the 525? holler this way :)

*cough*

-- Peter

"The humble bic biro draws 13 beards, 9 devil moustaches and 49 penises on newspapers in its lifetime."

Nonsense. My Mk1 Astra GTE was the dog's danglies in 1984. Superb performance, ride, handling, interior and totally reliable for the 6 years I had it until some vile little 15 year old stole it from the office carpark and trashed it. I'd possibly still be driving that car now if it hadn't been nicked. It did everything I wanted from a car.

When I look back over the cars I've owned for 25 years the Astra was the best for its time and the one I have fondest memories of. OK the Focus goes round corners so fast I still haven't quite got used to it but it does little else better than the 20 year older Astra design.

The Focus front pads and disks were dead by 30k miles (The Astra was never touched in 50k miles other than tyres, oil, filters etc) . The rear wheel bearings are well known for collapsing at the same mileage and leaving you stranded if not worse. The clutches are suspect and the gearboxes make a godawful racket at low speed. The pollen filter leaks (see other thread) and the weight of modern cars is so high that even with an extra 200cc, 8 extra valves and 20 bhp the Focus is far slower than the Astra was.

The Astra's Recaros were the best seats I've ever driven in and its stability at high speed and high 5th gear made my regular Aberdeen - London trips a snip. No other car I've had has done non stop 500 mile journeys in such a relaxing manner.

Agreed. It was a piece of piss to change a clutch on the FWD Vauxhall's and a nightmare on a Mondeo. There's no excuse for all FWD cars not to have a similar design to keep maintenance costs down.

I'm not convinced that cars have improved massively over the last 20 years. Interiors have become more ergonomic and ride and handling have generally improved but increasing complexity of management systems, catalytic converters etc have pretty much killed DIY problem solving and repair and cars are now so heavy that fuel consumption and performance is no better than it was back then.

If we could keep the sensible improvements in technology but ditch the ridiculous complexity designed to try and improve emissions I suspect we could have cars that were easier to fix, lighter, cheaper to make and faster.

Most cars do. If we are talking about a 10 year old car with 100k + miles then the dampers and springs are going to be tired, whatever the car make.

In message , dojj writes

We'll have to disagree then.

"Pete M" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

I'm assured that the original Olds Toronado was quite good fun. But then, a bluddy gurt v8 and insy winsy drums would make for fun...

thats fair enough, but just because something is newer doesn't mean it's better than something thats older when it's as old as the older car is when it was new

if you see what i mean :)

for the time, maybe it was a little better than the rest, but as standard they were crap

the only thing vauxhall got right was the engines but the rest was so terrible it was downright dangerous if you didn't touch the brakes for 50k then you just wern't driving it hard enough

3 stops from 100 mph and the pdeal went as soft as a marshmallow, in every vauxhall of that vintage even with the event of discs all round, they were still making crap feeling brakes that faded away right up until the 94 cars (been there, done that, even changed the servo and m/c on a cav for new stuff and the pedal still went to the floor after everything else in the braking system was changed)

i've got out of a granada with big comfy armchairs and not had a problem, mercs have been the same ok, so the performance wasn't on par with the little astra's but i think you are looking at things through rose tinted specticals a little ;)

these words i can't disagree with :)

I'm not even convinced of that (though I admit they were faster and more efficient than equivalent Fords) - the first job I ever had owned a fleet of Astra vans and almost every single one of them apart from the very newest (M and N reg) broke down with engine trouble. Put me off Vauxhall for life. Mind you, they didn't seem to show rust as much as the same age Fords...

If only they carried on with the (pre-Guppy shaped) Granada and rust-proofed their rear arches better - I'd probably still be driving one now!

Darren

133k miles on the Passat and it's still tight as a virgin....

The message from snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk (SteveH) contains these words:

You mean unpredictable when handled roughly, liable to squeal when you push it hard and unreasonably dependant on good quality rubber?

Lol.

And you are sure that the dampers and springs are original?

In message , Guy King writes

ROFL.

No bloody idea. No invoices for the history, just a book full of main dealer stamps.

So its possible that its had new dampers, bushes etc at say, 90k miles, hence the good ride. I'm not saying that its a certainty....... perhaps the Passat is good in that respect but in my experience all cars are a bit saggy at that mileage and yours may have had some new bits fitted in the past.

Nope; from memory the GLX added funky wheel trims, electric heated mirrors and ABS. It also had a plusher interior.

The 1.8s were around £200 more. And the 1.6 is an insurance group or two lower, which makes no material difference to 99% of owners...

*cough* ROFL!

Mr. Tea meet Ms. Laptop.