Mondeo purchase

In message , Fred writes

Not everyone likes the P6000s, but a replacement cost me £79.90 recently when I burst one by hitting a "traffic calming" kerb.

The price for 4 was obviously slightly cheaper, from e-Tyres in each case.

the diesels are much more expensive to run than the petrol, they hold nearly twice as much oil for instance, and any breakdowns tend to involve telephone numbers. I wasn't trying to be picky about numbers, but it stuck out that they didn't look right. :)

In message , Mrcheerful writes

I was a mile out! I just added up and it's £2356 AND 6 PENCE.

FSH with financial enhancement... ;-)

I have worked it out and don' think I will be doing more than 10,000 miles per year, so on that basis it might be that I don't need a diesel and for any other car perhaps I should go down that route but with mondeos there are very few petrol ones about. I think the petrol ones are quite thirsty and in higher tax bands, so I guess whichever I choose: diesel or petrol, I'm going to spend money on it one way or another.

I have narrowed it down to two cars. One is an 08 diesel automatic, the other is a 58 diesel manual. The 08 has done 40k and the 58 has done 30k. On that basis the 58 looks better but then again, the 08 is cheaper. The interior of the 58 is immaculate but it has a couple of dings in the doors. The exterior of the 08 is pristine but the interior is not as good. I am confused!

The only other difference seems to be that one has the sony radio that holds six CDs and the other has the ford radio which only holds one, but that doesn't seem to be a basis to choose a car on.

Help!

Choose the one with the usb reader or an input for your mp3 player on the radio. Seemples!

Only joking, but personally, I'd go for the manual every time, as they're cheaper to fix when the transmission starts playing up, although they *can* need fixing more often, depending on your driving style. Just my two penn'orth, like.

The gearbox is the most fundamental difference between the two from the driver's perspective, so why not decide on the basis of which you prefer to drive?

If they are both for sale at the same garage, get them to swap the Sony to the car you buy.

Chris

Hi,

I think that's exactly it. I haven't owned an automatic before and it part of me would like to try one out of curiosity. I did have a test drive but it wasn't long enough to make up my mind. I think it could be relaxing letting the car dive itself, on the other hand, when you have driven manuals for so many years, you do gear changes without thinking about them, so I guess I would be happy with either.

I've just noticed the 08 plate has done nearer 50k than 40k, so that makes almost 20k gap, which makes me favour the 58 provided they touch up all the dings in the doors first or knock enough money off for me to have them done elsewhere afterward.

They are at two different garages so swapping the radio is not an option and I am not really bothered about it. I notice quite a few of the mondeos I viewed had worn radio buttons. Are these replaceable or do you just live with it?

Another thing I have noticed is the manual is 140bhp and claims 50mpg, whereas the auto is 130bhp and claims 39mpg. The 10mpg saving sounds good but these figures are always almost theoretical and depend on driving style, so I wonder whether there is that much between the two gearboxes?

Do you think the extra 10bhp would be noticeable?

I asked the salesman and he seemed to think that the auto had the old engine which was only 130bhp, whereas the manual had a newer design of engine that found an extra 10bhp. He said that later auto models (can't remember when) did switch to the newer engine but not in 2008.

I'm still confused but I'm thinking perhaps there is so little to choose between them that I would be happy with either.

Fred

Not just on a Mondeo, but automatics are slightly less efficient than manuals, so I would believe the difference in fuel consumption, with the extra fuel consumption going towards heating up the gearbox, rather than making the wheels go faster. You will notice the extra power on the manual, as it amounts to an extra ten percent or more at the wheels.

Or unhappy, wondering if you did actually buy the better of the two. But that's life for you.

the 130 hp models with either gearbox are more than fast enough. Manual with an extra 10hp is actually overkill. I found that the manual tended to get the wheels spinning out of roundabouts in the wet. The power comes in very hard at 2k .

Unless you need a massive 5-door hatch, rather than saloon or estate, why a Mondeo when you can get a B6 Passat for the same kind of money?

Nedavno Mrcheerful napisa:

I newer owned a diesel before, but I do not like to rev the engine like I am driving a chain saw, so I wander what is the difference between similar petrol and diesel engines while driving. For example ford Focus

I guess that if you like to drive ~2k rpm you will get more torque from diesel, so perhaps that would be a better choice, right?

The mondeo 130hp diesel has a very short usable rev range of about 2k - 3.5k The power comes in with a massive bang as the rev counter hits 2k. They come as standard with a six speed box and need it. I prefer the older style diesel that had power from nothing in a lazy sort of way

Re moving to an auto: I read somewhere (Honest John? Of course I cannot find it now) that changing habits after years of manual may be tricky. Of course a pinch of salt is required; I have learned (?) to double-declutch in my late thirties, so I am sure it's possible. I think the suggestion was to practice left-foot braking on the auto (which I recall to be very tricky [1] because of how my left foot is wired to hit the clutch).

Another thought: have you thought of other makes? I too like the Mondeo, but I would take Mr Cheerful's advice seriously. In addition to the reliability warnings for this model, there's the cost per mile thing to consider; you mention road tax (what, £50 a year difference or something?) but are you sure about the routine servicing costs of a diesel compared to a petrol?

Kostas

Sounds like a very similar delivery to the VAG 130BHP PD Diesel, and given the rate I saw a Mondeo accelerate (very similar to my Fabia vRS) down a slip road, it will be quick enough for most. I never found the Fabia's narrowish rev range a problem personally, and the kick at 2k rpm was fun- made the car feel very very quick, rather than just 'warm'.

I drive an auto and use left foot braking all the time (not just when manouvreing) and I don't have a problem swapping from manual to auto, but I have driven both from an early age. I have more trouble with right hand indicator stalks !!

The thing to never do with an auo is to sit in sideways, put it in reverse or drive and try to use your left foot only to control accellerator and brake. With many years in between I have lightly crashed two cars doing this: an Austin A60 auto (loveley car, I wish I still had one like it) and an AMC Ambassador estate (5.8 V8) (this nearly took my legs off)

keeping a car running because of lack of idle is usually done with the right little toe on the acellerator and the ball of the right foot on the brake pedal :)

I know the theory (though I thought it was heel, rather than other toe), have never achieved it in practice. When I double declutch on braking I unfortunately resort to letting go to rev, then pressing again the brake.

Kostas

it is known as heel and toe, but in practice unless you have small feet it is all toes nowadays. Perhaps when men were men and sheep were cautious, brakes required a harder push and pedals were further apart, it really was heel and toe.

In message , Mrcheerful writes

I suspect that flywheels were also heavier in those days. The last time I consciously and deliberately de-clutched was when I was helping a mate to learn to drive in a 1923 Fiat. No synchromesh, and a gear stick which came up through a slot in the floor. :-) It must have been in the late 50s.