car with a deadly dull interior and no wallowing in corners

[jsp56]

Hi,

I would like to buy a newish car with a really extremely dull interior (no exciting coloured backlighting on the stereo buttons, no little screens anywhere, ideally all analog instruments except for perhaps a small grey display on the radio). I'm upgrading from an '06 mondeo, but everything these days seems to be like the Blackpool illuminations inside by comparison. :-)

I also would like a car that has a very smooth ride, with no wallowing in the corners.

I wondered if anyone might know where I should look for such a thing? The '11 Ford Focus is nice and the vauxhall corsa seems okay, but none of them seems to have the gravitas and super-smooth ride of the mondeo.

Do you think the day of such cars is gone, or should I keep hunting?

Thanks,

JSP

[alfabadass]

Get a mondeo.

[jsp56]

The mondeo unfortunately seems to be very garish inside now and also, just *huge*. Weirdly, even notionally quite small cars (e.g. Fiesta) seem to be wider than our Mondeo now, and the streets near us are very narrow. I'm trying to reconcile myself to a step down to a smaller car, but it's kind of hard to give up on our old one. Might have to throw away the engine and tie a sail on top.

[SeldomSeenKid]

Saab 9-5

[TheEnd]

Something Japanese.

[jsp56]

The Saab 9-5 looks lovely but is also quite huge. I think we'd struggle to pass an oncoming cyclist in one of those. :-) V. nice though.

[jsp56]

The japanese marques also all seem to be very colourfully backlit all over the instrument panel, but thanks for the idea. :-)

Clear a Tata is the answer.

[Mound Dawg]

One of my pals has an Avensis estate that's perfect for your requirements.

I've driven it a few times and it does everything really well.

Unfortunately you can also feel your soul being sucked into a black hole with every click of the odometer.

[GenePoolReject13]

A vauxhall would be ideal, they handle quite well. That's not to say it's an involving drive but they have good grip, don't roll very much and on the smaller wheels they ride well. Interiors can be well equipped but very dull. The Astra May have some mood lighting but nothing too dramatic.

[samoht]

A Dacia Sandero might be worth considering, I think they have a basically French ride/handling compromise and bare-bones interior.

[crazy about cars]

Nissan GTR

[CYMR0]

I think you'd like a Kia Cee'd.

The ride/handling compromise isn't as good as a Focus, but the interior layout is very simple and ergonomic and the 1.6 diesel engine is great - much punchier than a Golf but just as economical and vastly superior to the Focus engine, and quite a bit more economical.

On top of that you get a seven-year warranty.

[Noesph]

Dacia not a bad shout, the sandero access (the cheapest £5995 one) is very, very plain.



My twingo is pretty basic, but many people don't like the dash in the middle. Personally it doesn't bother me. Just a simple 3 dial heater control (and lots bits shared with a dacia). Ride is pretty good for what it is.

[jsp56]

Thanks for all of these great suggestions. I'm having a good scout around and looking at them all.

I went to see the Toyota Avensis today and it's absolutely beautiful inside, and the lights can all be dimmed down to the nothing - so the perfect car in the respect. They didn't have a single one for me to test drive and WhatCar don't seem wild about it, but it's joint top of the list just now. It has exactly the same dimensions as my 2006 Mondeo, which is much more suitable than the huge modern Mondeo.

The other good car seems to be the 2011 Ford Focus Sport which has an attractive dash, with lights that can be turned right down and a non-glaring screen. It drives like the smaller class of car that it is (Sport model with big wheels wobbles from side to side a bit, and Zetec with small wheels and harder suspension bumps up and down).

Without having driven the Toyota, I'm torn between buying the Ford Focus to get 5 years of reliable driving for 8k or using the 8k to keep my ultra-stable 2006 Mondeo on the road for another 5 years. I'll phone round some garages and do a bit of head-scratching about the Mondeo before making the decision.

Thanks again for this great information!

JSP

[ORD]

Current Mazda 3 in either hatch or saloon form. Fairly small, handles very well and is pretty minimalist inside (apart from the tablet thing).

[Fastdruid]

jsp56 said:

Without having driven the Toyota, I'm torn between buying the Ford Focus to get 5 years of reliable driving for 8k or using the 8k to keep my ultra-stable 2006 Mondeo on the road for another 5 years. I'll phone round some garages and do a bit of head-scratching about the Mondeo before making the decision.

Unless it's a diesel and/or you're doing stellar miles why would it cost 8k for 5 years motoring in a Mondeo?
Mine cos about 1k in 5 years and 80k.... Was 9 years old when I got it too.

[jsp56]

Hi,

Thanks for asking. I bought the car when I had a motorway commute, but I've since given up work to be a Mum and I only take it for very short journeys - perhaps 2 miles each way, every other day. I don't think it likes this kind of driving at all because we've had to make a number of expensive repairs. (Brake discs, battery, and now the turbocharger apparently failed). There's another thread in my name about it. I don't know much about cars and I really don't want to have to constantly visit garages and wonder whether the car is going to fail on me every week or just every other week. From that point of view, I'm inclined to buy the Focus and pass the Mondeo on to someone who can drive in the way that it was built to be driven.

Jen

[Mercury00]

jsp56 said:

WhatCar don't seem wild about it

I wouldn't pay any attention to them, all of their trousers have holes in the knees from their VW reviews.

[goneape]

Mercury00 said:

I wouldn't pay any attention to them, all of their trousers have holes in the knees from their VW reviews.

Smashing put down.

[jsp56]

I know just what you mean. I've test driven a Golf and it wasn't a patch on my 2001 fiesta.