Recommended an estate £5k

[Undecided_buyer]

apologies for the persistent questioning!
any opinions on this?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223199729921

Priced similar to the Mazda, but higher mileage.

Didn't know what the engine & 'powershift' auto are like?
These are chain driven engines?

Thanks in advance

[Fastdruid]

nichio3478 said:

I cant recommend the Mazda 6 highly enough.

We bought a 90k mile 2008 sport in black and it is really is a great car. It's properly fun to drive, frugal, tows a caravan with aplomb and so far has put up with my wife's abuse!

The Mazda 6 is a great car....but they rust. Really really badly. Almost as badly as Mercedes.

I had to do a whole load of repairs on our MY06 Mazda 6 MPS (which is low mileage), I'm not sure if newer ones are better but I'd be very carefully checking them underneath and in the arches behind the guards before buying one.

[ALawson]

What age and shape Merc Fastdruid?

[Fastdruid]

ALawson said:

What age and shape Merc Fastdruid?

All of them from the 90's to ~2004-6 or so. Depends on colour, some are better than others. I believe silver cars are the worst for it.

[ZX10R NIN]

Fastdruid said:

All of them from the 90's to ~2004-6 or so. Depends on colour, some are better than others. I believe silver cars are the worst for it.

All Mercedes were fully galvanised from 2003 onwards.

[Undecided_buyer]

Undecided_buyer said:

apologies for the persistent questioning!
any opinions on this?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223199729921

Priced similar to the Mazda, but higher mileage.

Didn't know what the engine & 'powershift' auto are like?
These are chain driven engines?

Thanks in advance

Anything to watch out for on these?

[Undecided_buyer]

Just to throw another in...
Superb 1.8TSI DSG 85K

?

[Tall_Paul]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Subaru-Legacy-GT-Spec-B...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Subaru-Legacy-3-0r-Spec...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Legacy/Outback - the 3.0 version is chain drive. Biased, of course, but they're great cars. The Spec B gets you a few extras, mainly bilstein shocks. 20-30mpg, with 20-25 being round town and up to 30 on a long run.

I looked at all the other options, Mondeo Titanium X, Saab 9-3/9-5 Aero 2.0T/2.3T/2.8 v6, Passat 3.2 FSI, Volvo V50 T5, in the end the Legacy won it.

[Fastdruid]

Tall_Paul said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Subaru-Legacy-GT-Spec-B...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Subaru-Legacy-3-0r-Spec...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Legacy/Outback - the 3.0 version is chain drive. Biased, of course, but they're great cars. The Spec B gets you a few extras, mainly bilstein shocks. 20-30mpg, with 20-25 being round town and up to 30 on a long run.

I looked at all the other options, Mondeo Titanium X, Saab 9-3/9-5 Aero 2.0T/2.3T/2.8 v6, Passat 3.2 FSI, Volvo V50 T5, in the end the Legacy won it.

Equally biased but the Legacy is *far* worse on fuel than the Mondeo 2.5T. For comparison my long term average is 25-26 but I *mostly* do round town. I see 34-38 on a run (although I did once see 29 but that was to Wales and most of Wales was spent in 2nd or 3rd. )

It is belt and the belt is ~125k between changes.

The Mondeo 2.0T is better on fuel but while it has more power it's slower most of the time due to the power all being up top.

Not to say the 3.0 version of the Legacy/outback isn't a great car, it is, but if mpg is a significant consideration then it loses out big time.

[Tall_Paul]

That's decent MPG on the Mondeo, I'll bet AWD losses contribute to the poor MPG on the Legacy. If you're only doing 5-10k miles a year though it's not a huge difference, £500 a year more going from 25mpg average to 30mpg. It all adds up though.

[Fastdruid]

Tall_Paul said:

That's decent MPG on the Mondeo, I'll bet AWD losses contribute to the poor MPG on the Legacy.

Undoubtedly. A friend has a 2004 Volvo V70 2.5T with AWD and the auto gearbox. The engines are very closely related but he gets about 10mpg worse.

Also having that extra cylinder will hurt as will the extra 500cc. It all adds up.

Then you have the Mondeo being turbo charged which means (to a certain extent) you can have your cake and eat it, it will manage the economy of a 2.5l NA but have the performance of something far bigger. Not *that* much bigger in the case of the Mondeo as it is only 216PS but it is still pretty much the same performance as the 3l ST220 yet far better on fuel.

Tall_Paul said:

If you're only doing 5-10k miles a year though it's not a huge difference, £500 a year more going from 25mpg average to 30mpg. It all adds up though.

Too true, although you then have to take VED into consideration which is pretty much directly linked to economy, in some regards a low mileage and high VED becomes harder to swallow.

Edited by Fastdruid on Wednesday 24th October 14:35

[Tall_Paul]

Fastdruid said:

Too true, although you then have to take VED into consideration which is pretty much directly linked to economy, in some regards a low mileage and high VED becomes harder to swallow.

Tell me about it, I've gone from running a bike at £80 a month fuel, £17 a month insurance, and £7 a month VED, to £70 a month fuel, £47 a month insurance and £47 a month VED...

Still, doing 10k a year on the bike commuting was costing me £200 a year just in tyres.

Edited by Tall_Paul on Wednesday 24th October 15:21

[Fastdruid]

Tall_Paul said:

Fastdruid said:

Too true, although you then have to take VED into consideration which is pretty much directly linked to economy, in some regards a low mileage and high VED becomes harder to swallow.

Tell me about it, I've gone from running a bike at £80 a month fuel, £17 a month insurance, and £7 a month VED, to £70 a month fuel, £47 a month insurance and £47 a month VED...

Still, doing 10k a year on the bike commuting was costing me £200 a year just in tyres.

My bike gives worse mpg than the car...Plus refilling every 2-3 days got incredibly tiring. Amazingly I got far better mpg when it was wet and in winter!

[Tall_Paul]

Fastdruid said:

Tall_Paul said:

Fastdruid said:

Too true, although you then have to take VED into consideration which is pretty much directly linked to economy, in some regards a low mileage and high VED becomes harder to swallow.

Tell me about it, I've gone from running a bike at £80 a month fuel, £17 a month insurance, and £7 a month VED, to £70 a month fuel, £47 a month insurance and £47 a month VED...

Still, doing 10k a year on the bike commuting was costing me £200 a year just in tyres.

My bike gives worse mpg than the car...Plus refilling every 2-3 days got incredibly tiring. Amazingly I got far better mpg when it was wet and in winter!

I've basically halved my yearly mileage and my fuel bill will be staying the same

Still, neither my one remaining bike or car have anything owning on them, no lease or PCP or loan payments, all owned outright. But the Legacy is by far the worst mpg vehicle I've ever owned!

[Fastdruid]

Tall_Paul said:

Fastdruid said:

Tall_Paul said:

Fastdruid said:

Too true, although you then have to take VED into consideration which is pretty much directly linked to economy, in some regards a low mileage and high VED becomes harder to swallow.

Tell me about it, I've gone from running a bike at £80 a month fuel, £17 a month insurance, and £7 a month VED, to £70 a month fuel, £47 a month insurance and £47 a month VED...

Still, doing 10k a year on the bike commuting was costing me £200 a year just in tyres.

My bike gives worse mpg than the car...Plus refilling every 2-3 days got incredibly tiring. Amazingly I got far better mpg when it was wet and in winter!

I've basically halved my yearly mileage and my fuel bill will be staying the same

Still, neither my one remaining bike or car have anything owning on them, no lease or PCP or loan payments, all owned outright. But the Legacy is by far the worst mpg vehicle I've ever owned!

Buy an RX-8. Awesome cars but the poor mpg it means almost anything you buy afterwards will seem like an improvement!

The MPS we have averages about 18mpg. This is objectively terrible but in comparison to the 14 or so we saw on the RX-8 it replaced it's subjectively *much* better!

[Undecided_buyer]

Well I'm hopefully going to view a Mazda 6 Sport and Mondeo 2.0 Titanium X sport, over the weekend .

There's an Avensis I fancy looking at if the 2 above don't work out, but it's not as local.

The Mondeo is Powershift though, and the last 4/5 years service have been at an independent, so I bet they haven't changed the gearbox oil which I have read is rather costly on these. At around 70k it should have been done a couple of times really, but I'll see what paperwork they have.

[ZX10R NIN]

If it's not been done the use it as a bargaining tool, it's around £300-400 to get the gearbox service done then negotiate that off the price.

[Undecided_buyer]

ZX10R NIN said:

If it's not been done the use it as a bargaining tool, it's around £300-400 to get the gearbox service done then negotiate that off the price.

Yep, it needs 2 tyres, rear suspension bushes too. And I'm not sure how scuffed up the wheels are, not sure how much a decent wheel refurbs is?
Thanks

[Undecided_buyer]

Regarding the Mondeo 2.0 ecoboost engine, is there anything in particular that should have been changed, eg. Aux belts etc, that I need to check the history for?

If it's had a few years servicing at an independent, I'd guess they've only done the usual ie. Oil,filter,air filter, plugs.

Cheers

[Fastdruid]

Undecided_buyer said:

Yep, it needs 2 tyres, rear suspension bushes too. And I'm not sure how scuffed up the wheels are, not sure how much a decent wheel refurbs is?
Thanks

Rear suspension bushes are an almost universally common failing of them. If you have a Mk4 Mondeo it *will* need new rear bushes at some point.

Cheapest I found to replace when I got mine done was actually Ford but it'll depend on where you are.

Sorry I can't comment on the 2.0T or powerst.