Buying a 3 year old upmarket estate

[Poppiecock]

I had a Mondeo Titanium as a hire car when I managed to break the steering rack in my old F10.

Night and day. The Mondeo looked OK on the surface but everything was so cheap and nasty. It wasn’t even that cheap at list price, or to lease.

Worst was the economy. My F10 averaged about 42-46mpg, with some trips seeing over 50mpg.

The Mondeo had less power, a horrible power shift gearbox and averaged 36mpg.

It’s not a surprise we had Ford removed from our car list.

[nav2014]

Out of interest; many responses mention Skoda somethings, Mondeo's, Mazda's, Mercedes C class and other forgetful stuff which are all very good cars I'm sure, and which the OP cites as suggestions too, but, given the OP's criteria, what now defines a prestige car?

[ninjag]

nav2014 said:

Out of interest; many responses mention Skoda somethings, Mondeo's, Mazda's, Mercedes C class and other forgetful stuff which are all very good cars I'm sure, and which the OP cites as suggestions too, but, given the OP's criteria, what now defines a prestige car?

Perhaps one which is desired by the many but obtainable by the few, although has PCP made 'prestige' more obtainable?

Maybe a car's prestige value can be measured by how good looking the girl in the passenger seat is haha.

[scot_aln]

What was upmarket is really mass market these days and the real upmarket offerings (that most of us mortals can't afford) have gone all SUV and not estate. The Bentayga, the Cullinan, the urus. Actually is the Panamera Sport Turismo perhaps the only 'premium estate' none of which helps the OP

[snowman99]

I know you said upmarket, but if you consider Ford, I’d say a Skoda Superb or VW Passat. The higher spec models are really nice places to be.

[NewUsername]

Poppiecock said:

I had a Mondeo Titanium as a hire car when I managed to break the steering rack in my old F10.

Night and day. The Mondeo looked OK on the surface but everything was so cheap and nasty. It wasn’t even that cheap at list price, or to lease.

Worst was the economy. My F10 averaged about 42-46mpg, with some trips seeing over 50mpg.

The Mondeo had less power, a horrible power shift gearbox and averaged 36mpg.

It’s not a surprise we had Ford removed from our car list.

Given that spec for spec/option for option the BMW would be around £10k more is it much of a surprise is wasn't as 'good' as the F10?

Still got a bigger boot though and drives very well. For the record I own a BMW

[Poppiecock]

NewUsername said:

Given that spec for spec/option for option the BMW would be around £10k more is it much of a surprise is wasn't as 'good' as the F10?

Still got a bigger boot though and drives very well. For the record I own a BMW

It's not just about trinkets, though - a 520d SE may not have the kit of a Mondeo Titanium, but some of the most luxurious feeling cars are actually quite basic in terms of specification. (Mercedes used to be kings of this - fairly basic specification levels, but the drive, ride and comfort was in a different league to the competition).

List price means little, either - if you want to lease a big car, the Mondeo is surprisingly expensive vs. a 5 series. When we did have Ford on our car list, a Vignale was more to lease and more on BIK.

If you have cash and only have Mondeo money, then a Passat or Superb is where your money should go.

[sparkythecat]

John-4xo95 said:

The time has come for me replace my long serving MG ZTT190.

I tend to buy a 2 or 3 year old car then keep it for ages (5 years at least)

These days I’ll probably end up with an 3y.o. ex-PCP car as there are many on the market.

I’m considering a prestige / near-prestige estate car : Mercedes C-Class, Jag XF Sportbrake, Mazada 6, Volvo v60, Mondeo, etc


But…… due to the complexity of these cars is owning one from 3 to 8 years old just going to be a money pit i.e. hitting be ‘peak unreliability/ repair cost’?

How does this bear out in practice?

Any thoughts / recommendations?

(I don’t mind a few minor things not working and minor repairs but I want to avoid major bills).

Should I take the plunge, go newer (i.e. 1 y.o. or ex-demo) or even spend a couple of grand bringing my ZTT back up to scratch?

I did exactly this with a succession of motors over 20 years
I started in the mid 90s with a 4 year old BMW 325i touring, E30 3 series. It was brilliant and other than routine stuff, the only problem was a steering rack leak. I went from that to an E36 328i auto touring. I kept that for 6 years. It needed an expensive gearbox ecu replacement towards the end of my ownership.
I then got into a 3 year old E39 530i auto Touring. I kept that for 6 years and put on 90k miles. It was the best car of the lot. A new water pump was the only extraordinary expense, although the tailgate springs were on there way out and there was a few rust bubbles coming through when I sold it.
It's obvious successor was the E60 5 series, but I hated the interior styling that much, when I got in one, thatI didn't even bother test driving it.
I went instead for a 3year old C6 Audi Avant 3.0tdi quattro. It was an S-line model that the first owner had specced every conceivable extra on. It was a decent car and a nice place to sit, but I didn't enjoy it anything like the E39 BMW. It threw up a few bills too. A leak in the rear screen washer threw water all over the MMI computer and it shat itself. The fuel gauge sender units in the tank (there are two) kept failing and the engine swirl flap motors had to be replaced.
At the time of buying these cars, at 3-4 years old, I was getting them for less than half their original cost. The Audi for instance had cost someone £42k. I bought it for £15k. The £30k 5 series cost me £12k. The problem though was after 5-6 years and another 80 to90k to miles on, they werent worth a great deal.

Based on this experience, if I was faced with the same choices as th OP is now, I wouldn't consider borrowing money to buy 3 to 5 year old prestige brand estate to keep for 5 to 6 years.
Why? Because despite spending a not inconsiderable wedge, you eventually end up driving a tired 10year old car.
Instead, I'd consider something perhaps a bit less prestige and much younger on PCP. That way, although it may cost a little more, you're always in a fresher, 3-4 year old car.

If the cars age is not that important to you, then the much cheaper alternative is to go shedding - probably in something Japanese.

[Carl-hbhuh]

I can also vouch for the 330d, I’ve owned it from 29k now on 78k not a single issue always serviced at BMW. 43mpg on average and it’s the xdrive model.