Next Car Conundrum

[Al321]

I'm currently musing over my next car. I drive approx 20k miles a year, mostly motorway. I'll have about £12k to spend including a part ex. Currently under consideration ( 4 year old):

BMW 3 series 320d Sport

Mazda6 2.2d Sport Nav 175ps

Ford Mondeo 2.0d titanium 185ps

I've heard mazda6 diesels are not the most reliable but is that only on older models?

Any other issues I need to be aware of or any other suggestions or thoughts appreciated. 😃

[MiseryStreak]

I had a 2009 Mazda 6 2.2 180. It was a lovely car to drive and we put 60,000 miles on it over four years. The DPF started injecting oil into the engine one day and lunched it, it was running perfectly up until this point. Car had to be taken away for scrap. It was a real shame, as everything else on the car worked perfectly and it had a really nice leather interior and BOSE sound system. I was really perplexed as to why a DPF system would do this rather than just shut the engine off. Turned a car worth about £5,000 into one worth £50, for no reason.

I would still recommend one, and I'm sure the newer models have a different DPF system, but get the DPF serviced regularly. Or avoid diesels altogether.

[QSROCKS]

I’ve been test driving the current Mondeo and for my mileage (25k per annum) I’m preferring the standard size wheel sizes over the larger sportier ones - makes a decent difference for my ride comfort. Titanium has decent spec levels.

The boot on the Mondeo is also a hatchback style, good for the odd washing machine haha!

To echo the above I had a 2009 Mazda 6 2.2 diesel and the oil contamination issue ruined that engine too! Though I have heard the new one has improved in this regard

[Monkeylegend]

Al321 said:

I'm currently musing over my next car. I drive approx 20k miles a year, mostly motorway. I'll have about £12k to spend including a part ex. Currently under consideration ( 4 year old):

BMW 3 series 320d Sport

Mazda6 2.2d Sport Nav 175ps

Ford Mondeo 2.0d titanium 185ps

I've heard mazda6 diesels are not the most reliable but is that only on older models?

Any other issues I need to be aware of or any other suggestions or thoughts appreciated. ??

Welcome to PH

[Olas]

QSROCKS said:

I’ve been test driving the current Mondeo and for my mileage (25k per annum) I’m preferring the standard size wheel sizes over the larger sportier ones - makes a decent difference for my ride comfort. Titanium has decent spec levels.

The boot on the Mondeo is also a hatchback style, good for the odd washing machine haha!

To echo the above I had a 2009 Mazda 6 2.2 diesel and the oil contamination issue ruined that engine too! Though I have heard the new one has improved in this regard

Its not the wheel size, its the sidewall height. (not aspect ratio, percentage of width is not important here)

[QSROCKS]

Olas said:

Its not the wheel size, its the sidewall height. (not aspect ratio, percentage of width is not important here)

Thanks, learn someone new everyday!

[PTF]

Don't overlook the Honda diesels, particularly the 1.6 DTEC. V impressed with it in my civic.

Honda have really cracked it with this engine IMO. Sure, it's not the most powerful, but it's smooth and very efficient. And because it's been designed from the ground up with DPF in mind, doesn't suffer from the issues that plague lots of other diesel engines that have had new tech bolted onto them to get them to meet emissions standards.

Of course, this means that mine will now disintegrate into a million pieces later today

[Al321]

PTF said:

Don't overlook the Honda diesels, particularly the 1.6 DTEC. V impressed with it in my civic.

Honda have really cracked it with this engine IMO. Sure, it's not the most powerful, but it's smooth and very efficient. And because it's been designed from the ground up with DPF in mind, doesn't suffer from the issues that plague lots of other diesel engines that have had new tech bolted onto them to get them to meet emissions standards.

Of course, this means that mine will now disintegrate into a million pieces later today

Funnily enough my current car is a civic with the 2.2cdti engine! I did consider the 1.6 but for my needs it's underpowered. Remap anyone???

[Pistonheader101]

PTF said:

Don't overlook the Honda diesels, particularly the 1.6 DTEC. V impressed with it in my civic.

Honda have really cracked it with this engine IMO. Sure, it's not the most powerful, but it's smooth and very efficient. And because it's been designed from the ground up with DPF in mind, doesn't suffer from the issues that plague lots of other diesel engines that have had new tech bolted onto them to get them to meet emissions standards.

Of course, this means that mine will now disintegrate into a million pieces later today

Underpowered heavily

[Mr Tidy]

To be honest if I was thinking of a diesel 3 Series I'd be looking for a 6 cylinder one, 325d, 330d or 335d.

The 4 cylinder models (318d and 320d) can potentially suffer from cam-chain issues, and a 6 would make it feel a bit more special than the other options.