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PhilD

Bangernomics2 - Help needed

Friend of mine has 2 litre Mondeo he picked up for £500. It's pretty tired but the big problem is the MPG.

So, another monkey plus whatever the Mondy can fetch on something with decent boot, bit grunty (boot will often carry couple hundred kg of weights) and better MPG than a 2 litre petrol in a four door saloon.

Any ideas?
Frank Bullitt

Volvo 850 diesel (it's the Audi 5-pot 2.5 unit, 140bhp state of tune) - grunt, capacity, price.  Wins all-round.  However, at the money be prepared for something between 150 and 200K unless a saloon will do then a mere 120K...
PhilD

Can you really get one for that money? Saloon fine, and probably a bit more secure.
gonnabuildabuggy

E34 525TDS or E36 325TDS.

What MPG is he getting? Thing with bangers/all cars is that unless you do hefty miles then the savings are outweighed by the additional money put into another new car.
Frank Bullitt

Alright, needs a few more quid putting towards it:

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es...cture=1998&vehicleRegLetter=R

Nasty wheels, but puntable:

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es...cture=1997&vehicleRegLetter=R

S80:

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es...cture=1999&vehicleRegLetter=T
gonnabuildabuggy

1st to are from dealers so I'd reckon about £1K private.

I'd suggest he goes to a reputable (not the Friday night rubbish stuff) auction and see's what he can get. For £1K he should be able to get into a leggy Mk3 (last shape) Mondeo diesel potentially - though only the TDi.

Also the early Audi A6's are sub £1K generally.
Guitar Zero

Better MPG ?

Mondeo 2.0 manuals will piss 35 mpg all day long. If your chum isn't getting close to that then he should get it properly serviced or use 5th gear more often.
PhilD

Guitar Zero wrote:
Better MPG ?

Mondeo 2.0 manuals will piss 35 mpg all day long. If your chum isn't getting close to that then he should get it properly serviced or use 5th gear more often.


He's getting about 30 I think. As buggy says the new wheels has to be a lot nearer the £500 than £1k and 50 mpg plus to make it worth it.

Any decent Japanese stuff at this price?
Guitar Zero

I can't see how you can get significantly better mpg for such a small amount of money unless you buy a Citroen AX or a very small Pug diesel.

325tds and Audi engined diesel 850s are not as economical as you would think. They aren't very fast either - certainly no quicker than a healthy 2.0 Mondeo. (Think 9 seconds to 60, 27 to 100)

I'd look for another 2.0 Mondeo with a peachy motor.
Matt

I'm interested in how the 325tds sounds.

The only one I've heard briefly as it entered a roundabout alongside me sounded more six than tractor.
gonnabuildabuggy

Guitar Zero wrote:
I can't see how you can get significantly better mpg for such a small amount of money unless you buy a Citroen AX or a very small Pug diesel.

325tds and Audi engined diesel 850s are not as economical as you would think. They aren't very fast either - certainly no quicker than a healthy 2.0 Mondeo. (Think 9 seconds to 60, 27 to 100)

I'd look for another 2.0 Mondeo with a peachy motor.


+1 - you'll get 35-40 out of a E34/E36 BMW diesel but no-where near the 50mpg he's looking for.

I'd be wary on the MPG quoted on diesels as well - drive like a nancy boy in a small car and nothing on board and good figures can be achieved, weigh them up and drive em hard and it plummets. But as economy is the reason d'aitre everyone exagerates to some extent what they get.

I got 35mg out of a nicely run in but lowish mileage X Type diesel compared to 28mpg out of the BMW driven identically.

The only one I can think of worth looking at but out his range is the original "tractor" TDI's used in VW's/Audi's circa 2000 - I went to the lakes and back from MK in an A6 1.9 with 4 up plus kit without filling up - goodness knows what MPG we got but it was a fairly agricultural unit. The non turbo units might be even more economical but far, far, far slower again.
Richard (ex-MB_insider)

What kind of mileage is your mate going to be doing?

Assuming that he can swap the mondeo plus £500 for something diesel then (at todays prices) if the replacement car does:

1. 50mpg then it will be 8,000 miles before he recovers the extra £500 spent,

2. 40mpg then it will be 13,000 miles before he recovers the extra £500 spent.
Frank Bullitt

35mpg out of a 2.0 Mondeo with Fort Knox in the boot?  Perhaps at 55 on the motorway but I can't imagine in the real world it would start with a 3.

The Audi engine in the Volvo was the one advertised in the early 90's as having gone over 1000 miles on a tank (18 gallon?) in an A6 - I would have thought 45mpg would be perfectly possible in normal driving.
PhilD

Frank Bullitt wrote:
35mpg out of a 2.0 Mondeo with Fort Knox in the boot?  Perhaps at 55 on the motorway but I can't imagine in the real world it would start with a 3.

The Audi engine in the Volvo was the one advertised in the early 90's as having gone over 1000 miles on a tank (18 gallon?) in an A6 - I would have thought 45mpg would be perfectly possible in normal driving.


He says 10 squid gets him 60-70 miles and he does 9k a year.
DaveGibson

PhilD wrote:
......  He says 10 squid gets him 60-70 miles and he does 9k a year.

The only way to get a proper figure is to run it brim to brim and see what it takes.
PhilD

talking of diesel MPG I get about 45 from my GP Sporting no matter how I drive it. 3 weeks round France last year, fully loaded for camping and two bikes, up and down the Alps and Pyrennes and plenty of 90mph miles on the autoroutes didn't make much difference (39MPG for 2600 miles).

The only way to get it higher is to not use the turbo but then it would be quicker to walk.
Martin

The Jetta continues to surprise me. When driven like the hire car it is, you struggle to get much below 50mpg on the MFD over a journey, I've never seen one below 45.  It's slightly more optimistic that the Passat was, but the measured average over the first 2000 miles was 46.3mpg.  I expect it will get better as the miles go on.

A colleague was following me from Swindon to MK on Friday, so I drove at more normal speeds and the journey average was 57.6mpg!

Back on topic, Colin is right about the tractor VAG TDIs, but I can't really see the merit in changing.  The condition of the car is going to have far greater bearing on running costs than a couple of mpg over 9k miles/year.
PhilD

Martin wrote:
The Jetta continues to surprise me. When driven like the hire car it is, you struggle to get much below 50mpg on the MFD over a journey, I've never seen one below 45.  It's slightly more optimistic that the Passat was, but the measured average over the first 2000 miles was 46.3mpg.  I expect it will get better as the miles go on.

A colleague was following me from Swindon to MK on Friday, so I drove at more normal speeds and the journey average was 57.6mpg!

Back on topic, Colin is right about the tractor VAG TDIs, but I can't really see the merit in changing.  The condition of the car is going to have far greater bearing on running costs than a couple of mpg over 9k miles/year.


True, but you have to move on at some point before your steed expires? Then it's a question of how much more a diesel is to buy in the first place.
Frank Bullitt

Martin wrote:
...but I can't really see the merit in changing.


Have you told the current Mrs Martin that?

Do you have an axe in the side of your head?

Martin

Sorry, I meant changing to a diesel rather than changing the car.   As you say, they are more to buy for a start so I don't think the increase in MPG will pay.

It's not very often I would suggest not changing a car!!
PhilD

Martin wrote:
Sorry, I meant changing to a diesel rather than changing the car.   As you say, they are more to buy for a start so I don't think the increase in MPG will pay.

It's not very often I would suggest not changing a car!!


I've not looked at prices of diesels at this money.

So basically we are saying that petrols are cheaper and more plentiful at this money - so forget MPG, condition is all.
Martin

I'm no expert in this field, but that's the message I'm getting, condition is everything!
Big TC

One from slightly over in the left field......I give you, the Citroen C5 Diesel. You can get a leggy one for around a grand, year 2000, saloon or estate. If your mate's carrying weighty loads, the C5's hydro-whatsit suspension will keep everything on the level...

I used to average 44mpg with a 2.2 diesel C5 a few years ago. And a supremely comfortable ride too.
gonnabuildabuggy

Martin wrote:
I'm no expert in this field, but that's the message I'm getting, condition is everything!


Totally....

Also if a TDI goes west it's big money to fix vs a Petrol.

If he cares not one jot about cars then I guess I'd be looking at a pensioner owned Avensis or something similar. FSH essential.

The Pug/Citroen diesel's occurred to me as well. I'm not sure a C5 would be in budget but a 406 might (cheaper to fix than similar age Xantia). A Xsara diesel might also be undesired and therefore cheap.

Small diesels are in demand so expensive for what they are.
PhilD

Does he care about cars? He does, but not in the way us lot do (but then we are all a bit wierd!)

He also runs a battered looking (but sound) Mk1 MX5. I've told him that compared with running two cars 10 odd MPG is nothing but he loves the Mazda.
Guitar Zero

My advice is : don't give advice to people about cars (or anything actually).

You'll either get tremendously pissed off when, after hours of deliberation and assistance, they go and buy something totally shit

Or

They buy what you suggest and it ends up being the most unreliable pile of crap they've ever owned - and you never hear the bloody end of it.
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