What would you do?

[Bailes1992]

I think Welly has hit the nail on the head right there. A lot of it is down to image.
My Mother is a district nurse. She can see upto 25 patients in one day, is expected to attend meetings and pick up medical equipment and medicine.
She never drives more than 2-3 miles between stops meaning the engine never warms up. The car gets started up and switched off over 25 times EVERY DAY! You can imagine the detrimental effect that has on an engine!

Her Panda was around 3 and a half years old with 24,000miles on the clock when she Part Ex'd it. A month or two prior to her part Ex'ing it I gave it a full service, I found nearly 6mm of crank float and quite a lot of air and oil spraying out the breather pipe as a result of blow-by from what I suspect was worn piston rings.

It's really not practical for her to be running an old car.

My Father on the other hand has always had company cars until 6 years ago where they dropped the company car scheme.
You have to understand leasing a car is the next best thing when it comes to hassle free motoring. He's a high mileage driver, more so than me. If the car breaks down he phones the lease company who drops a hire car off outside the house within a few hours and takes his car to be repaired.

[lozz]

Keep the Mondeo. atleast you know where your at with it..


Nice to have a new car..but some bastid alway's scratches them -more prone for trolley dent's..

[benczuk]

Nice to have a new car..but some bastid alway's scratches them -more prone for trolley dent's..

I watch these discussions with amusement and interest. I often find myself in the "i want a new(er) car" train of thought. especially when I have just spent the weekend fixing more bits on the '6 , the wife's T plate car, and our 04 Caravan. You cant help but think "I'm fed up with this constant maintenance" especially when you have a few quid in the bank.

However a new car doesn't mean maintenance free, and when I go out I like to avoid paying for parking, which usually means parking in supermarket car parks or down side roads where I would be scared to leave a shiny new motor. Not to mention depreciation, more monthly payments etc etc.

Its a nice idea, but the practicalities for the sake of a month (?) of post purchase happiness doesn't stack up. And the history of these threads of yours Sam would seem to indicate your "head" feels the same way. Doesn't mean you can't play with the idea mind...

[Bailes1992]

Its a nice idea, but the practicalities for the sake of a month (?) of post purchase happiness doesn't stack up. And the history of these threads of yours Sam would seem to indicate your "head" feels the same way. Doesn't mean you can't play with the idea mind...

Up till now I;ve always looked because I can afford. The only thing stopping me was I never really liked any of the cars. Thing is, I really like the C30 and so far it would be the only car I could realistically consider replacing the Mondeo with (Unless someone wants to give me £30k so I can buy a 730d? ).
But, it's a lot of money and currently my job isn't as secure as I would like so I think I'll have another rethink again next September when I have finished my apprenticeship.

[rwb]

I normally get more pleasure out of looking at the number on my bank statement than anything I could buy with it. (I'm from Yorkshire.)

[Welly]

[
But, it's a lot of money and currently my job isn't as secure as I would like so I think I'll have another rethink again next September when I have finished my apprenticeship.

Good idea, very often after an apprenticeship there's a period of 'negotiations' over pay etc, this is when many change jobs so again an unsettling time but worth it if it works out ok.

[KozmoNaut]

Keep the Mondeo. atleast you know where your at with it..

I agree 100%. With the listed items repaired, the Mondeo is in a known good state. Exchanging a known good car for a new(-ish) car puts you back to square one, you realistically have no idea how reliable it will be.

Bailes: I assume the Mondeo is completely paid-off and you're only paying insurance, fuel and the occasional repair on it? Do the financially responsible thing and keep it going until at least 200K miles.

[Bailes1992]

Well I got in touch with the guy who works on my car and he said if all goes well then new trailing arm bushes should take around 2 hours. At £45/hour that means £90 to get them fitted.
If something goes wrong then it is beyond my abilities anyway. With a bit of luck all goes well and I've saved myself £100 already!

I've ordered the bushes and going to get them fitted next week.

[Bailes1992]

Just thought I'd update this.

I've managed to give my battery a new lease of life by reverse charging it for a few minutes at a time to clean up the plates. Car is starting up much faster now.

I've ordered everything else and it's come to £260. It also included a pot of Bilstein Ceramic Grease to stop the new glowplugs sticking in the head.
I may also have to replace my glow plug module but I'll fully investigate the issue when I've replaced the glow plugs.
While I'm servicing the car I'm going to have to dismantle the exhaust side of the turbo and give all the vanes a good clean as they've started sticking and putting the car into limp mode. I've been told oven cleaner is the best thing to use.
And I still have to get the trailing arm bushes fitted which I'm budgeting around £100 for.

So far I'm about £145 better off than I thought. But that's pretty much down to the battery.
I did manage to get a bit of a bargain on engine oil. Bought the oil label Castrol Edge 0w30 A5/B5 in 1 litre bottles from Opie Oils for £66 plus a further 10% off!

[Bailes1992]

Well there isn't any words to describe how gutted I am.
£700 on parts and labour and the car was perfect for 48 hours until the DMF started rattling intermittently and I have a knock from the front suspension.
Should have gotten rid of the bloody thing!
I checked over the entire suspension with the mechanic when I picked the car up Saturday and he even commented on how well looked after the car is mechanically and there was no play in anything. Whatever has failed has gone in the last few days. Sounds like play in a ball joint so could be numerous things. Il get it up in the air tommorow and have a look.

*sigh*

[steve_earwig]

Oh bugger, that's some bad luck mate

[Bailes1992]

Tell me about it.
The mechanic I use is very good and generally a nice bloke but he's expensive at £55/hour plus VAT. It's the best part of £500 labour for a flywheel change. I may ask Jasper for a price and make the trip up to Bolton.
The car is driving fine so the DMF can wait until it's constantly making a racket/vibration.

I changed both wishbones and drop links last year but they were cheap OPAC parts from Euro Car parts so maybe one of them has failed and it will cost me nowt! I can hope.

[rwb]

That's motors for you.

(I used RH Auto Engineering near M5J2 who quoted a good price, and I was happy with them.)

[Bailes1992]

The knock from the suspension is just a drop link. Teach me to buy cheap!

[PeterN]

I never spend more than £1000 on a car, ay present I have a 406 Hdi estate I bought for £950 in its 5th year and about 45k miles, its now done 233k and nothing has gone seriously wrong with it. Its comfortable, roomy and economical 50+mpg what more can you want. I also have a C5 Hdi estate in its third year that I bought for £550, had to do some work on it but its been fine, very roomy and very comfortable and I nice shade of metallic red.

Peter