Hi people, new to the forum so be gentle lol. Had my 2004 2.5
v6 petrol Ghia X estate for ten years now with 120k on the clock 110 of them are mine.

Had massive service and mechanical health check done last year because we decided to keep her and she has just rewarded me by blowing up the under floor cat – typical . So in a fit of rage I decided to get another car – after hours searching I am amazed at the load of old toot is out there between 4-6k. Most of the cars Mondeo's, BMW’s had very high mileage or LESS kit that mine.

So over a few medicinal beers I decided yet again to lavish money and affection on the old girl(i remember doing the same with my ex wife -- look where that got me) and with a 3k budget will be doing the following. Fix the cat, full blow over respray in champagne gold the original colour with all dents and dings fixed, new fog lights, window rubbers etc, new set of Wolfrace Eurosport Turismo Black polished alloys with new set of tyres. Complete internal valet including seat treatment for cracked leather etc.

That’s blown 2k so what would you guys spend the rest on, But PLEASE I do not want a bells and whistles bass box sub woofer nor any nitrous oxide kit to double the insurance premium lol. IF your idea is chosed and the kit is cool and actually works! then I will send you some beers in the post

Thanks in advance.

I think 2k is enough so I'd spend the rest on beer!

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As above if 2k buys you everything you need then job done - no pointing wasting a grand.

Personally if I'd spent a fair bit on a big service previously as well, then I'd just get the cat done and leave the respray etc as it won't really add any value to an 11 year old 120k car. I don't think it is a bad choice to stick with it as you know the car well and have already spent a lot maintaining it.

I don't know if I've missed something but surely a new cat would only be around £100. I'd then save the rest ready for something else failing - or I'd go on a nice holiday :)

Yea personally I'd agree with the above, wouldn't bother doing all the body work repairs you'd never going to get the money back!

Had massive service and mechanical health check done last year because we decided to keep her and she has just rewarded me by blowing up the under floor cat – typical . So in a fit of rage I decided to get another car – after hours searching I am amazed at the load of old toot is out there between 4-6k. Most of the cars Mondeo's, BMW’s had very high mileage or LESS kit that mine.

Firstly, I think both Mondys and BMWs (...almost any modern car...) will stand high mileages if they are cared for; you know, serviced at correct intervals, and that kind of thing, so I wouldn't say that a high mileage would necessarily be a 'show stopper' for me. Of course, it does place an extra premium on the question 'Has it been cared for?', and as modern cars are fairly complex, you can be unlucky with anything.

Anyway, the first question you ought to ask about your current car is 'How long am I trying to keep it going for?'. Some things that might make sense if you were keeping it going for another 10 years/100k miles wouldn't make much sense if it were only 1 year/10 k miles.

In the high mileage only category (for me, anyway) would be an LPG conversion. You can see it paying back over a few years, but if you don't keep the car long then it wouldn't really pay, imho.

So over a few medicinal beers I decided yet again to lavish money and affection on the old girl(i remember doing the same with my ex wife -- look where that got me) and with a 3k budget will be doing the following. Fix the cat, full blow over respray in champagne gold the original colour with all dents and dings fixed, new fog lights, window rubbers etc, new set of Wolfrace Eurosport Turismo Black polished alloys with new set of tyres. Complete internal valet including seat treatment for cracked leather etc.

I don't think I'd do the alloys; maybe, a secondhand set from another car from the same/similar series (an ST???), provided, of course, I could get them reasonably cheaply, but otherwise the cost would probably put me off.

There is not much on that engine that makes sense, apart from an ST 200 inlet arrangement. AFAIK, that only makes more power beyond ~4k rpm, and that might or might not make sense for you (if you feel that the advantage of the v6 is that you drive it fairly lazily with short shifts and still get there reasonably quickly, than it probably doesn't make sense, but if you do explore the upper part of the rev range frequently, then it just might).