Hi all

New here and looking for some advice please!

Our current car is a Vectra SRi CDTi and with it now being 10 years old (we've owned it for 7) it is now starting to feel tired and the constant creaks and vibrations, plus the thought of paying further wear and tear bills on a car which is now only worth £420 as px, means i'm looking around for a decent used buy.

I work for Lloyds Bank and they offer a staff card scheme for new and used vehicles, i've seen a really smart 2012 2.0 TDCi (140) in Titanium trim, with factory upraded metallic paint and heated seats - the rest is stock with a Sony DAB head unit as opposed to the touch screen i've seen in some.

It's done 64k and has been fully serviced at Ford from new and is immaculate in and out. I was just wondering about the mileage as it seems high for the age of the car (granted it's mostly motorway mileage), is there anything i should be considering before taking the jump?

There is also an identical model which is a year older with the same mileage but just has standard paint.

They're both standard 5 door hatch if that's any help!

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Dave

Sorry that should read staff car scheme!

Welcome to the forum!

I bought a 57 plate on 110k miles, its still going and going a year later, and the cost overall is not unreasonable for the faults I have had or the work I need to do (timing belts)

64k is not bad at all, but if your employer can get you a favourable deal, the best thing to do is spend as much as you want to spend, so if your budget is say 8k and with the discount you could "save yourself" 2k, then buy a 10k car, get more for your money, less miles and still send your budget.

Very content with our 2014 Mondeo TXS.

Great stuff, thanks for the reply.

The price is with discount applied so not much wiggle room! Had some more pictures of the cat sent to me today and it is absolutely fabulous tbh

Something about the ink blue metallic that really sets off the look of the car.

Going up to have a look next week so will keep you posted!

Thanks again

David

Late reply but better late than never! Went with the 12 plate Titanium Tdci 140, awesome machine and very pleased with it.

They just look awesome!

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

Looks great , enjoy

Had some more pictures of the cat sent to me today and it is absolutely fabulous tbh

!Removed! internet and pictures of cats!

Bare in mind that all else being equal with a 2012 car and a 2011 car with the same mileage, the 2012 one should be worth more, even though the 2012 one has done more miles per year. And, assuming that you do a more reasonable number of miles per year, it will look better over time, too.

...in Titanium trim, with factory upraded metallic paint and heated seats...

Presumably half-leather. Metallic paint is more common than not in Titaniums. Are you happy with the wheels and tyres? They can often be upgraded on the higher end cars.

The one I eventually went for had the 'plush' cloth non heated seats (not sure how plush they are but they're very comfy all the same!). Happy with the wheels at the moment but still think they look a bit small on the car. May look to upgrade to 18's next year but there is so much choice around its hard to know which is the best place to go. Been fantastic so far, lovely to drive and the Tdci 140 is an absolute peach. Had a drive in the 2.2 and 1.6 Tdci but I'm glad o went for the 140. Perfect for us, I didn't want a fast car so it's absolutely ideal :-)

The 18's give a very hard ride, I'm on 17's and there fine, but the ride is better on my winter set up of 16's but the do look lost in the arches

As well as the ride there is more choice in the 235/45/17 tyres if that's what you've got (it would be pre-FL but with a FL car it may well be different) and with the wider choice the prices are also better. So if you go up to 235/40/18 or even 19 you have to have a good enough reason to do it. Now there is certainly a case that for the best looking car you'll want the bigger wheels but not everyone will have the same opinion of the trade-offs and where the optimum lies.

I tested a Titanium X 1.6 derv with the 18's and there was a noticeable increase in tyre noise and tram lining over some poor sections of road, not awful by any means but I imagined this might get on your nerves over time. The 1.6 was a nice engine but with 4 adults (in this case me, the Mrs and two grown teenagers) plus luggage I knew immediately it would struggle over long trips. Someone will no doubt prove me wrong but I love the flexibility of the 2.0 140, which seems happy to loaf around in 6th gear over long trips. Our holiday to Port Isaac was bliss in the Mondeo compared to our old Vectra! Thanks for the comments so far, very useful :-)

The 140 is a very useful engine, nice and relaxed on the motorway and economical too, can be pretty quick when you boot it too

Completely agree, there's some good punch when you mash the accelerator. However, the way the 140 puts its power down is a lot more linear than I expected. If you look at the speedometer when you floor it in 4th the car is making some serious progress but there isn't that huge surge of power you would normally expect?? I guess I'm used to the Vauxhall CDTi way of doing things=Foot down>lag....lag....lag>turbo>massive kick in the back>out of puff>change up>repeat until stop required. Now I think of it, it was like being in an old Peugeot 306 D-Turbo from back in the day!! I'm used to the way the engine goes about it's business now as I remember the first reviews of the 140 mentioning the engine seemed perfectly matched to the car and that it no longer wafted around on a huge torque band and was a lot more even instead. The 2.2 TDCi was ruined by long gearing I haven't experienced since being in a Lexus 2.2d, now that engine has stupidly long gears!! A remap can sort it for sure, but then it's extra expense and a phone call to the insurance :-)

Oh, and I can't write here without mentioning the superb sound system in the car. Ours is the Sony DAB 9 speaker set up, awesome for a factory fit and everyone who gets in the car will immediately comment on it. Did have a play with the touch screen system in the Titanium X I drive, but the graphics were nasty and it was useless when the sun came out! Used to have the climate buttons on there amongst other things and it did sort of make the dash look more 'complete', but to my ears the Sony had a much more fuller sound - the sub that was fitted in the Tit X was terribly tuned IMO, way too overpowering on pretty much any setting and would have been the first thing swapped out if I owned it. Ford could learn a few things from Audi or Mercedes on that point. However, Merc and Audi is a completely different price range and subject so I'll leave that one there ha ha! :-)

Sorry, Titanium X I DROVE. I wish :-)