Thoughts/opinions?

Was browsing PH last night and although not the hottest of diesels, these look good and seems reasonable money.

john mitchell motors : FORD MONDEO ST TDCI

So... one to bear in mind or turd polishing?

 

good cars, horrendous depreciation.

 

One to bear in mind i would say

Tony

 

I think they look pretty good with the kit on.

Not sure if £10k is about right or not though.

Still, with a half decent turn of speed and handling it makes a frugal choice.

 

That's what I was thinking, beat the tax thing when it comes it but as rossyboy says, depreciation would be a concern, no point going for the pretty looks if it's loosing couple of hundred quid a month over the equivalent BM, Audi or Merc.

Up against the like of this:
Auto Trader UK - BMW 3 SERIES 320D ES 4DR CO/1 OWNR FSH AC CD ALLOYS 2 KEYS

 

The BMW is a nice car. Although I would get SE spec rather than ES to be honest.

The problem with the BMW diesels is that there appears to be a known fault with the turbo/intake swirl. Last time I checked BMW weren't acknowledging it. A quick search will find you enough forums to put you off the diesel. It did to me and a few work colleagues. I think one forum has something like a 200+ page thread with people all experiencing the same problem, I think the forum maybe called something like BMWLAND or similar.

But you have to ask yourself do you really need a diesel? If you aren't doing mega mileage then the lower cost of the equivalent petrol model and lower cost of petrol sometimes means the petrol version will work out cheaper.

BMW main dealers are selling 07 plate 318i SE for £12.8-14K with around 20k on the clock. If it weren't for this job insecurity I would probably snap one up.

 

I like the torque from the 2.2 TDCI compared to say the 2.0 petrol.

However, you have all sorts of things to go wrong on a diesel - turbos, boost leaks, injector/fuel pump problems, clutch/flywheel/gearbox problems, particulate filter if it has one.

 

I looked into one of these, and mpg aside the info I gleaned was to go for the normal ST as it was a MUCH better drive....

 

i had one of these last year, fantastic car, never got under 40mpg no matter how you drive them, blufin it and its even quicker, i miss this more than my scoob, 10k is about 1k over price if you ask me though