Ford 1.8tdci

HashSlinging

I'm having a look at an 03 today with 125k on the speedo, hes looking for 10K. it looks great but the mileage is putting me off though with resale values etc. I know its not bad for an 03 though.

Bought a honda accord off the same dealer for 8900 in december and he's looking for about 3500 to change, we're moving house and going to be travelling more so need to change to diesel.. these are good for 55+ mpg I hear.

I think these have a timing chain so no worries there.

Dcully

Thats huge mileage for 03,id stay well away.

Eoin

Efioanaes wrote:

Thats huge mileage for 03,id stay well away.

It's certainly over the odds, but so far over the odds that most the milage done is probably motorway miles. I'd prefer a car that has spent most it's life on the motorway to a car with half the mileage that's been stuck in traffic the whole time.

Is that 125K in miles or kilometres by the way?

HashSlinging

As far as I am aware its miles, think Kms only came in in 04? could be wrong. The car has a full service history and was an ex company car. Its all motorway miles.

R.O.R

If it's a company car I'd try and get in touch with the company that owned it and check the maintenance history. More than likely it was a lease company and they'd be able to tell you the full history on this. 125K miles is still unusually high.

TempestSabre

eoin_s wrote:

It's certainly over the odds, but so far over the odds that most the milage done is probably motorway miles. I'd prefer a car that has spent most it's life on the motorway to a car with half the mileage that's been stuck in traffic the whole time.

Is that 125K in miles or kilometres by the way?

How would you know how it had spent its life? Assuming the obvious gunk had been cleaned up.

Eoin

TempestSabre wrote:

How would you know how it had spent its life? Assuming the obvious gunk had been cleaned up.

You obviously can't know for sure, but at an average of at least 680 miles per week, the odds are that they were motorway miles.

TempestSabre

I used to do 100 miles a day over the mountains. After 3 months, the car definately felt less tight....:D

bazz26

HashSlinging wrote:

I'm having a look at an 03 today with 125k on the speedo, hes looking for 10K. it looks great but the mileage is putting me off though with resale values etc. I know its not bad for an 03 though.

Bought a honda accord off the same dealer for 8900 in december and he's looking for about 3500 to change, we're moving house and going to be travelling more so need to change to diesel.. these are good for 55+ mpg I hear.

I think these have a timing chain so no worries there.

That sounds a bit expensive for a car with 125k miles on the clock. Check with maidhc here. He bought a 2003 TDCi Focus with only 60k miles last year for €11k afaik.

Did you consider a Mondeo TDCi? They depreciate alot faster than the Focus so they are cheap to buy used:

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=422622

Vegeta

bazz26 wrote:

That sounds a bit expensive for a car with 125k miles on the clock. Check with maidhc here. He bought a 2003 TDCi Focus with only 60k miles last year for €11k afaik.

Did you consider a Mondeo TDCi? They depreciate alot faster than the Focus so they are cheap to buy used:

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=422622

in a years time i will hopefully be changing my car for something like that, a lot of car for that money

maidhc

HashSlinging wrote:

I'm having a look at an 03 today with 125k on the speedo, hes looking for 10K. it looks great but the mileage is putting me off though with resale values etc. I know its not bad for an 03 though.

125k is enough, especially when you are considering putting a fair bit more miles up on it. The lifespan of expensive components like the fuel pump and injectors is still an unknown quantity as few common rail diesels have have hit the 200/300k mark yet.

As Bazz said I bought a 3dr zetec one with 60k for 11k at the end of Feb. It also was a company car with a perfect fsh. I got no warranty though, but touch wood.

HashSlinging wrote:

Bought a honda accord off the same dealer for 8900 in december and he's looking for about 3500 to change, we're moving house and going to be travelling more so need to change to diesel.. these are good for 55+ mpg I hear.

I get about 54mpg on my 1.8TDCI, could easily hit the 60mpg if I had less byroads and more motorways. Drive hard though and I am sure you will be lucky to see 45.

HashSlinging wrote:

I think these have a timing chain so no worries there.

It has a belt to be done every 80k, only the 2.0 has the chain.

Also make sure you give the car a good drive and start it from warm. If you hear a loud rattling it may be the flywheel on the way out.

Another common problem is that the EGR valve gets stuck. If you see clounds of black smoke this is more than likely a problem. Ford brought out a modified one in 2004, and your one may or may not have it. The car should burn very clean.

A mondeo TDCi should definately be on the agenda.

gyppo

@ OP,

I think the focus is a great car.

However, This appears to be great value for money, and they're a good drive too. Just make sure it is the 110bhp one though - I'm not 100% about this example
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=456936

HashSlinging

It was a TDDI in the end, so I said forget about it. Thanks for the advise folks.