Car Life Expectancy

wingnut

I'm just wondering if anyone knows a site that might give me the average life expectancy of a car. I am thinking of buying a car with 113,000 miles on the clock and wondering if it will cost me the earth to keep on the road.

Its a 2002 2.0TDCI Mondeo Zetec. I'm buying it in the UK (moving there for a year) for the equivalent of €4700, about about €4000 - 5000 cheaper then the same car would be here. The cambelt has been done and there is a full ford service history. I would be hoping it would last three or four years without too much work.

Has anyone hit that kind of Milage in the TDCIs

alias no.9

wingnut wrote:

I'm just wondering if anyone knows a site that might give me the average life expectancy of a car. I am thinking of buying a car with 113,000 miles on the clock and wondering if it will cost me the earth to keep on the road.

Its a 2002 2.0TDCI Mondeo Zetec. I'm buying it in the UK (moving there for a year) for the equivalent of €4700, about about €4000 - 5000 cheaper then the same car would be here. The cambelt has been done and there is a full ford service history. I would be hoping it would last three or four years without too much work.

Has anyone hit that kind of Milage in the TDCIs

The engine should be good for a bit more life. As a general rule of thumb, engine wear is proportional to the square of the RPM and since diesels dont rev as high as petrols, they tend to last longer. I have however heard second hand from an ex ford engineer that the 'life' for their cars is now 7 years, i.e. their intent is for most of their cars to last at least 7 years under normal conditions but they don't care after that. Given that yours is on the high mileage side, you might want to look out for other stuff like the suspension, brake calipers, steering rack, ehxaust, etc... because their cost targets will proabably mean they won't be over engineered.

tred

wingnut wrote:

I'm just wondering if anyone knows a site that might give me the average life expectancy of a car. I am thinking of buying a car with 113,000 miles on the clock and wondering if it will cost me the earth to keep on the road.

Its a 2002 2.0TDCI Mondeo Zetec. I'm buying it in the UK (moving there for a year) for the equivalent of €4700, about about €4000 - 5000 cheaper then the same car would be here. The cambelt has been done and there is a full ford service history. I would be hoping it would last three or four years without too much work.

Has anyone hit that kind of Milage in the TDCIs

TDCI has a timing chain not belt. Did they do a service on the timing chain?

maidhc

Having a mk1 mondeo TD with close on 170k, I would say the engineering is as good if not better than anything jap or german. I have yet to touch the shocks, exhaust, steering, or anything bar a small leak the fuel pump, and a waterpump. It is a bit hard on suspension bushings and links alright, but they are cheap anyway.

It is hard to know how long the common rail engines are lasting. They seem to be holding up well, but there is far more electronics and bits to go wrong, in particular the solenoids in the injectors cannot last forever. The 2.o TDCi is a variation of the transit engine though, so it should be able to take a lot of abuse.

stifz

Would'nt touch a car with more than 60k (miles) on it.. deisel petrol whatever.. if you gonna spend money hold out for the best and thats the lowest mileage.

maidhc

stifz wrote:

Would'nt touch a car with more than 60k (miles) on it.. deisel petrol whatever.. if you gonna spend money hold out for the best and thats the lowest mileage.

That is a bit extreme tbh. A well minded car with 60k is going to be like new. Thankfully we have moved on from the time of the Morris Minor when you needed an engine rebuild every 30k.

Blue850

What a load of cobblers, a well serviced 120k miler is better than a Sh:t driven out of it 60k miler, my current is a 94 vectra 1.7TD with 233k on it, bought it of a taxi man 6 years ago with 165k on it, did anti-roll bar bushes for nct, shorted out the alternator driving thru a flood, my fault, has only needed usual service items in 6 years, and thats it. serviced every 6k, burns a drop of oil but not enough to need topping up between services.

wingnut

Well I got a rid of an Escort at 120000 and I saw it on the road two years later. more. My current mondeo is 80000 no out of ordinary work done to it. Love it to bits but want a Diesel.

Well spotted Tred, sorry the chain was tensioned not the belt replaced. Still thinking old school here.

Blue850 wrote:

serviced every 6k

Thats a bit often for my liking. My current Mk2 mondeo is every 10000

Anan1

My mother once sold a FIAT Tipo TD, bought new, with 160,000 miles on it. That car was still going strong well past 200,000 miles.