04-05 Vectra or Primera??

tombliboo83

Hi, I'm looking to buy a large enough family saloon and like the look of both of the above in terms of size and value for money. I have around 4k to spend . I fancied a diesel mondeo but can't find one with relatively low mileage. What are your thoughts?

Atlantic Dawn

Of the two I would go for the Vectra, the Primera is 2.2 litre in diesel so higher road tax and the Vectra has a better engine with better mpg. Most diesels that age will have a fair few miles on them as people will have purchased to do high milage with them.

bazz26

Diesel cars are designed and bought to be driven, you are going to have to expect a 5 or 6 year old diesel to have close to 100k miles on it. I would be suspicious of anything with low mileage without a verified service history to be honest.

Of the two you mentioned I would go for the Vectra but only the 1.9 litre version. The old 2.0 DTi unit is terribly unrefined. The Primera would be a non runner for me. This might be worth considering, just make sure that the low mileage is verified by ringing the garages where it was serviced: http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=201034199338701

tombliboo83

How about a 1.6 petrol Vectra vs Primera 1.5 petrol. Looks like I'll go for one of them. Has anybody experience of either of these cars '05/'04 reg

johnos1984

tombliboo83 wrote: »

How about a 1.6 petrol Vectra vs Primera 1.5 petrol. Looks like I'll go for one of them. Has anybody experience of either of these cars '05/'04 reg

Both should be 1.6L unless you are talking about an Almera

tombliboo83

Yeah my bad, 1.6.

bazz26

Both are poor on fuel economy due to the fact that a 1.6 litre engine struggles to pull the weight of the cars around. A 1.8 litre engine in the same cars will return similar fuel economy to a 1.6 litre as the 1.8 litre is under less stress.

Something like this:
http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=201035199352655

furtzy

The 1.6 in the Vectra is not fit for purpose. The Vectra is a very heavy car. I've owned 3 Vectras over the years, 1.8, 2.2 diesel and the 1.9 150bhp diesel. The 03 1.8 was woeful on fuel but this was fixed with the 04 VVT version. The 2.2 diesel was rough but not that bad but the 1.9 150 was a flyer but was encountering the dreaded and expensive swirl valve issue before I sold it. All round they are a fairly decent car and very well built with high quality materials. Their main weakness is suspension components tie rods, bushes etc. They are cheap to fix but annoying when they fail so often. 4k won't get you the 1.9 cdti though

tombliboo83

Would anybody recommend a 1.8mondeo then and wouldyou think 4k straight cash could get me a decent 04. There are a few on carzone but dont wanna waste my time going round the country trying to haggle someone down from 5 to 4k

mrroboito

You could try negotiating on some mondeos. First one says it's a 1.9 diesel though, not sure if that's right but looks like a good car.

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Ford/Mondeo/LX-1.9/201034199305202/advert?channel=CARS

http://www.cbg.ie/Car_Detail.aspx?ID=3919657