Diesel Mondeo or Avensis ?

kennbren

I'm about to change my car and have been looking at buying a 2.0 Diesel Mondeo or Avensis. I'm leaning more towards the Mondeo as my budget is max €4000 and there seems to be better deals with the Ford. I live near the border so I've been looking in the north as well but the VRT on the Toyota seems to be 2-3 times more expensive than the Ford.
I have a 1.9tdi Octavia at the moment but it has 225k miles on it. It was a very reliable and fuel efficient car and I would like something similar to replace it. I'm not hugely interested in extra spec on the cars, I'm mainly interested in reliability, fuel efficiency and cost.
Any advice would be welcome

Leonard Hofstadter

Keep the Octavia till it dies, there's another while left in it if there's only 225,000 miles on the clock - it should make it to 300,000 miles anyway if it's serviced on time all the time!

It is worth feck all so you might as well get the most you can out of it.

kennbren

I wish I could keep it, but there are too many problems that need to be fixed. It was driven hard on bad roads for the first 6 years that I had it and just isn't up to the high mileage that I drive every year. It would cost more than its value to keep it on the road.

Matthewjohn

Avensis over mondeo as its a more reliable than the mondeo but you should look at the 1.9 tdi superb aswell

Leonard Hofstadter

Matthewjohn wrote: »

Avensis over mondeo as its a more reliable than the mondeo but you should look at the 1.9 tdi superb aswell

The Mondeo is almost as reliable but is an infinitely better car in every possible way. I'd gladly take the 0.01% risk that I'll have more trouble with a Mondeo in order to own a far superior car in every conceivable measure thanks very much, and so should the OP.

The Superb is a very nice bus, and is the most comfortable of the lot, so is well worth considering, especially the first generation model which is pretty bulletproof as long as you make sure not to get the 2.0 TDI and go for the older 1.9 TDI instead.

George Dalton

captainspeed wrote: »

The Mondeo is almost as reliable but is an infinitely better car in every possible way. I'd gladly take the 0.01% risk that I'll have more trouble with a Mondeo in order to own a far superior car in every conceivable measure thanks very much, and so should the OP.

I think you are overstating the case here. In the OP's budget they will be looking at cars from approx 2004. I would say the 2 cars are pretty closely matched in most areas. The only area I would say the 04 Mondeo is significantly better than the 04 Avensis is outright handling ability, which isn't relevant for most people at all. The Avensis is probably quieter and more refined, which is relevant for more people than handling.

Also, regarding the reliability of the 2 cars, if we are measuring reliability as how unlikely the car is to actually break down on the side of the road then yes there wouldn't be much between the cars, they are both good solid motors.

But from my experience of them both the Mondeo will have small issues to be sorted at regular intervals. For some people this is a major annoyance and would put them off a car. The Avensis doesn't give as much of this kind of trouble.

MugMugs

Matthewjohn wrote: »

Avensis over mondeo as its a more reliable than the mondeo but you should look at the 1.9 tdi superb aswell

That statement is an oxymoron in definition.

Tigger

George Dalton wrote: »

I think you are overstating the case here. In the OP's budget they will be looking at cars from approx 2004. I would say the 2 cars are pretty closely matched in most areas. The only area I would say the 04 Mondeo is significantly better than the 04 Avensis is outright handling ability, which isn't relevant for most people at all. The Avensis is probably quieter and more refined, which is relevant for more people than handling.

Also, regarding the reliability of the 2 cars, if we are measuring reliability as how unlikely the car is to actually break down on the side of the road then yes there wouldn't be much between the cars, they are both good solid motors.

But from my experience of them both the Mondeo will have small issues to be sorted at regular intervals. For some people this is a major annoyance and would put them off a car. The Avensis doesn't give as much of this kind of trouble.

Handling is unimportant?

Leonard Hofstadter

Tigger wrote: »

Handling is unimportant?

George Dalton is a VAG head, which explains an awful lot:pac::D!

finbarrk

I think the Avensis would be liable to have less problems than the Mondeo. Going on the few of them that were in my workplace anyway.

johnos1984

captainspeed wrote: »

Tigger wrote: »

Handling is unimportant?

George Dalton is a VAG head, which explains an awful lot;):D!

He dives a Focus as his daily hack

George Dalton

Tigger wrote: »

Handling is unimportant?

To the majority of Mondeo/Avensis drivers yes it is.

Have you not seen how most people drive in this country?

-Corkie-

johnos1984 wrote: »

He dives a Focus as his daily hack

And a very clean one too..;)

Leonard Hofstadter

johnos1984 wrote: »

He dives a Focus as his daily hack

bandit14

It has to be Avensis for me!

maidhc

You will do well to get a decent Avensis for that money.

I drove a 06 Mondeo which was selling private for that kind of money. It was a "Steel" special edition, with climate control, but manual mirrors. It also had a 90bhp TDCi engine and couldn't get out of its own way. I couldn't face buying something so desperate to drive, and it was a big step back from the Mk1 1.8TD Mondeo I had for years.

The Avensis handles quite well, despite what you hear. It is a softer set up than the mondeo, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Very refined car too, and the D4D is far more drivable than the TDCis.

bazz26

I'd be looking at the Peugeot 406 HDi also. Ok not as modern as the Mondeo or Avensis but the HDi engine is strong and it drives well.

This one looks clean and incl VRT should be well within budget:
http://www.usedcarsni.com/84450830