Sensible or fun?

Padraig Mor

Yes - another 'what car' thread! Hoping to change my car very soon. Have it pretty narrowed down to three choices at the moment but having great difficulty deciding! The three cars:

1. Toyota Avensis. 2003 new model. 1.8 petrol. €19000. Top model so all the kit except leather. A bit boring, a bit bland, but it'll go forever, be fairly economical and no problem to sell afterwards.

2. Mazda 6. 2003. 1.8 petrol. €16000. Pretty much same kit as Avensis (and maybe a bit more). Reliable, shouldn't be too hard to sell. Colour not that great, but hey!

3. The wild card! Ford Mondeo Ghia X. 2004. 2.5L V6 petrol. €18250. Absolutely every extra incl. leather. Probably fairly reliable. Would love to get it. Will however gulp the juice compared to the other two. And, let's face it, a 2.5L Mondeo will be a TOUGH sell a couple of years down the line!

As a bit of background, I'm coming from Rover 75 Connoisseur so am used to having all the bells and whistles and like my luxury and kit! Hope to keep the new car for up to three years. Any ideas folks???

Stephen

I'd go for the Mazda 6. What colour is it?

Padraig Mor

Kind of a yucky gold colour. Haven't seen it in the flesh yet (hope to today) so it may actually be ok in reality.

Of these three personally I'd go for the V6 Mondeo every time.

They are quite a good handling car and the V6 should be pretty punchy.

You are probably not going to get anymore than 30-35 mpg out of it though.

The Avensis is a really uninspired car inside and out. But if you are going to go with this go for a diesel one beacuse if resale values,reliability and boring cars are your thing a diesel engine is right down your street.

Padraig Mor

ronoc wrote:

Of these three personally I'd go for the V6 Mondeo every time.

They are quite a good handling car and the V6 should be pretty punchy.

You are probably not going to get anymore than 30-35 mpg out of it though.

The Avensis is a really uninspired car inside and out. But if you are going to go with this go for a diesel one beacuse if resale values,reliability and boring cars are your thing a diesel engine is right down your street.

Published MPG for the Mondeo is 28 - so in real life I'd imagine I'd be getting about 22 - 23. Diesel Avensises (is that a word?) are out of my price range.

prospect

Are any of those cars "Fun"?

RobAMerc

I would like to say the Mondeo v6 as the duratec is a nice engine - if not very powerful and the mondeo is a great package (handling and ride comfort), probably best of 3, and will feel nicer to own, particularly with the leather etc.

But my head says buy the Mazda.
For all the wrong reasons.
Buy the Toyota if your already thinking of selling it as it will depreciate least.

Padraig Mor

Thinking logically the Mazda is probably the best buy - cheap(ish), reliable, but also (apparently) fairly nippy (I'd prefer something with a bit of poke after the - very slow - Rover). To be clear - resale value is nowhere near the top of my wishlist; it's just that I would imagine that a 2.5L Mondeo would be practically impossible to sell privately when I move on.

Biro

prospect wrote:

Are any of those cars "Fun"?

Coming from a rover 75, a tractor is fun.

conor_mc

You're probably right about the Mondeo V6 - it'll depreciate like a lead balloon.

What about a Mondeo TDCi 130 in Ghia X spec? I haven't checked, but I would've thought you'd be able to get a 2003/2004 model from the UK in your price range.

Padraig Mor

conor_mc wrote:

You're probably right about the Mondeo V6 - it'll depreciate like a lead balloon.

What about a Mondeo TDCi 130 in Ghia X spec? I haven't checked, but I would've thought you'd be able to get a 2003/2004 model from the UK in your price range.

Would love to but unfortunately importing from UK is not an option for me.