I hope to be in a position next year to hand my Mondeo TDCi to my wife and replace her (my) Toledo 1.8T Sport with something a bit quicker as the company will be paying for fuel. Insurance is quite reasonable on these two cars considering I am 27 and my wife 23 (£540 - 850 fully comp).
I have recently been out in a German colleagues Audi RS4 Avant which is now pushing out 470bhp (std 380bhp) and I was hooked. I have also noticed that you can buy a 3-4 year old BMW M5 for arounf £25,000 with reasonable mileage, which also sounds a decent price.
My concern is service costs, I have done 18,000 miles in the Mondeo since new (6 months old), and so would prefere to stick with a car without a cambelt (my old SEAT Leon TDi had huge cambelt service costs).
Can anyone tell me what experience they have had with service costs on these cars, and any problems that may arrise once upto and past 80k miles?
Neil T
Mondeo Ghia TDCi 130 Estate, SEAT Toledo 20VT Sport, Various Montegos...
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36,000miles pa is a very high milage for any car. Whilst I have no doubt that these cars can do it with ease, the depreciation will be horrendous. These are sought after cars, but I wouldn't buy one with 100,000 miles on even with an FSH unless the price reflected the likely costs of repairs after that mileage.
If I was you and wanted something fast but less expensive to run, why not find a 330d which on british roads will be just as fast, easier to drive and far easier on the pocket after several tens of thousands of miles. Or a Merc C320CDi.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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I see your point, but 36,000 is not usual for me, this was made up of 12+ trips to Holland on business, plus 3 holidays abroad.
Normal is 28 - 30,000, and I could cut this down alot more if I wanted by using the Mondeo.
Another option is to let my wife run the RS4/M5 as she only does 5000 per year.
A 330d is very well, but they are know for Turbo problems, and although I take your point about being just as quick on UK roads, I spend 5000+ miles a year in europe, mostly visiting family in Germany.
The majority of my driving in the UK is on quiet'ish A-roads, which require acceleration rather thn top speed, and I can safely say that the RS4 I drove is an A-road drivers best friend when it comes to safe overtaking, far quicker than even a chipped 330d.
If I wanted a 330/530d I would buy one, I was just asking about service costs on an RS4/M5. Comany car allowance would take the sting out of depreciation anyway :-)
Neil T
Mondeo Ghia TDCi 130 Estate, SEAT Toledo 20VT Sport, Various Montegos...
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If you buy an M5 that is less than 3 years old, you can extend the BMW warranty up until the vehicle has covered 100k miles. The cost of this for a 530d/530i is approx £620 per annum and covers everything, except brake pads & clutch plates, including pan European breakdown recovery. If you are interested, it may pay to contact a BMW Main Dealer to enquire the annual warranty cost on an M5.
Audi servicing costs are generally horrendous, even on their basic models they are vastly more expensive than BMW, so I would steer well clear.
If you can hang on for 12 months, I understand they are going to fit the new 535 bi-turbo diesel engine in the new E90 3 series, which has over 500 N/m torque and will be capable of giving an E39 M5 a considerable run for its money and will be much cheaper to service.
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Mmmm, a 335d sounds good, bet it will be the best side of £30k though!!!
I am leaning more towards the M5 now. I have seen 2001X models with 30k miles for £26k, and 1999W models with 125k miles for £17k, so even if I was doing 30k miles a year in a low mileage one for 3 years i'd still loose less money that I have probably already lost on the Mondeo in 6 months!!
It would be nice to get an idea of actual service costs still though.
Neil T
Mondeo Ghia TDCi 130 Estate, SEAT Toledo 20VT Sport, Various Montegos...
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It would be nice to get an idea of actual service costs still though.
Eye wateringly expensive i should imagine.
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