Ok looks like getting a recent car with some serious oomph that handles amazingly well is gonna be out of my price range.
I need a car pretty quickly, and I can't be bothered to scout all over the country looking at used cars. Oh no, looks like the prime contender is gonna be a Ford Mondeo. I have seen 6 month old TDCi 130 LX Auto for 9.5k. How does the 130 TDCi drive with Auto?
I have driven a 2004 2.0 LX manual for a while, and amazing through the bends, but didn't have enough low down grunt for me. Is the 2.5 V6 with auto any better?
Funny how on the B road to office today, the 407 SW HDi I have rented could not keep up with a M reg 740i, just too much body roll.
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Funny how on the B road to office today, the 407 SW HDi I have rented could not keep up with a M reg 740i, just too much body roll.
Does that really surprise you?
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A little caution is called for on Ford auto transmissions. They do not have a good reputation. In fact the CD4E is the 'most rebuilt' transmission on the market - tends to fail at anything from 60-90k miles.
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>> Funny how on the B road to office today, the 407 >> SW HDi I have rented could not keep up with a >> M reg 740i, just too much body roll. Does that really surprise you?
Isn't the new 407 supposed to keep up on the twisties? I would have thought a 10 year old 7 series would be worn out.
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Yes but the BMW has a big engine.
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Yes but the BMW has a big engine.
The Beemer wasn't that far ahead of me, he just seemed to be able to take the bends at higher speeds than me. The 407 started leaning waaaaaaay too much when I tried to press ahead.
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You should easily keep up with the BM in the twisties with the 407. Ok yes it may lean a little but it does have grip if you hang on in there.
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You should easily keep up with the BM in the twisties with the 407. Ok yes it may lean a little but it does have grip if you hang on in there.
Didn't feel like it. RF, was tempted by a 02 Laguna 3.0V6 Auto top spec going for 6 grandish at Renault dealer, but the V6 Autos are supposed to be unreliable as hell, so am avoiding.
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Probably wise, the V6 is a bit lazy (relaxed tho) and Renault auto boxes are seen as unreliable
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The 6 month TDCi auto will be the new durashift tiptronic type box, should be good to drive though perhaps as much as 20% less economical than a manual, say 40 ish mpg. I have not heard of any problems with this box, perhaps it is the earlier Ford auto box that Aprilia refers to which was not fitted to diesel Mondeo's anyway.
The 2.5 V6 is not particularly torquey though is very sweet and might be fun with the durashift/tiptronic type change, I reckon the 2.0 petrol could be good as an auto too.
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I found the TDCi became too laggy with the autobox - everything seemed to happen slower than with a manual. Pulling away seemed to have about a 1 second delay and whilst you would probably get used to it I found it a bit disconcerting when you wanted to make a quick getaway from a junction.
The best attribute of the TDCi is its lack of turbo lag and eagerness to rev and the autobox seemed to take all that away. MPG will also most likely be mid to high 30's rather than in the 40's.
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Yes, I was refering to the CD4E 'box which is used on the smaller petrol Mondeos. But I was making the point that, historically, Ford autos have not been good and the Durashift is unproven.
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I had 100,000 trouble-free miles out of an automatic V6 Laguna. They're not all bad.
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