Your Bangernomics successes

poppasmurf_bewdley

I have a Mondeo Mk4 2.0 diesel Ghia estate automatic, 2008 registered and with 122k on the clock, bought by me in 2011. It's the most comfortable car I've ever had. 

Had to replace the steering rack about five years ago, but otherwise only minor problems like bonnet cable snapping.

Recently, a couple of niggles have arisen.  Both remote keys have ceased to work, and the Engine Management light is on permanently.

I started to think about changing, but looking online it seems as though most 2014 on Mondy estates have as many miles, if not more, than my current chariot.  So I've decided to save myself £5k or so, and put some of the money towards fixing the current problems.  

GunJack

The £10 Fusion has finally had a new middle box, after it being an advisory on all the MoTs I've put it through (it was on the one when I bought it, and I've put it through 3 since!!).
I put tyres on it last week (£112 for 4 good part-worns) to get it through the winter and past next MoT (due Apr 2021) so barring any major disasters it'll pass ok then (the only advisories were middle box and tyres)

I've had this for coming up 3.5 years, and it'll pass the next MoT in April barring any disasters between now & then. Total cost for purchase, MoTs and repairs is, with the tyres & exhaust listed above, is £847

mr_harris

GunJack said:

The £10 Fusion has finally had a new middle box, after it being an advisory on all the MoTs I've put it through (it was on the one when I bought it, and I've put it through 3 since!!).
I put tyres on it last week (£112 for 4 good part-worns) to get it through the winter and past next MoT (due Apr 2021) so barring any major disasters it'll pass ok then (the only advisories were middle box and tyres)

I've had this for coming up 3.5 years, and it'll pass the next MoT in April barring any disasters between now & then. Total cost for purchase, MoTs and repairs is, with the tyres & exhaust listed above, is £847

Hey GJ the 1.4 Diesels are great cars  I had a C2 diesel 1.4 still running now with over 200,000 miles last I looked

GunJack

....and just to complete the winter prep, new battery coming on Wednesday as the last week or so of cold weather has shown the current one to be on the way out....gawd-knows how long it's been on there, but for the sake of £54 I wasn't going to argue the toss Total spend now £901...

[Deleted User]

Just picked up this 2004 Focus 1.6 Zetec for £430 with 11 month MOT. It's got moon mileage (145,000) and scratches just about everywhere but atleast it is clean which was a bonus! Came with no service history apart from one stamp in the book from 2005 but I've been lead to believe the recent owner who traded it in was a "technician" who serviced it himself throughout his ownership. 2 owners from new! Oh and it's got the worse steering wheel I've ever seen!

dipsomaniac

Looks good. Like the fact it has 1 service stamp in the book and still going strong 16 years later. Looks very similar (same colour/wheels) to the 2003 1.8 Ghia I bought for £200 14 months ago. Have put 8k miles on it so far

noclaf

Deleted_User said:

Just picked up this 2004 Focus 1.6 Zetec for £430 with 11 month MOT. It's got moon mileage (145,000) and scratches just about everywhere but atleast it is clean which was a bonus! Came with no service history apart from one stamp in the book from 2005 but I've been lead to believe the recent owner who traded it in was a "technician" who serviced it himself throughout his ownership. 2 owners from new! Oh and it's got the worse steering wheel I've ever seen!

These are v underated cars IMO. I've owned my 1.8 over 10 years now, its driven hard and used for everything from shopping to tip runs and have used it for carrying heavy building materials...yet it keeps going, Ford smashed it out the park with this era of Foci. 
The handling is excellent and a lot of fun throwing them around twisty roads! Yet it's still a practical car, cheap to run and maintain.
Rust will eventually kill these as seems the case with many of the older Ford's but IMO they are one of the best all-rounder cars there is (I am biased!) especially considering when they were released in '99/2000. I think the 1.6 was the pick of the bunch too based on balance of economy and performande but I enjoy the extra 13 horses that comes with the 1.8
Hope it serves you well!
I will be finally moving mine on later this year but no idea what to replace it with...all the modern stuff is too complicated, high borkage factor (due to the complexity) and not as fun or practical.

[Deleted User]

There is one weird thing about this Focus is the online MOT history only goes back to 2015. Wonder what happen between then and 2005/2006 when the MOT database started! The previous owner has owned it since 2015.

dipsomaniac

out of the country?

Ditzy_Mitzy

noclaf said:

Deleted_User said:

Just picked up this 2004 Focus 1.6 Zetec for £430 with 11 month MOT. It's got moon mileage (145,000) and scratches just about everywhere but atleast it is clean which was a bonus! Came with no service history apart from one stamp in the book from 2005 but I've been lead to believe the recent owner who traded it in was a "technician" who serviced it himself throughout his ownership. 2 owners from new! Oh and it's got the worse steering wheel I've ever seen!

These are v underated cars IMO. I've owned my 1.8 over 10 years now, its driven hard and used for everything from shopping to tip runs and have used it for carrying heavy building materials...yet it keeps going, Ford smashed it out the park with this era of Foci. 
The handling is excellent and a lot of fun throwing them around twisty roads! Yet it's still a practical car, cheap to run and maintain.
Rust will eventually kill these as seems the case with many of the older Ford's but IMO they are one of the best all-rounder cars there is (I am biased!) especially considering when they were released in '99/2000. I think the 1.6 was the pick of the bunch too based on balance of economy and performande but I enjoy the extra 13 horses that comes with the 1.8
Hope it serves you well!
I will be finally moving mine on later this year but no idea what to replace it with...all the modern stuff is too complicated, high borkage factor (due to the complexity) and not as fun or practical.

You could replace it with a pre-facelift Mk2 Focus.  The chassis is the same, apparently, although I have heard the odd grumble about extra weight having a detrimental effect on the handling.  I can't comment on that as, having driven both extensively, I don't feel there's anything inferior about the second model's road holding.  It doesn't look as distinctive, inside or out, but the ergonomics are better.  The column stalks are less flimsy on the Mk2 and, joy of joys, the horrible fat rim steering wheel has been replaced by one with a normal rim.  The engines, particularly the Mazda partnership ones, are far superior.  In sum: less character but better on all fronts apart, allegedly, from driving experience.  The ST and RS Mk2s are fearsome, eclipsing any performance variants of the Mk1.