Katiegan's Garage | Winter Plans

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MadFlavour
Bit of advice. It's a Ford, sell it before it dies out on you unexpectedly. Been there, done that. Not fun, much expensive.
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MadFlavour
sell it before it dies out on you
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MadFlavour
sell it
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I appreciate you giving advice and trying to save me some money, but I couldn't. The car has way more sentimental value than anything it would bring at auction. I'd rather spend a load of cash restoring it and having a fun car, than sell it for £1000 (that's the most it would bring) and spend the rest of my life regretting it.
 
MadFlavour
Bit of advice. It's a Ford, sell it before it dies out on you unexpectedly. Been there, done that. Not fun, much expensive.
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Yes because Fords are so unreliable....

Katiegan
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I appreciate you giving advice and trying to save me some money, but I couldn't. The car has way more sentimental value than anything it would bring at auction. I'd rather spend a load of cash restoring it and having a fun car, than sell it for £1000 (that's the most it would bring) and spend the rest of my life regretting it.
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This is me entirely with the pickup. If I had the cash, I would dump all the money in the world into that thing. No vehicle will EVER mean as much to me as that. You can't put a price on sentimental value, and that will always be more important to me than a dollar figure.
 
Slash
Yes because Fords are so unreliable...
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Not unreliable as such, but European Fords do seem to have a shelf life of about ten years, after which various bits of the car go wrong with clockwork regularity and it needs fixing on a regular basis. And that's if they don't rust uncontrollably. I don't know if this generation Mondeo rusts (I've not seen many rusty ones about, so maybe not) but I'm still annoyed Ford ruined one of the best cars it's ever made, the Puma, by taking less care over its construction than a 1970s Alfa.

I'm not saying Katie should sell the car, since there's clearly emotional attachment there, but I suspect Bruiser will be one of those cars now that needs constant and often expensive attention for the rest of its life. At least with a new engine that bit should carry on for a while now.
 
I think one of Ford's biggest problems is that they are cheap and many are ex-rep cars making them suffer of negligence. Plus the fact that the original reliability was probably less good than the competition. I know one difference between the Mk3 and Mk2 Mondeo at least - these bumpers don't shatter to pieces :D

Katiegan you are a little bit crazy with that sentimental value.. I love it :)
 
How do you think I feel now I'm selling my S? I'm gonna cry like a baby once I see it drive off. It's my first car that I've had since I was 17 and it carries a hell of a lot sentimental value. Everytime I talk to my parents about selling it to someone else I get slightly angry because I don't want to but I have to.

Older European Fords like mine, do need regular maintenance to keep them going, bodywork especially. Newer ones are much better. In case of a MK3 Mondeo, it wouldn't be worth selling it, you're better off dumping more money into it. I remember the Ghia X model Mondeo my dad had a number of years ago, was a great car. Had TV screens in the headrests fitted as standard. What ever happened to those?
 
eiriksmil
these bumpers don't shatter to pieces :D
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There's a joking observation in the UK that a Mk2 Mondeo without duct tape holding the bumpers together doesn't exist. Luckily, Mk3s seem to be a lot more solid (and sadly, Mk1s are incredibly rare now as most have been driven into the ground).
 
Slash
Yes because Fords are so unreliable....



This is me entirely with the pickup. If I had the cash, I would dump all the money in the world into that thing. No vehicle will EVER mean as much to me as that. You can't put a price on sentimental value, and that will always be more important to me than a dollar figure.
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Yes in fact they are, had 3 all 3 died before 110,000 miles.
 
MadFlavour
Yes in fact they are, had 3 all 3 died before 110,000 miles.
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To be fair, that's fairly anecdotal. They're not inherently more unreliable than most cars, and at the very least they're fairly cheap to fix when they do go wrong.

There's an abuse factor in there too. Many people buy Fords and a great number of those people probably don't treat them great. Mechanically my old Mk4 Fiesta was perfect because an old gent owned it for the first 15k miles and I looked after it for the next 6.5 years. It just started getting a bit rusty in places. Which is still the main enemy of old Fords.

But most are driven into the ground, badly serviced (if at all), thrashed by sales reps or crashed by teenagers. It's why I partly feel sorry for the 2nd-gen Renault Clio's reputation for unreliability, since 99% of 2nd-gen Renault Clios are owned by new drivers who roar around like total bell-ends the whole time. They're not so much unreliable as less capable of withstanding unrelenting abuse from idiots than some other cars.

No car is truly immune to bad driving - witness how many Golf Mk4s are on their last legs these days now that they can be had for less than a grand and any old berk can afford one.
 
homeforsummer
To be fair, that's fairly anecdotal. They're not inherently more unreliable than most cars, and at the very least they're fairly cheap to fix when they do go wrong.

There's an abuse factor in there too. Many people buy Fords and a great number of those people probably don't treat them great. Mechanically my old Mk4 Fiesta was perfect because an old gent owned it for the first 15k miles and I looked after it for the next 6.5 years. It just started getting a bit rusty in places. Which is still the main enemy of old Fords.

But most are driven into the ground, badly serviced (if at all), thrashed by sales reps or crashed by teenagers. It's why I partly feel sorry for the 2nd-gen Renault Clio's reputation for unreliability, since 99% of 2nd-gen Renault Clios are owned by new drivers who roar around like total bell-ends the whole time. They're not so much unreliable as less capable of withstanding unrelenting abuse from idiots than some other cars.

No car is truly immune to bad driving - witness how many Golf Mk4s are on their last legs these days now that they can be had for less than a grand and any old berk can afford one.
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The ones that I have worked on have all had the same mechanical problem that Ford failed to address, Mk1 Ford Focus's crankshafts all failed at around the 100,000km mark, damaged to the point where buying a new one and paying for labour would cost the owner more than the car itself. That's where I make my money lol so I'm pleased with Fords quality. Take them apart, sell the main body to the scrappers and the rest of the car is stripped and sold for parts.
 
I must admit, European Fords are a real PITA to work on.

Even still, currently, nothing is drastically wrong with Bruiser *touch wood*. All that we really need to sort out is the bodywork, which we'll make a start on soon now that the weather is improving. With a new engine and gearbox, I think Bruiser should be running around for another couple of years. Like @SVT Cobra GT said, it's not worth it selling him now. Besides, when I start working in the summer, I'm going to need something to keep my skills in check. :p
 
UrieHusky
There's a difference between people who see cars as an expense and those who see them as family.
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Theirs also a difference in how the trucks are built as opposed to the cars. I'm not saying Ford's are bad cars, I would kill for a Escort Cosworth or a GT. There just not very reliable as opposed to others.
 
homeforsummer
99% of 2nd-gen Renault Clios are owned by new drivers who roar around like total bell-ends the whole time.
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Ahem, thinking of anyone in particular? Ah who am I kidding, that's exactly how I drove mine. Though in the case of the 1.2, the ignition wires are routed badly, causing them to chafe, and then eventually short out against the engine block (this happened to mine and one of my friends' Clios too.)

From my experience with Fords, Mk3 Mondeos tend to be pretty sturdy, take plenty of abuse, and appear to have several more coats of paint than the Ka/Fiesta/Puma of a similar age, which seem to instantly turn to rust at the mention of a sea breeze.

I'm a fan of those Mondeos though, they're big, comfy and even the basic ones are surprisingly good fun to chuck around! Loving the black colour scheme too :)
 
MadFlavour
There just not very reliable as opposed to others.
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Considering Bruiser has been used everyday for the past 10 years and has never left us at the side of the road, I'd say that's pretty reliable. Even when the gearbox had a massive hole in it, he still ran and still changed gear until we could get him fixed. The only time we've been stuck is when the slave cylinder went, but even then we managed to get him going. Despite having an engine and gearbox replacement, both of those things never actually left us stranded. Obviously, I'm not trying to say 'omg all fordz r gr8 stfu', because you must've had bad experience with Fords to make you think that, I'm just saying that my Ford has been very reliable over the past decade.

Like I said before, the only major problem now is the bodywork, because of all the scratches and dents and scuffs of being a car used daily for 10 years. Although, he is starting to have some pretty bad rust problems at the bottom of the doors - but we all know Fords rust. :p
 

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