mondeo,passat or vectra

[cam1239]

Hi all, I am looking to change my 53 reg Rover 75 Tourer for something a bit newer and I am looking at either a Mondeo 140bhp estate, Passat 140bhp estate or Vectra 150bhp estate. I tow a 2005 Elddis Avante 534 mtplm 1440kg any advice on any of the cars mentioned. I have about £10000 but could push to £10500 if the car was equipped with towbar so I could get something around 2 - 4 years old.According to What Towcar.com they are all capable tugs it's just down to what is available and recommendations. All advice will be appreciated.
Cam

 

[JonnyG]

I think as you already know they are capable cars, it might be all down to how you like the way they drive. personally engine wise the Vauxhalls a peach, and over engineered[i know no such thing] in the inter cooler department, so as you will be towing its nice to know the Air rushing into your engine is being kept a darn more cooler than inter coolers on other makes.And as towing is an extra exertion,this has many benefits.

Good luck with your purchase

 

[andy72]

Hi,

Ive actually owned 2 of the above cars and had expereince of the third (sort of)

The Vectra is the one i have most expereince with, having owned 2, a 2.2 petrol Sri and a 150 CDTi elite. The CDTi was a very capable car and pulls very strongly. They are actually larger inside (or feels like it) than the omega i used to own. They do have a few reliability issues though, ranging from dual mass flywheel failures, cracked inlet manifolds, EGR problems. Make sure its under network Q warranty as i wouldnt trust a third party warranty as they will claim they are wear and tear.

I had a 1.9D bluemotion passat as a company car. Again very capable, quite nippy off the mark but lacking guts at motorway speeds. Then again, it was built for econmony and i always saw 68mpg on a run if taking it carefully. 55mpg around town was th enorm. Nothing bad to report other than again they have dual mass flywheel failures from an early age, and have been known to fail as early as 20K miles!!!

The mondeo i havent owned, but have had a volvo S40 2.0D which is the same engine. I actually traded this is in as i got the flyhweel issue. since reading up, it appears every manufacturer suffer this so its not a ford only issue (or VW or Vauxhall!).
Out of the three, this pulled the best, very torquey but laggy low down. Once the turbo kicks in, its off very strongly. Mine did tend to smoke quite a bit though. Was the worst of the three for MPG, 35 around town and only early 40's on a run.

 

[mcgizct2]

I've driven and towed (trailer) with the latest Mondeo which had the 1.8 TD engine and 6 speed box. I had this from new as a company car for 10 months and apart from the first 2 weeks had no problems with it. I put 38k miles on and found it a strong car for towing and good economy when not (I once got 87 mpg). A very capable car and comfortable. I have also test drove the precious model and that was as capable.

The vectra on the other hand in my experience is not so capable (this was a courtesy car with an engine around 2l). On the flat it drove well but it made a real meal of getting up any hill. Multiple downshifts and high revs.

I looked into the passat but was put off by the electronic handbrake ( that's just an accident waiting to happen).

Hope this helps.