Jamescsti

Thought I would post on here for opinions on a new car, in a nut shell, my Mondeo TDCi has been written off this evening by a young idiot on a scooter driving straight into the side of it with no lights on at around 40mph, and throwing himself over the bonnet in the process, he got away with a broken leg, and a demolished scooter.

Anyway, now my problem is replacing my trusty Mondeo.
It was a 52 Plate, but with 105000 on the clock so it ain't going to get repaired with the massive damage.

I'm looking to spend around £2500 on a replacement,
I am looking for a similar size car, don't like small car's as i've seen them demolished in accident's.

I'm considering the Alfa Romeo 156 2 litre, or a diesel variant, which I have driven before and love the looks of. I can get one with around 70k on the clock in my budget.

Also Saab 9-3, 2 litre version (maybe turbo?) obviously old shape. have driven these before but not a manual, which is what I would buy for myself.

Possibly Audi A4, again old shape version, not much experience of these?

I've looked at 3 series BMW's but the one's within my bracket are the E36 shape, which looks too dated to me now.

So having perused auto trader it would appear to be between the Alfa and the Saab. Does anyone have any other suggestions or comments?

Oh and I won't drive vauxhall's at all, been there, plus I drive them at work so want something a bit different.

wilfthree

I dont think you will find better than another mondeo for that money. I would steer clear of Alfa but then I am biased - I used to own one.

Hope the scooter rider isnt too badly hurt - he's probably learnt his lesson.

Kevin Mc

If you go for the Saab, make sure it is the turbo. No worse economy, but a fair bit more torque. Having said that, they only made the 2.0i in the early 9-3's, so I would have thought they'll all be turbo's for £2.5k. Go for SE trim or above. If you are considering Saab's - why not look at 9-5's too? I've had a 9-3 and a 9-5 and the 9-5 was better in almost all departments. Very good (one of the best) in real world safety too. Not cheap to maintain though - would have to go with one of the Saab indies.

Alfa 156 - love those too, though never owned one. Heard a lot of bad press about dealers though.

I've no experience of the Audi, but I would have thought you'd get a better spec'd Passat for the same money.

There's always the Octavia - but they hold their values quite well so doubt you'd get a 51 reg or newer.

You can get Primera's quite cheap these days as well as Citroen C5's. I'd have thought you could get a 406 diesel for good money now that the 407 has been out for a couple of years.

Brendan Hughes

It sounds like you do high mileages regularly, so surely you need reliability - not a word usually associated with Alfas?

Do you not want a Mondeo as a change? They're supposed to be damn good cars - and depreciate quickly, so you'd get a lot of car for that money.

Jamescsti

I actually bought the Mondeo with close to 90k on the clock, i do about 12k per year really.
I've had quite a few Ford's now, nothing wrong with them but i fancy a change really

AudiLover

get the saab. Avoid the alfa

Andy M3

I would agree with what has been said. Mondeo seems a fair bet

A bit of a left field option is a Rover 75?

beef-on-the-bone

iTrader: (5)

i would say 406 with the 2.0 hdi
reliable,economical,comfy
did 130k in x reg from new and still felt as fresh when got rid