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Beige Bargain Bucket - £550 - Aberdeen


Supernaut

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I take part responsibility for him getting it, he was on the fence after the viewing so I decided the best port of call was to have a 'few' pints and think it over. Because that's never ended up badly...

 

It's a fine thing, the rear is pleasant to be in and the seats are rather comfy...not LS400 levels, but still good! Not really anything else I can add to what Supernaut has said.

I'll be at him to get the front badge replaced, as in its current state it really bugs me...and it just so happens that there's one in good nick in the local scrappy.

I already looked at how the grille comes off on my one when I had the bonnet open! Not too difficult at all.

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Anyway, I went off on a tangent.

 

DW, I'd recommend one if you can find a reasonably tidy one. The way it manages to combine ride and handling is almost (almost) French. Reminds me a bit of 1990s Peugeots in that respect, and that's a good thing! I was worried about it being slightly crashy on the 17s, but it seems fine. I remember you could get this shape of Mondeo on 18s though! That would probably be a bit much.

 

I one of those (a Ghia X 2.2 TDCi) on 18s and it had surprisingly decent ride - it even stopped and went OK once I replaced the Chinese death rings it came with. 

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I one of those (a Ghia X 2.2 TDCi) on 18s and it had surprisingly decent ride - it even stopped and went OK once I replaced the Chinese death rings it came with.

No Chinese death rings here. Michelins on the front and Uniroyal Rainsports on the back.

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First of all, the Xantia is still for sale. I really don't need two cars.

 

 

Onto the Mongdeo. I left you all with the fact that my indicators were flashing really fast, but I had got the reversing lights working!

I narrowed the indicator problem down to it only happening when the sidelights or headlights were switched on. Odd.

 

I investigated the tail light wiring some more, as I suspected that was where the reversing sensor 'install' had interfered with things. I found what I could only describe as 'piggyback' wiring looms. They connected into the original tail light connectors, then sat in place of them.

 

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I isolated them and connected the factory spec connectors to the tail light units and voila! Working indicators at all times again.

 

Look at the glory that is a Duratec V6, with up-close photographic evidence that it does indeed have a throttle cable. No idea how to pre-tension it though.

 

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Spurred on by my success, I took it out for a proper drive. The weather was nice this evening, and I wasn't feeling as shit as I was yesterday. How do I sum it up? 2nd and 3rd gear are VERY fun. Stomping it in 2nd from 20mph actually made me laugh out loud. I'm also already throwing it around corners just like the Xantia, it's a very capable car. I think it's earned this:

 

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It also still needs a good clean. Not got round to that yet. That's next on the list.

 

Yes, I know the camera on a Cubot Dinosaur is utter cack.

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family hatches

I keep forgetting it's family car. Mainly because I'm single. I really don't need a car this size, but where else can you get this kind of performance for so cheap?! :D

 

The stupidly huge boot will come in handy, I'm sure. Looks like it could almost swallow a bicycle whole. Or a set of wheels that I need to shift at some point.

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That throttle cable looks new and not quite the same as the new ones on eBay. Maybe it's just a poorly fitting 3rd party job, ford ones are £55!

 

The ford ones don't look like they come with an adjuster either, if there's no adjustment on the throttle body, it might just be too long.

I might need to get creative, then...

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I think I may have picked up a puncture on the front right.

 

I noticed the front tyres aren't far off the wear indicators either, so looked at the price of 205/50/17s. HOW FUCKING MUCH?!

 

I can get some 16" Ford wheels for not too much on gumtree, and the 205/55/16s are far cheaper too. These look tempting.

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The stupidly huge boot will come in handy, I'm sure. Looks like it could almost swallow a bicycle whole. Or a set of wheels that I need to shift at some point.

Rover 200 will with the seats down, so there's a good chance.

I didn't get why you bought this at first. Now I do, it looks pretty alright actually.

Well be smoking about in Mondeo Vignales in 15 years!

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I didn't get why you bought this at first. Now I do, it looks pretty alright actually.

It goes alright, too!

 

I was bored of the Xantia. The torque from the HDi is nice, but having an N/A petrol V6 is lovely!

 

I've had Mk3 Mondeo V6s at the back of my mind for a bit (thanks to RantingYoof) and took a punt on one. What's funny is looking at autotrader and ebay at other Mondeo V6s and seeing the utter sheds out there that people are asking far more money for!

 

I've enquired about the set of 16" wheels above, too. They're the same price as 2x 17" tyres would be for it. Erk!

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I think I may have picked up a puncture on the front right.

 

I noticed the front tyres aren't far off the wear indicators either, so looked at the price of 205/50/17s. HOW FUCKING MUCH?!

 

I can get some 16" Ford wheels for not too much on gumtree, and the 205/55/16s are far cheaper too. These look tempting.

That's a wierd size. Most cars of this type come with 225/45/17 nowadays.

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I think I may have picked up a puncture on the front right.

 

I noticed the front tyres aren't far off the wear indicators either, so looked at the price of 205/50/17s. HOW FUCKING MUCH?!

 

I can get some 16" Ford wheels for not too much on gumtree, and the 205/55/16s are far cheaper too. These look tempting.

 

Mk2 Focus wheels but I see no reason why they shouldn't fit. They're nice.

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The Ghia X 17s on it right now are a little bit corroded and don't even have valve caps on them. I think the Focus wheels might make it look a bit more presentable.

 

 

I'm getting used to this V6 lark. It actually makes lovely noises at low speeds. I was just pootling about with the radio off at about 2-3k rpm and it makes lovely woofly noises. :D

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These are ace cars. I had one in TDDi flavour, mechanically bomb proof before they put the awful TDCi in......

 

Only two complaints are the handbrake element of the rear calipers are terrible, and the washer jet motors give up and are a pain to replace.

 

Sold mine because I've intermittent lower back pain, and the mondeo seats seemed to make it worse. The V70 that replaced it was far better in that regard, otherwise I would have kept it. Might have to sample a V6 at some point assuming the fancy pants seats are more comfortable than the base ones in mine

 

Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

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