Reader Lee reminded me of a glory time for Ford of Europe when it was making models that people really wanted to buy. He has seen some of the classics that pop up on our pages.
“My absolute top car of its time and better than anything around was the Mk2 Granada Ghia,” he says. “This was such a wonderful, large, luxurious car and the 2.8 injection engine was lovely and fast.” Lee has owned plenty and the other day, when I saw a Ford Mondeo Vignale estate in the wild, I wondered if the middle-management luxury car still exists on the used car market. It does.
So let’s start at the Vignale end of things. If anything is Granada-ish, especially when it comes to Ghia X spec, then it is one of these with the equally iconic Italian designer name. As you know, this is a Mondeo with knobs on. These are depreciation black holes so prices start at around £12,900, for which you will get a dealer-supplied 2016 2.0 TDCi diesel with an automatic gearbox and more than 75,000 miles. If you want the added practicality of an estate, then another 2016 example, but this time with a manual gearbox, is £13,900 with 65,000 miles.
If we were to create the full, 1970s-80s experience and sniff some petrol fumes, I would like to be the first to state the obvious that there are not many in circulation. A 2.0 Ecoboost automatic from 2016 with 31,000 miles is £15,200. The Mondeo Vignale is also available as a thoroughly modern hybrid. A 2018 one with 25,000 miles and an automatic shifter is a solid £20,000. Golly, don’t they have a lot of chrome fillets and bits on them? Wonderful.
Is anyone else doing this? Not as much. Friendly rival Vauxhall has the Carlton-esque Insignia in SRi VX-Line trim. Certainly, it seems to be the current-generation Partridgemobile. Anyway, you can get a 2018 2.0 diesel with 23,000 miles at around £15,500. Mind you, a 2018 1.6 petrol with under 10,000 miles is a rather tempting £17,999 under the Network Q scheme. Then again, a 2017 2.0 diesel SRi with 14,000 miles is on the same buying terms for £13,999.
Then there is the previous-gen Peugeot 508, which seems to be overlooked by many but is a saloon that you ought to consider in the mid to late part of its depreciation cycle. As we have been dealing at the higher end of the market, just under £15,000 will get you into a 2.0 BlueHDi 180 GT automatic with just 22,000 miles.
At least you wouldn’t spot many others on your motorway travels. Whether any of these moderns is as achingly cool as the old Ghia stuff, I leave that to you. Better fuel consumption, more comfy and safer will swing it for most.
What we almost bought this week
Lexus IS200: A straight-six 2.0-litre petrol engine, rear-wheel drive, sporty looks and a generous spec – Lexus’s tilt at the compact executive saloon market caused a stir back in 1999. We found a 2000 X-reg Sport for £995. It has done a heroic 173,000 miles but don’t panic: the seller is a Lexus tech who has cherished it and it has had only two owners.
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Feel For The Poor British Motorist
Left Blighty 15yrs ago and reading some of these posts reminds me how tough the average car owner has it in Britain. What with fuel costs, road tax (or whatever its called now) its painfull to read about the choices that make sense. Not sure who all the costs are designed to benefit/protect? Here in the USA I pay $70 a year road tax (say 50 quid?) $2.50 a gallon (say 2 quid) and cars new are probably about 15% less new (variable based on marque). Its the reason 17yr old high school kids drive new Ford Mustang GT's, BMW's etc. Choosing between an up and Citigo is like choosing between May or Corbyn.
Try Singapore...
where the cheapest car is a Thailand made Mitsubishi Mirage G4 with a 78bhp 1.2l 3cyl with a CVT tranny. It goes for SGD60k which is about £34k. Annual road tax is about £450, insurance about £500-600 a year, and technically we don’t own the car. It’s a 10 years lease from the government.
Up
Torn between an up or citigo? Consider the Mii as well, for my wife it was a no brainer as the finance package was better than the other two offered, we also found the Mii was available in more plush states of trim than the citigo making it feel a bit more premium, though this was in 2015, so specs may have changed, but we couldn't get a citigo with the gloss dash trim which enhances the interior feel no end and in mango spec it is very plush little car, both the Skoda and seat versions look better and less like appliances as well, and for similar specs the seat always seemed slightly cheaper.
I found this out when I got