Mondeo ST TDCI or Octavia II VRS -which ?

[Jules59]

Selling my Fabia VRS to my son - he needs a car and I a bigger boot.

Cant make up my mind between a 07 plate Mondeo ST TDCI and a Octavia II VRS. THe former has better spec and more toys, the latter has a better engine and reliability - maybe

Skoda dealership is miles away , the Ford one i smuch more convenient.

What would you choose and why ??

Incidently the Fabia VRS (Rear ARB and 312 brakes) is great - so keeping it in the family.

Jules

[Skodaboy1983]

If it were me the Mondy would steal it for me, you will prob get a good discount, the 2.2 tdci engine is a cracker but then I would be biased and say the octy as well which also has a cracking engine but think the mondy just pips it as it is well specced and very quick

[matt_theforce]

I looked at both and drove both, but then bought neither. If I get to the point where I could look again it would be a diffucult one for me,

Mondy

* Prefer the looks to the vrs

* More fun to drive

VRS

* Less common than the Mondy

* More confortable than the Mondy

* Enjoy watching peoples reactions when they find I drive a Skoda

* In my eye's VRS is less desirable to thieving scum

[Makefish]

You may get a slight biased opinion on here but for me the Octy wins hands down. Reliabilty issues and the sheer quantity of them on the road would put me off + it's now an 'old' model. Best person to ask or PM maybe is Superted, he's owned both

[ScoobyChris]

Go drive both and see which you prefer. I'd take the Mondeo every time because I find the seats more comfortable and supportive, it's more fun to drive and is better equipped (and also DPF-less!). I wouldn't worry about reliability on the Ford either as they seem to do consistently better than their German counterparts in reliability surveys and my experience certainly bears that out Also factor in Ford parts and servicing is dirt cheap and there is no cambelt to change.

However, the Mondeo is likely to depreciate faster, although saying that the ST seems to doing well as there is no new replacement for it, and they are a more common sight on the roads....

Chris

[richie]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, dificult one :eek:

I like both, but I haven't driven the Skoda ( YET ). I drove the ST TDCi a couple of years ago and was well impressed.

Like a few have all ready suggested, drive both then make your own mind up. I wolud also see what deals could be struck between the dealers and your self.

Good luck.............................:P

[Dr Zoidberg]

I'd bet on saving a couple of grand on the Mondeo which makes it a very tempting option

[Gwilo]

I personally prefer the interoir of the Octy MkII, but.......

I'm buying a TDCi Mondeo on price, spec ( got to love the heated front screen), comfort (seats) and projected long term running costs - the VAG cars are getting more expensive to mantain all the time from my experiences of running a Octy Mk1 and a VW Passat for the last 5-6 years.........sheer number of Mondeos running about must do something for serving costs/parts?

[ric04vrs]

when the Mondeo diesel goes wrong , it is expensive to repair , everything can and will go wrong on that engine and fuel system

i've got one in the workshop at the moment which is currently unfixable , awaiting the Ford engineer to come out

don't know how good the Skoda is reliability wise , but i would rather have one than the Mondeo

[dstev2000]

I've had first hand experience of both cars recently.

The vRS has the better engine and better interior quality.

The Mondeo has more toys as standard and the noise levels are far better in the cabin.

I don't like the faux sports exhaust on the Mondeo - would rather have two honest hoover pipes pointing down at the road :P but it doesn't have the inherent DPF weakness of the vRS and the ST is a very good looking car.

Personally - I would take the Octavia over the ST.

[dougie vrs]

when the Mondeo diesel goes wrong , it is expensive to repair , everything can and will go wrong on that engine and fuel system

i've got one in the workshop at the moment which is currently unfixable , awaiting the Ford engineer to come out

don't know how good the Skoda is reliability wise , but i would rather have one than the Mondeo

two of my mates have or do have mondeo tdci's, one a 2.2 the other a 1.8 ,they have both had major engine and fuel problems, costing a fortune, the 1.8 was in the garage for 17 different faults in a 3 month period and some faults reoccured too,so if you are swaying towards the mondeo be very very careful,think they both said that they are not particularly good with fuel economy either,but my memory is not what it was:orb_bonk:

[ric04vrs]

i don't think the Octy VRS diesel DPF problems would be a concern if the vehicle is driven correctly , and not just tootled around town or sat in traffic idling

i've had to fix a few Mazda 5 and Mazda 6 , 2.0 litre diesels recently , DPF problems , usually caused by the car not being driven in a manner to allow the DPF to regenerate correctly and fully

[Royston]

Mondeo ST every time. We've got one at work and it's a very good car. You can get a decent price for a high spec model as well since the new shape came oot. Drives like a dream.

[edit] the early model TDCi engines did have a lot of turbo problems, we had a car that had four new turbos in 3 years, but they seem to have ironed those "characteristics" out of the later cars.

[ScoobyChris]

[edit] the early model TDCi engines did have a lot of turbo problems, we had a car that had four new turbos in 3 years, but they seem to have ironed those "characteristics" out of the later cars.

Although not all the early TDCI's had problems. Mine is still on the original turbo and fuel system and has just ticked over 85k miles Amazing really, considering how it gets driven

Chris

[mannyo]

If you get a good one, the mondeo is a nice car. But, there are a lot of lemons out there. Chap at work had a tdci, not sure what engine. it had a fault more or less from the day he got it, in that the dashpod would keep cutting out. Several dashpods later, and a whole loom and the problem still persisted. Ford caved in, and swapped the car for another one. I pitty the poor person who now owns it, its still on the road apparently.

[smog monster]

I had a ST-220 2.2 TDCI , lot of car for the money .

Even tho i am a ford fan , personally i would rather have the vRS Tdi than the mondeo st-tdci . Think the vRS is a different class of car & build quaility is alot better than the st-tdci

At the end of the day its what suits you , i still like the mondys but i love my vRS more

[smog monster]

If you do get the mondy , make sure you get the face-lift model . You can tell the difference as it has red st badge / red stitching on the steering wheel , rear interior light , chrome strips on the rear light clusters and on the door handles , cup holders in the rear arm rest

[skodab0y]

I've recently driven both the ST TDCI and the vRS TDI. I prefered the drive of the vRS to be honest. The mondeo has a dual-mass clutch which can mean a less than smooth move from 1st to 2nd and I felt the brakes weren't very good. The kit on the mondeo is very good, though, and the seats are very comfy if recaros are fitted. Also you can get good examples for around 13-14k which are around 12 months old, saving 10k off new. However i suspect the ST will continue to depretiate heavily over the next 2 years, which is why, in the end I decided not to buy one.

[cheezemonkhai]

when the Mondeo diesel goes wrong , it is expensive to repair , everything can and will go wrong on that engine and fuel system

i've got one in the workshop at the moment which is currently unfixable , awaiting the Ford engineer to come out

don't know how good the Skoda is reliability wise , but i would rather have one than the Mondeo

When the skoda diesel goes wrong it's expensive to repair, everything can and will go wrong on the engine, the DMF and sometimes even the fuel system.

I know of one that has spent loads of time in the main dealer with loads of parts replaced many times. The dealer has had others that have been unfixable and even after the techs have been sent down from on high to look nothing has worked.

I don't know how good the mondeo is reliabilty wise, but I would rather have one of them than a Skoda.

Sorry Rick, but I can say the same as you have about the Octy.

I'd also trust a bosch common rail system bolted into a PSA engine over a VAG PD engine when the PD is being phased out, is noisy as hell relative to the CR and IDI engines. The PD170 has peizo injectors too so I'm not sure I would trust that.

That plus the awful problems with DMFs on the car doesn't bode well.

....think they both said that they are not particularly good with fuel economy either,but my memory is not what it was:orb_bonk:

Not sure where you get that from as I know of a 1.8TDCI that never returns under 55mpg and is nearly always into the 60's.

A newer 1.6TDCI one is doing similarly too.

[Gwilo]

I'd also trust a bosch common rail system bolted into a PSA engine over a VAG PD engine when the PD is being phased out, is noisy as hell relative to the CR and IDI engines.

Personally haven't experienced the newer PD engines, but my PD130 sounded like a bag of rusty spanners all the time. Never had a serious problem in all it's like (1 dead battery and 1 blown vnt tube thing). NVH was off the charts though compared to the Mondeo and Vectra taxi's and fleet cars I've experienced.

No doubt I'll be burnt alive by a rabid horde of Fabia vRS drivers for maligning the engine..:sofahide:

[Aspman]

I looked the 2.2 Mondeo (old style) quite seriously before I got the Octy (Titanium X rather than the ST which I thought was a bit overpriced).

I liked it until I test drove a Mondeo and though the interior was one of the worst I'd been in for a long time. Brittle and nasty.

New style cars I assume will be much much better.

[KenONeill]

Mondeo has better rear legroom; Octy has better engine and ride; reliability is seemingly a question of luck with both.

Your choice (from someone who's been in both).

[ScoobyChris]

I don't agree with you on the ride, Ken. The Octy is far harsher, especially on the fun back roads where it's damping feels far less capable of soaking up bumps in the road. I'm also not sure it corners as well, but that's more subjective than scientific

Chris

[KenONeill]

You know what they say about opinions Chris.

I'd agree that the Octy has a damping problem, but it's underdamping on high speed bumps [a sort I've never met down your way (roll on having enough for FSDs)], rather than low speed crashing and pattering.

[ScoobyChris]

The B3086 from Bulford to Shrewton and then the B390 from Shrewton to the A36 are a couple of excellent routes for showing up faults in a car's suspension.

Chris