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        General >> Give/Need advice to/from others >> New guy saying hello and asking for advice
        
(Message started by: Alss on Jul 19^th, 2007, 10:25am)

Title: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by Alss on Jul 19^th, 2007, 10:25am

Hi all, after a bumpy ride i`ve touched down (hopefully)

First off what a fantastic home page the information available is first class, infact the best i`ve ever seen offered freely from any site, well done to who ever set that all up A+

All ways nice to introduce one`s self, my names Andy 40 going on 18 ;) happily married with two great little ones.

Ok now for the advice, up until now i have had a 24v Auto Ghia x mondeo as our family car and its been a great car never let us down and a lovely drive, but last week it was diagnosed with head gasket failure at 124,000 miles , and no-one really wants to undertake the job and those that do want a small fortune to do 1.5k plus which is simply out of our range, so we have decided to cut our losses and look for a replacement.

A car i have always fancied is the 2.9 Scorpio ultima, ok advice time, i have found two, one is a 24v 3 owner and in my opinion in a good well looked after condition with 110,000 showing on the clock, the second car is a 12v with one owner from new, in what i would class as mint condition with 70,000 mile showing on the clock, both are ultima`s

What i need to know is what is the stronger engine out of the two , which would be the better LONG term car as we have no intention of selling once brought , both cars are equally spec`ed leather etc, the performance advantage from the 24v is unimportant to us where as cost of owner -ship / ease of repairs is , we do not want nor can afford to fall into the same trap as we have with the mondeo.

The 12v is up for more money than the 24v , but not a lot more.

Neither me or my wife are racers, more plodders 8)

Over to you that know ;)

Any advice would be really helpful to us
Thankyou
Andy

Title: Re: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by Scorpio_Mike on Jul 19^th, 2007, 10:38am

Personally I'd go for the 12v - potentially much cheaper to maintain, still got plenty of power and you have all the nice toys...cheaper to insure too.

Title: Re: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by petehull on Jul 19^th, 2007, 10:40am

Hiyah Andy and welcome to the site, first of all congratulations on your decision to go Scorp, it is a truely wonderful car in all its guises. I would take a lot of time to read through the posts of the site, it is truely an education that should be part of the National Curriculum.
I have the 2.3 Ultima which I have converted to run on gas, that is my 1st recommendation.

I hope you find what you are looking for and hope you make the right decisions, with the help on here I am sure you will.

I have got to go home from work now so I'll leave you in the capable hands of all the very helpfull and freindly users of this site.

Welcome once again and enjoy yourself.... ;D ;D

Pete

Title: Re: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by Snoopy on Jul 19^th, 2007, 10:44am

I have a 12v with 130k on the clock and still going strong... Cheaper to maintain than the 24v and has a better relabilty IMHO, but lacks the grunt of the 24v will plod around all day .
I do 300/400 non stop ( except for petrol ) on motorways on a fairly regular basis and return a healthy 30 ish mpg. around town low 20's
good low end torque . But at the end on the day you pay your money and take your chance .. FYI 12months ago my car was valued at £600/700 retail. to give you some idea.
Check i tover very carefully get it up to real working temp check for leaks rattles and the usual stuff but you sound as though you know what to look for , so GOOD LUCK !

Title: Re: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by Spannerdemon on Jul 19^th, 2007, 11:36am

Hi Andy,

I own an Ultima 12v 2.9...below... had it since Feb 2006, and like you I'm not remotely interested in speed. The 12v would easily lose you your licence in the speed department without even trying, so you don't need more speed.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g25/xtr42gpnd/ScorpioPicture1.jpg

Running costs on mine have been minimal. I have nothing but good things to say about the car.
A superb tourer, with every conceivable gadget, good looks, and a more than powerful engine.

Easy to service too. A dream to work on.

I had a Granada Ghia with virtually the same engine, and these V6 12v engines are powerful and hugely reliable.
If you don't thrash them, they go on for ever.

24v............well double trouble (not to mention expense), if things go wrong is the way I look at it.

Insurance. I pay £146.00 Fully Comprehensive on a clean licence with 72% no Claims.

Don't know where you are, but it would be a good idea to let someone look it over for you before you buy. Us owners know what to look out for. Someone might just offer if you tell us. On a sensible note, it might just help you to drive the price down a bit too.......... ;)

Also: Take a good look at this, which is the buyers guide on this site.HERE (http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/advice.htm)

Bear in mind that these are (generally) about 10 year old cars, and will need attention from time to time, like any second hand car. Parts are still relatively easy to find, and for the money you will not, guaranteed, find a better equipped car.

They are a pleasure to drive. Smooth, good looking and powerful (like me ;D ;D). and you'll just love it.

With the lower mileage, and 'mint condition', it would be the 12v for me without hesitation. Just don't let me see it, I might just buy another one!! :D

Welcome anyway. :)

Title: Re: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by Alastair on Jul 19^th, 2007, 12:21pm

Nice looking car sd - who are you insured with seems very reasonable ?

Alastair

Title: Re: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by Spannerdemon on Jul 19^th, 2007, 2:37pm

Hi Alistair:

I insure with Esure. that quote is for my wife and I as named drivers. I'm 60 and the Dragon is 58. ;D

They are very competetive for careful drivers. You need to have at least four years no claims for them to insure you. A clean licence helps too. ;)

Title: Re: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by harry.m1byt on Jul 19^th, 2007, 5:48pm

I would go with the 12v if you want reliability and minimum expense to maintain it. The techonology has been around a long time and is tried and well tested. So far as I know it is the oldest engine design in the range and it is the only one which doesn't use OBD II for engine management. It also has the older hydraulically controlled auto gearbox.

It has plenty of slogging power, yet has the grunt to beat most things away at the lights if you want to.

Title: Re: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by TiberiuS on Jul 19^th, 2007, 6:31pm

Hi Andy, welcome aboard ;D

I'm a 16v chappie but my advice too is go for the 12v, far simpler than the 24v. The cosworth is great but if you're not worried about the performance aspect, the 12v still has 150 horses and a lot of low/mid torque, should be more than adequate for normal driving.

IMO, the 12v is a more solid lump than the Duratec 24v on the Mondeo, as good as it is.

Good luck.

Regards, Bruce :).

Title: Re: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by Matt on Jul 19^th, 2007, 6:47pm

being a cossie man myself id say go for the 12v lol, the cossies are great fun and id never change mine, but cracked engine looms and the amount of electronics in the engine can be a night mare

also as soon as you say "its a cosworth" to any parts dealers, expect the price to rise a fair bit...

not many cosworths are around in scrappies either but so far ive found 2 12v'ers in a few months (i had the engines out of both ;D) in the same scrapyard so bits are easy to find

as stated they dont have the grunt of the cosworth but i think they do sound more 'meaty'

being a 2.9 v6 dont expect mind blowing mpg, but who cares about that when your having ones of the most comfortable rides going...

Title: Re: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by Alss on Jul 20^th, 2007, 4:14pm

Thankyou for all you helpful replies, there very much appreciated.
We have now decided to purchase the 12v as im sure like you all say running costs are sure to be considerably cheaper, the car its self is a 1997 Ultima one owner form new ( a professor) zero previous owners showing on the logbook with 70 k on the clock and really not a mark to be found anywhere, it also has a full ford history a long with a folder of receipts, the colour is a very dark blue/green have no clue as to what the name of the colour is ???

We collect the car on the 4th/08th/07

Again Thankyou all for you help

Spanner-demon, your car looks like a very well looked after example.

Andy

Title: Re: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by TiberiuS on Jul 20^th, 2007, 7:23pm

Hi Andy, if you get the paint code from the VIN plate under the bonnet, there's a chart somewhere on the site which gives all the code details :)

Good luck in advance and welcome to Scorpio ownership ;D

Title: Re: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by petehull on Jul 20^th, 2007, 9:11pm

Here you go Alss
Try this for your colour.... http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/colourstrim.htm

hth
Pete

Title: Re: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by Spannerdemon on Jul 20^th, 2007, 11:12pm

Cheers Andy. Glad we've helped you, and I know you're going to really appreciate the car!! look forward to seeing some photos soon.

Yes, I picked a good one too. ;)

Title: Re: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by TiberiuS on Jul 20^th, 2007, 11:50pm

This one ;D

http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/images/vin.gif

click on the image to make it bigger ;)

Title: Re: New guy saying hello and asking for advice
Post by PeteB on Jul 21^st, 2007, 8:29am

Personally I'd hang on and see if you can find the td, better mpg plus the price difference between the petrol and diesel these days is only a few pence.

Pete