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Hi John,

I think given the criteria you’ve given us it has to be the Kia. It’s good looking and nice to drive, roomy, comfy and well equipped and above all it has the longest warranty by far. The Ford is great looking and good to drive but the quality isn’t as good as it was on the last Mondeo and while we love the Skoda Superb, it sounds like the Kia would suit you better.

Here are our reviews to help you decide:

Ford Mondeo review

Skoda Superb review

Kia Optima SW review

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Hi Gareth,

Is that the 1.6 TDCi? If so the belt is ‘lifed’ for ten years, with no specific mileage limit, but as it’s four years old now, it might be at worth getting it at least inspected.

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Hi Linda,

Assuming it's the 2.0 TDCi, then it's every 200,000km or every ten years, whichever is sooner. 

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Hi Cyril,

Actually, the current 1.5 EcoBoost petrol model is rather a nice thing. It’s a very smooth, quiet engine and has just about enough poke to shift that big body around, and actually ends up feeling slightly sweeter than the diesel to drive. Economy works out at around 40mpg in most conditions, so it’s not too thirsty and if you’re not doing really big mileage every year, it’s definitely worth considering.

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi diesel review

Ford Mondeo 1.6 TDCi diesel review

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Hi Martin,

That’s a tough question as it’s very hard to know what an individual dealer would offer you and whether or not the damage and repairs in question will make a significant difference to the value. What I’d suggest is go to the dealer with whom you’re thinking of trading it in (or a number of them, if you haven’t yet decided) and have a very honest chat with them about the car. The fact that it has a full service history is very good, so what you need to find out is are you going to make more on the trade in than the cost of the repairs, or are you going to lose more than they’d cost if you leave them?

That’s the crucial question.

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Hi Martin,

There are a couple of things to check - that engine needs a lower auxiliary belt change at around 120,000km so make sure that's been done. You need to be watchful for the diesel particulate filter clogging up and the return pipes for the fuel injectors can leak, so if there's a strong smell of diesel when you lift the bonnet, those will need replacing. 

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Hi Sean,

I assume it's a 2.0 TDCi model? If so it uses a 'dry' belt to drive the camshafts, which has a service interval of 200,000km. However, there is also a tiny chain that links the two camshafts and this is apparently prone to snapping, so make sure that this is changed whenever you change the timing belt, even though it's supposed to be a service-free item. 

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Hi Fergal,

The new Ka+ will be here in June and will cost from €13,050. You can find out much, much more about it in our Ford Ka+ news item. The new Fiesta is a bit more of an unknown and we certainly don’t have prices for it yet. It’s due to launch in Europe in the first quarter of 2017, but Ford Ireland may decide to keep its powder dry and launch it here closer to the 172 registration change in July of next year. It’s likely to be a little larger than the current car (although not by much, as the same basic structure is being retained) and the engine line up will be entirely the new-generation three-cylinder EcoBoost petrol and the four-cylinder 1.5-litre TDCi diesels. It’s likely to also be more expensive than the current car – the fact that Ford is launching a five-door Ka at a cheap-ish price, and the continuing efforts to push the Ford brand upmarket (Vignale, Mustang, GT, Edge etc.) means that the next Fiesta will probably be more sophisticated but more expensive too.

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Hi James,

The big draw for the updated Kuga will be the availability of Ford’s 1.5 TDCi diesel engine, which will bring the Kuga’s running costs down significantly, not least because it will have a 115g/km CO₂ emissions rating. It’ll be here in the autumn, once Ford has finished launching the new Edge SUV, but given the nature of the Irish car market, supply will probably be a bit restricted until January 2017.

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Hi Donncha,

Yes, it’s the same – Ford recommends a change at 125,000 miles (or 200,000km) or every ten years, but as with any cam belt, we’d suggest having it replaced more frequently than that.