Car choice: Which is best to eat those miles – Mondeo or Passat?

Bill Aston is a driver who covers ‘huge’ mileage and wants a used estate car which is big and reliable. He is prepared to spend £10,000 on his purchase.

It’s hard to go wrong with a Mondeo, particularly if you can stretch to the highest spec Titanium model (Ford)

A car for the head

A Ford Mondeo certainly ticks all of Bill’s boxes. It is a very large vehicle and they prove to be very dependable. We were contacted by a reader recently who had just racked up 300,000 miles in a 2010 example. There is no reason to question that choice, it is just a question of finding the right specification. Ideally, Bill should go for the best equipped model and that would be the Titanium level of trim. Some £9,500 buys an economical (53mpg) 2012 2.0 TDCI Titanium with 40,000 miles under its wheels and a complete service history from a Ford dealer.

The 1.6 TDI Bluetooth Passat will give you 64 miles to the gallon (VW)

A car for the heart

Admittedly not so lovable as some, another estate car option we have often seen with large mileage on the clock is the Volkswagen Passat. Here is another tough, large and practical vehicle, which as an estate seems to make much more sense than the saloon, even though the four-door car has a very big boot. To save more on running costs there is a 1.6 TDI Bluetooth model which is in Tax Band C and currently costs £30 a year to tax. Yes, it is a Volkswagen, but the emissions are low and it returns 64mpg. A 2013 Tech S model with 47,000 miles from a dealer would be the perfect buy for Bill.

If you would like James Ruppert to help with your car choice, email james@freecarmag.com. For more motoring views visit freecarmag.com