Help Needed Picking A Galaxy

[toastie15]

Hi I currently have a diesel Zafira that has fallen victim to the dreaded diesel pump failure so once fixed with a second hand pump, they cost £2100 new, I am going to trade it in for something better and bigger. After considering a Grand Voyager have decied to get a Galaxy, and I am wondering if the 2.3 petrol is a good engine and should I avoid the auto gearbox. Price wise I am looking at a maximum of £4k and want to purchase one from a dealer so can get some sort of warranty, are Galaxy diesels ok or do I risk the same issue with th crappy vauxhall I own that has only done 51k. Thanks in advance for any replies and sorry for the long winded questions.

[gregers]

welcome to the forum,

i too went down the zaffy route for a time,i must have been lucky as mine(mk1 dti)had no problems at all in the 2 years i had it.

 

soon came back to the galaxy though, :rolleyes: they are probably the best mpv on the market,from a personnel point of view i would go down the tdi route as these are basically a vw in disguise.there is an abundance of info on this forum,from general problems to discussions etc about the various engine types,do a search.

as you have found any car can be a complete dog,hopefully your next one will behave itself.

[davehewitt]

2.3 are ok but stay away from the auto box,there are a lot for sale with auto box problems on ebay so i thing they have there fair share of problems. also check all door electric work and air-con . hope this helps

[toastie15]

http://www.westcarsales.co.uk/used-cars/ford-galaxy-1-9-td-ghia-5dr-130-ps-sittingbourne-201317511204369 would this be ideal

[Scorpiorefugee]

I've now worked my way through MKI, MKII and MKIII, all diesels and my favourite is the MKI  1.9TDI manual for all round driving pleasure and cost efficency. Not a lot of frills but well thought out and comfortable. The 1998 on with the 110 BHP engine has more than enough poke for sensible drivers and will cruise all day at 70 and 45 mpg +. You can go faster but what is the point these days. The problem is as always finding a good one and this will usually be one which has not seen too many Ford garages as most of the problems are down to poor fault diagnosis, botched repairs and irresponsible owners - usual story really. Good ones are hard to find but it would help to find an experienced owner to help eliminate rubbish. The old problem exists in that few people will part with one unless it has a problem. These generally fall into 2 categories. Not immediately obvious but expensive to fix and troublesome and difficult to diagnose but not always serious. Always insist on a good test drive and a good diesel MKI should take you from 50 to 70 on a level road in 5th smoothly and quietly in 10 seconds or less and be picking up all the way. (Std problem is the MAF which makes it feel as if the turbo is shot) Uneven tyre wear can be a huge problem, especially on the back and tyres should last 40K front and forever on the back. My MKI looked tatty when I got it at 140K but felt good. It had a couple of the silly annoying problems which cost me less than  ton but I gave it a full service and cam belt to be sure and it gave me 100K of real pleasure in 4 years of mixed van type use and family use at minimal cost, more than I had from the MKII and I just don't want to talk about the MKIII. I've never had to put a single drop of oil in any of them between services.

All standard stuff I'm afraid but it should feel a lot better than any Zaffy I've been in and if you have any doubts start digging or post here.

I hope you get lucky.

[gregers]

i cant comment on the mk3 but if its similar to the smax then im happy with what i drive at the moment,

like the post above my 1st gal was a mk1 petrol,then went and got a tdi mk2 personally i thought the mk2 was a far better car.

 

but this is where you are going to have an argument with yourself,try and drive both and then make ur mind up.

[cugsy]

I'm interested in how this works out. I had a 2.3 petrol mk1 auto. It was a nice drive and little went wrong - but it was thirsty. Less than 28mpg on average. I got shut of it this feb because of the economy ..or lack of it. I ended up buying a nice little yaris verso automatic that was bloody ugly but economical. Sadly, a chav in a motor home broadsided us on monday and it was totalled. I noticed in that little car that other drivers ignored it and pulled out a lot. I want another tank.

  As it is I have about 3K to spend and it has to be diesel for the economy. Probably at that price a mkII. Nowt new! My question is about mileage. I see a lot of diesel mpvs with over 150,000 miles for silly money. Are they still reliable? galaxy or sharan or seat? I'd appreciate some (clean) suggestions.  John

[viperclive]

After reading on here all the problems members have with their diesels I'm afraid I will be sticking to my mk1 2.3 LPG converted gal, with Lpg at 65p per ltr she's as economical as a diesel!

[cugsy]

Do the insurance thieves mind lpg? Or do they load it?

[viperclive]

Ha good one, I'm with saga as I'm that age lol, some insurance companies say no but there's plenty out there that insure Lpg conversions, best thing I've ever done, got 40ltr tank instead of a spare so now carry 2 of those instant repair bottles. I got the cost of conversion back within first year and that was five yrs ago, there are gals out there converted just got to be lucky to grab one.

[sparky Paul]

I might be on the lookout for another Galaxy, had this one now for 10 years! Although it's still mechanically sound and just sailed through another MOT, it is starting to look a little tatty round the gills, and two kids and a dog are starting to take their toll on the interior.

 

Having looked at diesels, I'm tending towards another petrol. The 2.3 is a superb engine if serviced well, the only engine-related items I've had to replace in 10 years are thermostat, aux belt pulley and tensioner, and it still sounds as sweet as the day I bought it. As said above, avoid the autos, which are weak.

 

It is a big car though, and they are thirsty. Gas conversion is undoubtedly the way to go with a petrol, but it it adds a big lump to the purchase price unless you are able to DIY. If you are intending keeping the car for a good few years, payback for the conversion is less of an issue.

 

Finding cars that are already converted is a problem, as most have been to the moon and back.

 

I regret not converting this one when I bought it, but I never thought I would keep a car this long - I'll be sorry to see it go!

Edited August 12, 2013 by sparky Paul