Which Mondeo?

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Sun 1 Mar 2015 18:17
Which Mondeo? - Gotanoldhondar

Hi

I now need a larger car and have settled on a Ford Mondeo mk4 with about £5000 to spend,i will be covering about 15k miles a year.I do not have a preference regarding petrol or diesel and the car will be owned by me.

Looking on autotrader there are not many petrols about so will probably get a diesel,not too bothered about mpg as long as it above 30,so which model should i buy?

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Sun 1 Mar 2015 19:03
Which Mondeo? - jamie745

You want the best one you can get - obviously - and ideally the highest spec you can afford. If I was shopping for a mk4 Mondeo I'd want a Titanium X petrol. If you're getting a late mk3 then go for a Ghia model, though my personal preference would be the ST220.

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Sun 1 Mar 2015 23:48
Which Mondeo? - Avant

In your position and doing 15,000 a year I think I'd go for the 2.0 diesel. This engine is more reliable than some and is capable of huge mileages: even so, try to find one that's done average mileage (around 10,000 a year) as your own mileage is going to be highish. But if you happen to find a good 2.0 petrol, you should be fine with this too.

The trim level won't make a great deal of difference at your price level: recent Mondeos haven't sold nearly as well as they did 20 years ago, but there should be enough to choose from for you to get the extras that you want.

Edited by Avant on 01/03/2015 at 23:48

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Mon 2 Mar 2015 08:35
Which Mondeo? - Happy Blue!

Make sure you buy one with Quickclear heated windscreen. A superb invention and you will use it far more often than you imagine.

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Mon 2 Mar 2015 09:41
Which Mondeo? - Trilogy

Downside of higher spec is more to go wrong.

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Mon 2 Mar 2015 09:50
Which Mondeo? - Happy Blue!

Well my 2009 S-Max had every conceivable factory fitted extra thrown at the car - and I mean every. In the almost five years I owned the car the number of repairs carried out was three and two were minor, free of charge jobbies; and the thrid was a replacement shock absorber. Nothing connected to anything 'extra' on the car. The extras performed faultlessly.

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Mon 2 Mar 2015 10:47
Which Mondeo? - leef

Quickclear Windscreen.

Agreed, I think all mk3 and mk4's have them as standard?

I owned a standard LX mk3 and it had it.

Lee

Edited by leef on 02/03/2015 at 10:48

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Mon 2 Mar 2015 12:51
Which Mondeo? - craig-pd130

I ran a Mondeo IV 2.0TDCI (140bhp) manual estate in Zetec trim for over 3 years and 40,000 miles from new. It was 100% reliable and very easy to live with. My owner's review is here: www.honestjohn.co.uk/owner-reviews/ford/mondeo-iv-...d

It was reasonably brisk when stirred up, and averaged 42mpg at the pump in the time I owned it. The diesels seem to be pretty robust, very few problems reported with the DPFs etc.

The Zetec spec has most of the toys you'd want (including the electric front windscreen as standard).

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Mon 2 Mar 2015 13:20
Which Mondeo? - Alby Back
"Best" car I ever had was a 2002 Mondeo TDCi estate. Ghia X model. 200,000 miles with two headlamp bulbs outside of normal servicing and tyres. Never let me down, never went wrong, always comfortable and a pleasure to drive. Great all rounder.
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Mon 2 Mar 2015 15:07
Which Mondeo? - S40 Man

I have an 08 Mondeo estate 2.0 tdci edge. That's a base model, the radio is a bit basic, mW reception poor but FM is OK.zetec or titanium are probably nicer places to be but will cost a bit more. Mondeos are very nice cars to drive. Takes a while to get used to size but still v good. HJ gave it 5***** and I can see why. Mine does 50 mpg every week. 75 miles a day on a rd/mway, less round town. Best car I've owned.

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Mon 2 Mar 2015 15:24
Which Mondeo? - skidpan

We had a 2002 Mondeo Zetec TDCi 130 PS. Without doubt the nicest car to be in we have ever owned, great to drive and despite "only" having 130 PS it would without doubt out perform cras we have owned with higher claimed figures.

But the mpg was not great. On a holiday trip we could get high 40's mpg (matching the official combined) but around town 35 mpg was the norm. Overall it avearged about 38 mpg while we owned it.

Only problem with the Mondeo is the size. They have grown since we bought ours and that was a problem at times in car parks. The Kia Ceed SW we have now has a bigger boot and just as much internal space yet is about a foot shorter.

Would I consider another, not really, simply too big.

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Mon 2 Mar 2015 16:03
Which Mondeo? - Trilogy

In my experience the two Fords, out of 27 cars owned, have been the most reliable.

I do like the 2002 Mondeo series. One could replace my Focus TDDI. Bought it 2.5 years ago for £700, with 138,000 miles on clock. Now done 175,000. Would defo go for one with Quickclear screen. BTW, both my Fords have been poverty spec.

Happy Blue, I'm glad your goodie laden S-Maxwas reliable. That was probably the best the best people carrier you could buy.

Naturally the more gizmos, potentially, more to go wrong. Higher spec should be an easier car to sell than a poverty spec.

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Tue 3 Mar 2015 23:45
Which Mondeo? - Gotanoldhondar

Thank you for your replies.

I think the Mondeo is a bit underated reading the above,have been in a friends 06 2ltr diesel before and that was a good drive,also a smooth ride compared with more premium cars.

Like the sound of the quickclear windscreen option and are going to focus on the 2ltr engine petrol or diesel i think,this could be my first Ford in twenty years lets hope i pick a good one.

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Wed 4 Mar 2015 11:49
Which Mondeo? - Avant

Ford's answer to anyone complaining that each new Mondeo is bigger thn the last would be that the Focus is available with a similar range of engines. The Focus estate is roomy, although not as much so as an Octavia estate or, I suspect, Mrs Skidpan's Ceed SW.

Edited by Avant on 04/03/2015 at 23:15

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Wed 4 Mar 2015 22:06
Which Mondeo? - Alby Back
I like big cars, or at at least, ones which are good at holding and shifting lots of stuff as well as seating people in comfort. I also like small cars because they are usually fun and in certain circumstances really convenient and often cheap to run.

It's the ones in between I don't get on with. Too big for the nip and tuck of traffic, too small to be really useful. Neither fish nor fowl to me.

But they sell very well, so it must be me !

;-)
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Wed 4 Mar 2015 23:36
Which Mondeo? - Avant

No it's not just you, Alby - we've had one big, one small car for all of our 40-year marriage - still have (although a MINI isn't very mini).

I was very tempted by a Golf GTI after two Octavia vRS estates, but when you can have all that extra room with the same (terrific) performance and buy and insure it for less, it seemed silly not to have another vRS. And anyway it's only just over a foot longer than a Golf.

But you're right - the Focus size outsells the Mondeo size hugely, so there are a loit of people out there who either don't need the extra room, or didn't think they did and found out the hard way that they did.

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