Hi all,
I'm newly registered to the Back Room, but not new to the place as I have been reading this place occasionally for a couple of years now-great boards!
I've had a bad experience with a £1300 auction Laguna-nice motor, comfy, good handling but the heater matrix was gone, the clutch was dicky...bye bye.
I am now looking to buy a Mondeo in the £1000-1500 price range and of age anything above the 1996ish facelift. The model I would like is anything from a 1.8LX to 2.0Si. I would ideally like heated front screen, aircon and ABS although I would happily do without for the right car.
My question is this; I have seen several (on autotrader, not in the flesh yet) that are around P, R, S, T reg in this price range but they are all high miles (of course). What is the consensus on buying a Mondeo of this age with miles like 113,000, 130,000? High mileage doesn't put me off but I would like advice about things like clutch life, engine life etc and any what experiences people have with a Mondeo of this kind of mileage, big bills to expect etc.
I currently have a 93 ZX TD which develops a new niggling fault every day of the week and that rubbish Laguna I just long to own a motor that is reliable and drives well and has reasonable crash protection, flash isn't important!
Appreciate anyone who takes the time to reply, I know it's a long post.
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>>but not new to the place
Since March 2003, I believe.
For 120,000 miles then you should be more worried about how its been looked after rather than the miles. Its not likely to have got there on one set of tyres, one cam belt, one clutch or one or pretty much any of the other "wearables".
So how long ago were they replacd ? What's the maintenance history like ? That sort of thing.
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I currently run a Mondeo Estate 2.0 Ghia X Petrol 1999 'S' reg. Up to 100,000 I had not a single fault. If they are serviced regularly they should be fine. I am still on the same clutch, exhaust, etc but got Cam Belt done of course.
I am at 116,000 miles and in the past few months I had a niggling electrical fault with the alarm which solved itself and a bracket under the seat snapped and needed welding.
Interestingly at the price and age you are looking for you canget virtually any specification you like. If you have checked out it doesn't affect your insurance too much, go for a Ghia or Ghia X. Mine has full leather, heated and elec adjust seats AirCon (Climate control became standard towards the end of 1999), 6-disc CD Changer, Heated Screen and mirrors, smart 16" Alloys, Airbags galore (side ones as standard I think from end of 1999), elec sunroof etc, etc, etc. Being an estate the boot is huge (bigger than my boss's Volvo V70) and I can get a single bed and matress into it and close the boot lid! When new this was a £22,000 car. I bought mine (I use it as a company car) exactly 1 year old in 2000 for £12,000 (ah, the joys of depreciation!) and it will be being sold next month for about £1,500.
If possible, get a high mileage ex-company car with as few owners as possible. If it has been on the motorway most of the time it will not have suffered all the steering wear, numerous cold starts etc that a town based car will have done. Sitting on the M4 all day causes very little stress to a car. Driving round a town or city for 2-3 miles everyday does.
Look for good tyres as these are a bit pricy to replce. An ex-company car will probably have good ones on and the car is likely to have been serviced religiously. Check the service book and cross check it with the dealer whose stamp is in the book.
On a personal level avoid the diesel. They are not known to be that reliable, the fuel consumption isn't that briliant and they are dog-slow. The ones in the new Mondeo are brilliant but they never got under the bonnet of the old one.
Mine returns 33-36 mpg which is good for a petrol 2.0.
They are also the most superb drivers cars and even at high mileage are great fun.
Good luck!
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The Mondeo is indeed a great driver's car and will readily bring a smile to your face.
Just one point - the heated front windscreens are wonderful, but quite a few people find the "pattern" distracting, especially if the screen is not absolutely clean inside and out.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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In Oct 03 following very useful advice on this site, I bought a 97 P Mondeo 2.0 Ghia, 4dr, at Blackbushe for £1,050. It had 107,000 miles on it and had missed its last 2 services - risky I guess but a 6 year old car, decent spec for a grand? I had the cambelt changed and had it serviced (£250 for all of it) then just changed oil and filter every 5K and a set of tyres. Great car to drive on and off the motorway, 35mpg easily and only thing wrong is the CAT is on the way out (£70 from brokers when required) otherwise faultless. I put 30K on it in just over a year and have just passed it on to my son. His annual insurance is more than the car is worth but he's happy and touch wood he'll get a couple of cheap years out of it with no big problems.
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I am now looking to buy a Mondeo in the £1000-1500 price range and of age anything above the 1996ish facelift. The model I would like is anything from a 1.8LX to 2.0Si. I would ideally like heated front screen
Hi marsexpress. Dont know if I can do this, if not I am very sorry. I might have just what you are looking for as I'm selling mine and live in kent not far from the M25 if thats any good. Please see link...
cars.uk.freeads.net/Ford_Mondeo_2.0L_-145375.htm
Regards,
Dave
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>>Dont know if I can do this,
You can.
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Just put the car in this site too in classifieds.
Regards,
Dave
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Thanks for all the advice, I think I will get looking for a Mondeo. Cheers for the heads up Dave, your vehicle sounds worthy, however there are a couple of things that make it unsuitable for me-I'm relying entirely on my trade in (this cursed Laguna and possibly my ZX TD as well) to pay for it and also since I posted up this thread I have checked with my insurance co and it seems a 2.0 (group 11) is out of the question as I'm looking at an extra £250 on top of my current policy to switch. A 1.8LX, GLX, Ghia (available in 1.8l?) is gonna be an extra £50 which I can justify!
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Only the LX or GLX for you then. Ghia upwards only available as a 2.0, 2.5 or 1.8TD. There were sometimes special editions with te 1.8 such as the Verona (a bit basic but still had A/C).
I forgot to mention with Air/Con fitted cars - make sure the air con works!!!!! I have had mine re-gassed twice and a new compressor last summer. Worth having but keep an eye on it!
Happy hunting, good luck and enjoy the car when you get it!!!!!
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Mondeo? I own two (see my {P}) highly recommended. buy one..
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A year ago, I bought a Mondeo with 115k on the clock. It is a V plate 2.0 Ghia X model. I am absolutely 100% satisfied with it. It is an excellent car and it cheers me up every time I drive it. The equipment level is astounding, the performance is pretty good and I like the way it drives.
Reliability has also been excellent.
Air Conditioning was fitted as standard to all Mondeos bar the Aspen from February 1998 unless the buyer specified a sunroof instead. Best to look for one of these later models. See no reason to settle for LX when GLX, Ghia, Ghia X and Si are within budget.
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You cannot get a Ghia in 1.8 litre trim level. The best you will get is GLX.
Suprised insurance is an issue for you - I insured my 2.0 Ghia X when I was 19.
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Yeah the insurance is a kind of odd one really-I'm 23, 2yrs NCD, driving over 6 years, no claims or convictions etc. My ZX cost me £500tpft (does include 'legal cover' and a high end RAC breakdown cover package) to insure this year, getting a Mondeo in group 9 insurance will cost me another £50 to switch the policy over, I initially got a quote on an R reg 2.0Si I saw that looked pretty tasty and that would of been £220 extra some odd to swap the policy over to that car. If I were to cancel my existing insurance Tesco quoted me £800 fully comp on the Si and £600 some odd tpft. I'm pretty happy with my current insurance co and my policy also usefully (and rarely for a TPFT policy and my age-<25) includes driving other cars extension. Not something I use extensively as the cover is only TPO but can be useful for an emergency situation or a quick test drive in someones car (for example a colleague has a 1.8lx mondeo he bought 6mnths ago for £1300, it seems to be a goodun so I'm going to have a spin in it so I have a frame of reference when test driving cars for sale).
Still too expensive though.
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mondeo
this was my last car(2.0 ghia)good car
had a problem with suspension(98)but cheap to put right!!
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Who's your insurance company? To drive my Xsara (1.9TD) costs 900 pounds / year as a named driver on my mum's policy. I know some people here have said that it's a bit dodgy doing that, but we explained the situation to the insurance company and they suggested it.
I can change in June so will be looking for a replacement. I'm 19 and have been driving for 2 years. Would have tried to insure myself and get a NCD but no company would take me on. Seems they look at engine size regardless of whether car is diesel or petrol.
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>>I know some people here have said that it's a bit dodgy doing that, but we explained the situation to the insurance company and they suggested it.
Not at all dodgy. What would be dodgy would be if you pretended that your Mother was the main user when in reality you were.
However, sounds like you've taken a pretty sensible approach where the only downside is lack of NCD.
You might want to check whether or not your mother's current insurance company would give you some NCD if they are aware that you've been the main driver. Ask, you might be surprised. And it would be worth doing for a year even if they're not the cheapest because you could end up with 3 years NCD.
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