Question: Does anyone have experience of the 5 speed auto version of the current diesel Mondeo?? As its an automated manual box with a torque converter as well I suspect that its unique, hence the question. I will shortly replace my M2 Mondeo auto petrol engine (great car!!) and wondered if its worth considering the diesel auto? Any thoughts about its life expentancy? Is it smooth and also is it smooth at 50K miles?
The recent FMC drive days that I've been on, have had Mondeo's by the volume both diesel and petrol but no autos. Are they trying to tell me something?
The Focus CMax TDCI auto (CVT) which I did drive is really well matched and smooth at 1500 miles but at 50,000?? I have had several CVTs before and some were great when new, OK at 25,000 miles and suicidal at 50,000miles particularly when trying to manouvre the car when cold.
Any thoughts will be gratefully received.
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I am minded by that old advice that automatics must be GM, Mercedes or Japanese. My Mercedes 1991 230E is running at 115k and the gearbox is like new. However, I have always thought that a Mondeo automatic would be a good buy. The fear of a Ford box and its short life has has put me off. I thought annual fluid changes might help. Is there any hope with any of the Mark 3 Mondeos from 2001 on being OK? I especially like the diesel/auto combination.
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My existing petrol Mondeo automatic has done 75K miles with no problems (touching wood frantically!!!) so far. If the diesel version lasts in the same way thats fine! But who knows????
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The TDCi Automatic is not great - the gearbox is not known for being the most reliable of units, in fact I'm sure somebody on here refered to it as "the autobox from hell".
The other issue I'd have with it is it saps about 11mpg off the economy, which would give you <35mpg and thus the premium for getting the TDCi over a 2.0 petrol really cannot be justified.
The TDCi is a great engine - I've got a 2.0 TDCi 130 Zetec with a manual gearbox and I love it, but if you want a diesel auto then the Audi Multitronic or VAG DSG boxes are the way to go. Try a Skoda Octavia 2.0 TDi DSG - they're giving free 24 hour drives in them at the moment.
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I had one for 3 days a couple of yrs ago now, I guess (so they may have modified the software by now).
I noted that it had quite a pickup delay - both from rest, and on resuming power, say, as you draw up to a roundabout entry. This led to me spooling up the engine but holding the car on the footbrake if I needed to be certain of getting going. I was then glad I was in an Auto because the torque steer needed me to be holding the wheel with both hands!!
I also thought it shifted into higher gears too early (and I'm used to diesels) such that it was juddering along at 30MPH in at low RPM. I had to keep manually downshifting, which defeats the object a bit.
Otherwise it was a pretty smooth drive, but the car (Ghia Hatch) had horrible wind noise around the side windows at anything more than 45MPH.
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