1993 Ford Mondeo LX 1.8 petrol
Summary:
Best first car money can buy!
Faults:
Nothing, Touch wood.
General Comments:
Bought the car for £800, and it is an absolute bargain. You get an excellent car in every aspect.
The seats are comfy and the ride is very smooth. The only down side of this being that the suspension can be very floppy or wallow a lot when you really throw it in to a corner.
I am only 18 and this car is such a great one to buy. It is very reliable and compared to the things a lot of my friend's buy it is in another league. And I don't pay much more for my insurance either.
The main strength is the fact that you can now get them very cheap and once you have bought one the running costs are shockingly low!
All in all it is an excellent car and there are so many parts available for them if something does go wrong. There are also many add-ons' available from the higher models (Ghia's) and these are very easy to fit.
I have even fitter a decent stereo to my Mondy and have had no problems running cables and things for that, they are very easy to work on. Brilliant first car!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 18th November, 2003
8th Feb 2005, 16:53
I have a 93 Mondeo saloon, I have owned it for around 1 year, the only faults I have had with it are a snapped clutch cable, a blown bulb and a slight vibration between 3000 and 4000rpm. The car cost me £50, was taxed and tested, and despite having done almost 140k it still drives very well. I drive very fast all the time and still get over 400 miles to a tank of petrol. The engine and gearbox are still perfect, but for the slight vibration. I bought it from a colleague who had owned it for 5 years in which time it had not been serviced or maintained except for its yearly mot, which it passed every time with ease apart from 1 year when it needed new wishbones at a cost of £25 each plus fitting. I serviced the car when I got it, Replaced the timing belt (its first 1 in 137000 miles), and replaced front brakes and the car has been great. I'm thoroughly impressed with it and when I eventually get rid of it, it will only be to buy another 1 the same (but slightly newer obviously).
17th Dec 2003, 09:47
I too am a young owner (23) of a Mondeo and up to now I have had no complaints. The car is silky-smooth, spacious, well-appointed, relatively good security and safety (alarm, immobiliser, driver's airbag, side-impact bars, seatbelt tensioners etc.), and with the 1.8i petrol engine it is relatively fast.
I haven't had to do anything to it yet so I cannot comment on how easy it is to work on or how cheap parts are, but everything under the bonnet looks well laid out and Ford parts are famed for value and availability.
All in all a very good car for the cost and a much better buy than smaller cars for the same or even more money.
I just thought of one bad thing - the fuel cost. It is very easy to have a leaden foot and it's hard to resist overtaking all the time - because you can overtake in one of these. This coupled with the size of the car means you will be well-known at your local filling station, compared with owners of smaller cars.