Faults:

The alternator packed up shortly after purchase.

General Comments:

The car can be slow to pull away from standstill, but a few seconds later when the turbo cuts in it soon picks up its feet. Its no slouch on the motorway either. It will cruise at 80 and still have room for a quick spurt of speed if needed. The car is also surprisingly quiet for a diesel.

The car is very roomy, seating 5 very comfortably. The load space is spacious, even before the seats are lowered.

Faults:

The wishbone bushes have gone three times.

The big rubber hose on the left of the engine keeps working it's way off.

The great big plastic piece of plastic on the bottom of the engine literally fell off.

The paint-work. Rust after 7 years!

Paint peels off the bumpers.

General Comments:

Although the car is a bit tacky and things fall off and seem to be held together by rubber bands and sticky tape, the engine is up to 190000 miles and still runs well.

The tracking and wishbone bushes cause me constant grief, but for a bit over a thousand you can be in a nice big comfortable car.

Oh yes, it looks nice too.

Faults:

Tie bone went on the way home from buying the car!

Have noticed a leak into the passenger's foot-well.

General Comments:

Engine sounds like a diesel.

Has almost no overtaking power. The Metro was better (1.4 GTa).

Holds the road extremely well.

It loves the motorway, puts almost every other car to shame!

Lovely gearbox (better than the Metro anyway).

Looks classy.

The small steering wheel gives a good race car feel!

Excellent driving position.

Well equipped for a basic model (electric windows, sunroof, power steering, ABS, lots of dials).

Fuel economy is good.

Performs well even though my history tells me it hasn't been serviced for 32,000 miles!

Faults:

Rear wheel bearing at 28000.

Exhaust has lasted 2 years and 12000 miles - needs replacement.

Heavy wear on BOTH front and rear tyres.

Water leak in the boot through a faulty rear windscreen de-mister grommet (on the tailgate).

Uses a lot of oil.

General Comments:

A slug.

I still have an 1989 Vaux Belmont 1.8 SRi with 120000 which feels still feels tighter than the Mondeo and is much more responsive.

Engine sounds like a diesel.

Ford cannot guarantee the same paint finish if you have a knock (mine is silver).

Faults:

Radiator cooling pump collapsed at 130,000 miles, causing the timing belt to come off and the engine was damaged.

Windscreen wash pump failed at 132,000 miles.

Turbo failed at 135,000 miles.

Alternator failed at 140,000 miles.

Leak into the passenger foot-well.

General Comments:

Seats are ridiculously unforgiving.

Awful to start in the winter.

Real axle seems to make a 'knocking' noise.

Sloppy handling.

Faults:

I had a leak into the passenger foot-well, it turned out to be due to a bit of paper stuck in a drain pipe under the front cowling!

I had some rust on the passenger door from an old accident repair, I ended up replacing the door and doing the respray myself.

General Comments:

The car has been faultlessly reliable, despite covering nearly 11,000 miles in just 6 months.

The automatic box slows the car down quite a bit (11 seconds 0-60 at best) and also hits on the economy. I usually get around 27mpg on my trips to work and that does include some stop-start driving. On the motorway the economy improves considerably, often nudging 40mpg.

This car seems very much at home on the motorway, the engine will accelerate effortlessly from 80 mph up-hill, not bad for a family saloon.

The car is exceptionally comfy and well equipped, the only thing I miss from my old Orion is the trip computer. You have to own a Ghia X Mondeo to get that in 1995. I do have an Electric Sunroof, Electric Seat, Heated Windscreen, Lit Vanity Mirrors, Velour Trim, Alloys, CD Player, Electric Windows all round etc etc. Can't complain about the spec really!