1997 Ford Mondeo LX TD 1.8 turbo diesel

Summary:

Cheap, economical, comfortable daily runabout

Faults:

O/S/R door failed to lock with the central locking, quick and cheap DIY repair.

Couple of little bodywork problems such as paint peeling on rear bumper, but I bought this car as a cheap daily hack so nothing major... covered with a touch up pen and it is fine.

General Comments:

I bought this car to use as my daily runabout as I was getting depressed at the increasing running costs of my 2 litre Honda Accord. I wanted something fairly cheap to run, preferably diesel.

Having owned a few Fords in the past and being a fan of them, I went to have a look at a few Escorts and Mondeos with the 1.8 Turbo Diesel engine and eventually settled on this £500 R reg example from a local garage, which was a part exchange bargain they were trying to shift on.

The car itself drives great, with good, composed handling and it is extremely comfortable on long journeys. With regards to fuel consumption, it will do about 500 miles to a tank at a cost of £50 per tank, which works out at 10p per mile, which in my opinion is good going.

However, for the price of economy, you do pay with regards to performance. This car is very sluggish, especially in lower gears around town. 1st gear pull aways are very slow and some corners in 2nd gear are very slow as well. Once in 3rd gear however and accelerating on the open road, the turbo kicks in and its not that bad, although it does feel a little held back. Lots of gear work is needed.

For what I use the car for however, it is absolutely perfect. It is economical and comfortable and has been extremely reliable in the time that I have had it (touch wood!). If you intend to buy one of these however, make sure that you get the cambelt changed ASAP, as these are prone to failure on these engines.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 4th February, 2007

1997 Ford Mondeo LX 1.8 petrol

Summary:

Nice to drive, but far too many faults for me to consider buy the same marque again

Faults:

Transmission noise which in spite of new drive shafts, clutch and gearbox strip under warranty still persisted.

Two new thermostats and temperature sender.

Coolant leak unable to bottom out.

Faulty remote petrol filler cap.

Erratic temperature gauge.

Could sometimes be difficult to start from cold if engine was run for a short space of time.

General Comments:

Plenty of power.

Good motorway car and comfortable.

Handles well. Good solid feel.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 4th June, 2006

6th Jun 2006, 15:13

Sounds like you just got a bad one. Every Mondeo I've had or heard of from friends has been reliable.

12th Jun 2006, 05:55

I agree with the comment above. My father has a 1994 2.0 model that he bought direct from a leasing company with 91,000 miles on it back in 1997. It's now almost on 200,000 miles, uses about half a litre of oil between services, still goes well and still does 32 mpg. He's had only two things go wrong with it in 9 years and 100,000 miles - a split vacuum pipe (£3 and 20 mins work), and a duff alarm sensor (the standard Ford alarm is crap, so we disabled it permanently). It's even still on its original clutch believe it or not.

On the strength of this, I bought a 2000 1.8TD this time last year. 101k on it then, 115k on it now, and it's had one service and a set of front brake pads. Will need a pair of CV joints soon, but you expect this stuff at this mileage.

Mondeos are good for 200,000 miles easily if looked after.

28th Jun 2006, 04:34

Agree about the long term reliability of Mondeos. I bought mine over five years ago with over 100K on the clock. It's now covered over 180K and has given me very few problems. If they are properly maintained, you should be fine.