Faults:

Lots, but most items I would class as general wear and tear you would get with any car.

Shocks and springs, ball joint and wheel bearings.

Brake discs and pads.

Rear exhaust box.

Oil and belt changes.

Electrically, I replaced the battery. The car has a habit of locking/unlocking itself. Apparently this is common on this car.

Cosmetically it looks awful. Black paintwork with so many stone chippings revealing the white undercoat. To be fair it is old now and high mileage, but the paint seems a bit thin and of low quality. Alloy wheels also need refurbished.

General Comments:

I like this car, but the mk3 Mondeo in my opinion was the dullest Mondeo. 2000 - 2006 models. The 1990s models have an almost legendary following, and the more modern 2007 onwards mk4 models seem to be good, but there was something about the mk3 Mondeo that was a bit off.

Do not get me wrong - this is not a bad car by any means. Comfortable and well equipped, my fully loaded Ghia model has all the electrical equipment you can ask for. Interior is way too dull and plasticky though. Obvious cost cutting. Ride is smooth and refined enough though. Handles very sharp.

2.0 petrol performs nicely. 35 mpg at best. Probably preferred to the 1.8 petrol. Avoid the diesel engine in this car - major reliability issues.

The fact you can get these cars at less than £1000 with low mileage and a full MOT says it all. They are not old enough yet for anyone to value with nostalgia, and not new enough to be worth anything. If you need a cheap modern run about for a nice price, take a look at these. I suppose it is better than a Vectra from the same time period, but that is all. To be fair I have had it a few years and it has been reliable for its age and mileage, so cannot complain too much.

Faults:

The engine. Ford designed this engine to fail early. This is a complex and potentially heated discussion, however the facts are this. Manufacturers, in order to get higher MPG have made internal friction less by reducing the piston and oil control ring thickness from 1.5-2mm to only 0.6mm. This can cause (or often causes) premature ring wear and failure. In this car the compression rings were fine. From many years of experience I also believe this car was not clocked and the mileage was genuine. However the oil control rings had worn out. I know what you are thinking - they were not worn but 'stuck'? Yep I thought this too - however after a great deal of effort, they were not stuck, but most definitely WORN OUT. Thus the engine smoked lots and was an MOT failure.

Firstly this means Ford have deliberately designed the oil control rings out of a different alloy to the compression rings with the sole aim of early failure. There can be no other explanation.

I also hear you saying: No problem just replace the oil control rings... you do know what Ford deliberately and intentionally made this a 'disposable engine' - their own company words. This means that the cam belt pulleys are not keyed but held in place just by tension (a whole shed load). Together with numerous other aspects, this makes taking the engine apart in any way - a real mission. Some very determined people have done it, but for the majority of us, this means the engine... oh I mean the car literally goes to the scrap!

General Comments:

Ford intentionally are making junk. Ford today are not the Ford of yesterday. Do they really hate their customers that much to do this?