Faults:

So far nothing has gone wrong with the car.

I stalled it this morning (very cold) whilst pulling out of a junction, then when I tried to start it again quickly the starter motor just kept turning over. I stopped for 5 seconds, then tried and it started no problems - think I was just a bit quick trying to get it going!

General Comments:

This car is, after just a week of ownership, spot on. Perfect would be too strong. Perfect can wear out, perfect can age quickly, perfect is more of an opinion than a fact. Whereas Spot On, is just that.

The tdci engine is very economical, a little noisy when moving off from a stop, but once you're on your way, you don't notice it.

The seats are incredibly comfy and will eat up motorway miles without any problems whatsoever. I jumped on the motorway late at night on my way home from work, and drove it like I was still in my old 1.6 petrol focus. Aiming for 80mph, I ended up hitting 115mph in no time (with plenty more left in it)... then slowed down to the limit.

The turbo kicks in at around 1800 revs, with lots of pull and slowly wears off over the next thousand revs. Cruising at 70 in 5th gear, the revs sit at around 2,000 so should you need to accelerate to get out of a stick situation the turbo is just about at peak on standby ready to help.

Being a motorway car, around town it's a little clunky. It takes some getting used to the 'clutch & diesel engine' combination. You have to rev a little harder to avoid a jerky start, and as a result if you slip back into a petrol state of mind, you can quite easily have judders as you set off. Once you've driven the car for a couple of days this wears off.

There is literally MILES of legroom. I am over 6 foot tall, and with the seat fully back there's still plenty of room for a passenger to sit behind me. The mondeo is a big car in comparison to the ford focus or other hatchbacks, because it is after all a family car. But when you open the boot, you realise just how well ford have managed the space available inside the car. When I first saw the inside of the boot, I remarked to the salesman "Jesus you could fit TWO bodies in there... or 4 suitcases with room to spare". It's like the tardis, normal looking on the outside, huge on the inside.

It has a 55 litre fuel tank, so depending on current prices, it can cost 45-55 quid to fill. I currently have around a quarter of a tank left, and have done 390 miles since the last refuel. I have had my foot down a couple of times on this tank full so I've yet to drive fully economically on one fill to find the maximum mileage on a tank. The trip computer reckons I've got around 150 miles till I need to refuel.

And that brings me on to the spec of this car. Being an LX (which is the one above the base (mondeo edge) model for the UK) you would expect to get the basics. Electric windows, power steering and ABS. The Mondeo has all this plus air conditioning, the ford patented heated front screen, cruise control, cd player, heated mirrors, trip computer which states the temperature, miles left til next refill and average speed. Also there's the stuff you expect like multipoint curtain airbags, passenger and driver airbags and ford's intelligent protection system.

I test drove both a new shape focus tdci and the mondeo, but due to less room in the drivers seat of the focus & the lack of heated screen, cruise control, trip computer or cd player - it had to be the mondeo.

I have yet to take the car for a service or discover any major problems, but fingers cross there won't be any. Also, the focus was 160 pounds for a service, so the mondeo could be the same/a little more.

Sales at Ringways, Leeds (where I bought the car), were very professional, efficient and friendly. Mondeo LX, one owner, 15,900 miles, up at 10,500 pounds with 6 months tax, 2 years ford direct cover including break down assistance, and 2 years unlimited mileage warranty.

Managed to get 5,000 for my '03 focus 1.6 with 35,000 miles in very good condition on part ex. Parkers valued it at 4,000 on part ex.

I get my services/parts from Clemo Ford (formerly Wright Ford) of Cleckheaton (west yorkshire).

I'll pop back in 6 months to update this review with any problems/experiences.

Faults:

As yet, no faults.

General Comments:

When I first saw the estate car I didn't think the handling would be particularly good, but I was proven very wrong. Taking into account the size of the car, I have to say it handles wonderfully and coupled with the 155 BHP diesel engine proves a real joy to drive (and impressively fast).

This model has the six speed gearbox which makes this car one of the quietest diesels I've ever driven on a motorway.

This particular model is well equipped with electric windows all round, electrically adjustable and folding wing mirrors, automatic headlights, automatic windscreen wipers auto-dipping rear view mirror, cruise control, climate control etc etc..

The trip computer tells me that I average between 48 - 56 MPG, a point worth mentioning I think.