Faults:

The car has been totally fault free.

General Comments:

Effortlessly quick with 400Nm of torque at just 1800 RPM. Some way off the outright pace of the ST220 (which I tried), but feels punchier on part throttle and in the higher gears.

Engine very refined generally, if a little clattery when cold. Averaging 42mpg in day to day use. Not missed a beat so far. 6 speed gearbox far tauter and slicker than the Passat's.

Excellent climate control and the Sony 6CD head unit looks and sounds the business. Being an ex-demonstrator the car came fully loaded.

Heated leather Recaro seats are the best of any car I've ever driven. Driving position is good and the interior quality is in a different league to previous generation Fords. Now a match for VW in my opinion.

Xenon headlights (option) work well. Fabulous handling, steering and brakes.

Performance Blue paint looks stunning when cleaned and polished.

Dealers are a little offhand, but no complaints about workmanship. Service costs so far are half those of the Passat at the same point. Reliability better.

I wouldn't even look at anything else if I had to replace this car tomorrow.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong yet (touch wood!)

General Comments:

This car has proven itself to be a dependable, entertaining, economical, safe and staggeringly cheap mode of family transport.

Bought brand new from an online broker in January for the princely sum of UKP 12,500, almost UKP 5,000 off dealer list, and UKP 250 less than my local dealer wanted for a 1500 mile ex demo model. Mine is a genuine UK car supplied by a UK dealer, so came with the full 3 year UK warranty, and has no insurance issues. The car was delivered to my door and is, and has always been faultless.

As a family car, the Mondeo has proven itself to be a gem. The 130PS TDCi and 6 speed box give punchy, effortless performance, and outstanding economy (44-51 mpg so far). There is also an excellent driving position, great seats, excellent build quality, good refinement and the car has more room in the back for the kids than a small MPV with a far more useful boot too.

Just as a final thought, this car has made me wonder how Ford sell any Ghia models when they give the lowly LX everything you will ever need. My car has a trip computer, Quickclear heated screen (fabulous!), ABS, a good quality CD player, decent air conditioning, an electrically adjustable drivers seat and most astonishing of all, cruise control!

Faults:

Nothing, I took delivery of it on Friday (29 April 2005)

General Comments:

This is a company owned car. After driving about 40,000 mile a year for last 2 years in a previous 03 Plate Mondeo with the same engine, I decided to go for another one.

This car is great, especially the new updated version. I find the seats are the most comfortable in any car I have had for work purposes. Fords are built for comfort, that's why my Dad has picked the Ford Transit Connect for his work.

The updated version I like so much better, the interior does not look as naff as the old one and even better I have cruise control as standard, seeing though I do lots of motorway driving this comes in very useful.

The torque on this car is amazing, from 50mph - 70mph it pulls like hell and current only has 1,200 miles on it. Cannot imagine how it will be by 5,000 miles.

I could drive this car for hours and it wouldn't give me back ache or anything.

After driving my old one for 2 years, the only thing that went wrong with it (and its my own fault) was it would'nt start one afternoon in work. This was because I had gone over the service by around 5,000 miles because I was really busy and the fuel filter had blocked. Cleaned it out, put it back in and I was running again. The only other stuff to be changed was the usual like tyres and brake pads. You cannot fault Fords reliabilty, its second to none.

Well done Ford, I will definitely be getting another one in 2 years time.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

The car is currently proving to be an excellent choice.

Performance, reliability, build quality, looks, handling etc are very impressive.

If I had to give negative points they would be:

Range of 300 miles per tank of petrol. I hate filling up with petrol.

Some road tyre noise at motorway cruising speeds due to low profile tyres.