Faults:

Lots. Engine misfire, clutch, exhaust, oil and coolant leaks, rust, the list goes on.

General Comments:

This MK3 Mondeo is when the Mondeo took a turn for the worse in my opinion. After many reliable MK1's and MK2's in the family, when I bought this MK3 back in 2011 I thought it would be business as usual, but the car was not great.

Good to drive, but the 1.8 petrol engine barely did 35 mpg, and performance was not great. More reliable than the diesels however.

Not bad to look at. Exterior wise anyway. The interior is just weird looking however, and too much plastic everywhere! LX model was mid range with enough equipment. Very comfortable though.

An average car, just should have been better. Later MK4 Mondeo was better.

I scrapped this one back in 2019 just before all the covid nonsense, was glad to see the back of it.

Faults:

Brake discs and pads replaced all round.

Both rear wheel bearings replaced.

Handbrake adjusted and levers free'd off.

Stereo head unit was being replaced, but when removed to swap with ebay one, found to be unplugged! Works fine.

Key fob no longer works, but possibly just battery.

Ashtray has pushed down into the centre console, but looks to be an easy fix.

General Comments:

Not my kind of car. I am a car collector and even my daily drivers tend to be RWD and older "prestige" cars - Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes. This feels worlds apart. Long story as to how I came to own this, but save to say I thought it was too good to scrap as the condition is very good - just some lacquer peel and few dings.

Having been sitting for quite a few years, I gave it a quick once over - replaced brakes and VERY worn (dangerous even) rear wheel bearings. At first I didn't like it at all! FWD feels very alien to me, more body roll than I am used to, feel like you sit on not in the seats. 140bhp a lot less than I am used to.

However... after having done a few thousand km in this car I kind of like it!! On twisty roads, if you keep your toe in, it pulls itself round bends quite impressively. Need to get up to 4-5k revs to get any kind of performance from it and then there is not a lot left, but it keeps up with the traffic. Nice gear change but badly needs a 6th gear. Once used to the fairly flat seats, it isn't uncomfortable. Pretty quiet around town. Not overly kitted out, but has everything you need to get around in relative comfort.

It's a car I now plan to keep. It will never be lavished with love, but I get the impression it doesn't really care and will just start on the button and do what it does well.

Gets around 35mpg despite me driving it very hard.

Boot is massive, and with te seats down you can get quite a lot of stuff into it.

I would highly recommend this car to anyone looking for a reliable car. It isn't going to set the world alight, but it is a very well put together package.