2008 Ford Mondeo Titanium X 2.0 petrol from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Nice car!

Faults:

Misting on shocks, had both at front replaced.

Centre exhaust section.

ABS sensors.

Air con useless.

Really nothing out of the ordinary for an older car.

General Comments:

Great looking and performing car. This Mondeo looks great in top Titanium spec. All electrics and leather. Very comfortable car. Spacious.

A relaxing or fast driving experience, this car can do both. Rubbish on fuel though - 35 mpg at very best. Tax is a ridiculous £365 per year also! Insurance is cheap enough though and repairs can be cheap if you know a good garage.

15 years old now, but hope to have this car a few more years yet - seems to be plenty of life left in it. Keep up services and these are reliable cars.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 7th May, 2023

2008 Ford Mondeo 1.6 from Finland

Summary:

Tough Workers' Cruiser

Faults:

It leaks oil. Nothing else really.

General Comments:

Great worker's cruiser.

Gets you from point A to point B with little hassle, and relatively high comfort. It is, however, not a highway cruiser by any standard. The seats are too hard and the posture just isn't right.

The engine makes an uncomfortable roar that is heard clearly in the cabin. There's nothing sporty about this noise, but rather a "whine" from a clearly underpowered engine.

Otherwise the build feels solid and the ride is extremely stable. Considering that the car basically stole the undercarriage from Volvo, it rides like a Volvo (a bit like a tractor).

It is rather un-smooth in first and second gear (it takes a while to get the gear changes just right, and even then it's quite jerky), and in 5th gear it really struggles past 140 km/h with a horrendous whine from the engine.

Generous trunk space and cheap maintenance. Typical Ford in other aspects. Simple and reliable without sacrificing looks.

The stereo has a rather strong bass which can easily blow your speakers out if you're not careful. You'll be fine as long as you're not listening to reggaeton or hip hop.

All in all I like the car. I especially like how reliable and solid it feels. The driving position could be improved, but I can't complain too much about it.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 17th October, 2017

2008 Ford Mondeo Titanium X Estate 2.2 TDCI turbo diesel from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Great car but don't go for the Titanium X

Faults:

Ashtray doesn't stay shut.

Lumpy engine at certain revs (Fixed by dealer).

One-touch electric window and global opening / closing function stopped working. (Fixed by dealer)

General Comments:

I bought this car as a replacement for my 2007 (previous shape) Mondeo of the same spec, and it's a worthy replacement. It's better than the previous car in most respects, but not by as much as one might think, given the 7 year age difference in the original designs.

Interior space is fantastic, both front and rear, and the seats are very comfortable.

The boot is massive, although the bag hooks are too small and too high up to be useful.

Equipment levels are very good, although this model lacks the air-conditioned seats of the previous model.

The design of the dashboard is nice to look at, but has some serious usability flaws. All the buttons and switches are silver, and are labelled in grey, which makes them difficult to read whilst stationary, and impossible to read whilst driving.

The instrument binnacle on the Titanium X features a large, colour LCD display for the on board computer and audio, which again, looks snazzy, but is horrible to use. The default setting for this screen is for 60% of it to show you that you're listening the the radio (or CD), another 30% shows a diagram of the vehicle, and any useful info is crammed into the remaining 10%. To change any of the computer settings, you have to navigate through many layers of menus, and after a few seconds the screen always defaults back to showing you what you're listening too. Apparently Ford have released software to rectify some of the usability issues, but my local dealer refuses to install it in my car.

Another consequence of the large LCD display in the middle of the dash is that the rev counter is shoved out of eye-line, and rendered almost useless.

The car handles well, and has good grip, but the steering is lighter and perhaps less satisfying for keen drivers.

The engine is generally very strong, pulling well from about 1,700 RPM. It doesn't have as strong a mid-range as the previous model, but the power comes in more smoothly and stays with you beyond 3,000 RPM.

Rear privacy glass is effective in terms of making it impossible for people outside the car to see what's in the back, but the side-effect is that it makes the cabin very gloomy in the rear, and you can't see out of the back windows at night, which is a pain when parking.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 22nd January, 2010

7th Jun 2010, 11:15

OK, it's a NEW car, and you've already experienced engine problems with it, and yet you rate it 10/10 for reliability? Seriously, engine problems on a new car is NOT a good sign. New cars shouldn't have ANY such problems at all, at least not to deserve a 10/10 for reliability.