Mondeo + Diesel + Auto =

[timskemp]

yuck.

Mondeo: Big. Steers nice. Lots of space. Looks nice. Cheap interior.
Diesel: Unrefined, especially at low revs.
Auto: Just don't.

Drove a manual one a few weeks ago (when merc was off road due to pothole
damage) and it was fine as long as you kept it above 2000 rpm, or there was
no go and risk of stalling. Now, I have another, but this has an autobox.

Vibration at 1500-2000 rpm is awful on these engines, unfortunately that
translates to 50-70mph in top. By 3000 the noise starts to get to you.
There's not a "right gear" at 70, you want to be at 2500rpm but it's higher
than that in 5th and lower than that in 6th.

And sluggish??? The lockup is about 1500rpm, the boost doesn't kick until
about 2000 rpm. So you pull from a junction with nothing, then nothing, then
nothing, then whoosh. All the time wondering whether the noise and vibration
can get worse, which if you nail the throttle to the max it does. Or if you
drive like a granny it does as well as it changes to 2nd and drops back into
the low RPM range again.

Of course if it's wet when you do this the traction control kills the newly
found power and drops you back into the low revs, crawling across a
junction.

I can see the most useful feature on this car will be the side impact bars.
Right turns need forward planning and preferably booking weeks in advance,
overtakes need manual mode.

Never, not ever, will I buy one of these with this engine / gearbox combo. The car is ruined by it.

 

[st4]

And new these dont cost that much less than a C class.

Mate hired a 59 plate mondeo and he felt the same. Not in the same league as a BMW or merc but price wise isnt a million miles off. A focus econetic retails for £20k list. What have happened to ford prices!!!

 

[JasM]

I had one for 2 days last week although i had the manual one.

I had the 2L diesel engine with 140 hp. I have to agree with you about the engine, it's sluggish at low revs and it's quite noisy.

I had a high spec version, with half leather seats, Sony sound system, folding mirrors, heated seats and some other extras, which made me realise how basic my W202 is.

Overall i quite liked it, it handles way better than my W202 and has much more room. I actually preferred the Mondeo to my W202 but i still wouldn't buy one.

Main reason because they cost well over £20k for a new one with a good spec . Instead i would buy a slightly used C-class or even an E-class.

 

[C230kompressor]

and the diesel's suffer from diesel pump or injector failure
or both!

 

[timskemp]

Main reason because they cost well over £20k for a new one with a good spec . Instead i would buy a slightly used C-class or even an E-class.

When I bought my E class (4 yrs old) I paid about the same as a base spec mondeo would cost (16k), since then I've stuck 90k miles on it. I doubt a base spec 1.8 mondeo would have been any cheaper to run, or worth as much with 100k miles as my E with 140k miles.

 

[st4]

When I bought my E class (4 yrs old) I paid about the same as a base spec mondeo would cost (16k), since then I've stuck 90k miles on it. I doubt a base spec 1.8 mondeo would have been any cheaper to run, or worth as much with 100k miles as my E with 140k miles.

I paid a little more for a marginally newer (and less powerful 211) and for the money it would get you a modest mondeo brand new, that probably isnt as well specc'd (auto, half leather in mine, phone, cruise, leccy seats, RWD-a biggie).

I've done 33k in mine. A new mondeo with 33k on it would be worth less than mine, not feel as fresh as mine, not have driven as well (RWD is better, END of) and generally not given me the same level of comfort and safety either.

No brainer, these 211s are cracking buys relative to other similar sized modern cars out there.

 

[JasM]

I paid a little more for a marginally newer (and less powerful 211) and for the money it would get you a modest mondeo brand new, that probably isnt as well specc'd (auto, half leather in mine, phone, cruise, leccy seats, RWD-a biggie).

I've done 33k in mine. A new mondeo with 33k on it would be worth less than mine, not feel as fresh as mine, not have driven as well (RWD is better, END of) and generally not given me the same level of comfort and safety either.

No brainer, these 211s are cracking buys relative to other similar sized modern cars out there.

I didn't realise the Mondeo was FWD until now .

Although to be fair Ford have improved a lot since the last 10-15 years where they made some terrible cars. My dad once had a Ford Orion and that was a terrible car.

 

[Dryce]

yuck.
Mondeo: Big. Steers nice. Lots of space. Looks nice. Cheap interior.
Diesel: Unrefined, especially at low revs.
Auto: Just don't.

I had one of these (2.0 TDCi Titanium auto) a couple of weeks back.

Yup. It's noisy at low revs. It's a diesel. It doesn't feel fast but that's slightly misleading - it buzzes about fine. Very rigid. Handles not too bad. But quite a bit of noise transmitted through the body. Visibility doesn't seem great (I found looking back over my right shoulder the size and internal intrusion of the B pillar combined with my seating position was not great). Bonnet is very high.

Auto was smooth. Best I've experienced with Ford.

Dash display/menu screen is awful.

I only got 39 mpg with mainly motorway/dual carriageway and A road cruising. Though it was low mileage and pristine so not really run in.

I drove a Volvo V70 recently. I prefer the Mondeo to it - it is quite a competent motor.

But my car felt soooooooooooooooooo good when I got back to it at the airport carpark. So it failed the Dryce switcharoo test.

I'm with *** on this. Wouldn't consider spending the money that you need to buy one of these new when you can get a decent 1 year or 2 year W211.

 

[wemorgan]

IMHO Mondeo's and the like make more sense as they become older, maybe 6+ years.
A friend is looking for a second car and I found on Autotrader a 2002 Mondeo 2.5 V6 Ghai X, 80k, FSH, leather £1800. The equivalent rust free Mercedes would be at least twice the price I imagine. The extra £1-2k may not be much to step in to a premium car, but to those on a budget I can see why the Mondeo is chosen.

Back to the diesel, I've driven a manual Mondeo diesel a few times and thought the car was OK, but agree that the turbo boost is too sudden, but nothing compared to how poor the 1998 Volvo V40 diesel I once drove.

 

[Rory]

And new these dont cost that much less than a C class.

Mate hired a 59 plate mondeo and he felt the same. Not in the same league as a BMW or merc but price wise isnt a million miles off. A focus econetic retails for £20k list. What have happened to ford prices!!!

They're always heavily discounted though.

Anyone who pays mid-£20K's for a Mondeo needs their head examining. My local dealer advertises fairly basic Mondeos for £14K every week. But basic these days still means a/c, cruise, alloys etc etc.

 

[Dryce]

They're always heavily discounted though.

Anyone who pays mid-£20K's for a Mondeo needs their head examining. My local dealer advertises fairly basic Mondeos for £14K every week. But basic these days still means a/c, cruise, alloys etc etc.

The one I drove lists at a bit over £25K.

So likely to be around £19K to £20K on a deal.

You can get a reasonable 1year W211 E220 for £20K - £21K.

The W211 will probably pull ahead in terms of depreciation costs after about 2 years.

 

[timskemp]

Just to add insult to injury, the Mondeo died on the road this morning, so I've spent two hours in the freezing cold being recovered. No fuel being delivered to the engine, probably fuel pump.

Good news is that the springs for the E were in stock, so I've just picked it up, and all is right with the world again.

 

[James Rothwell]

I just took a 57 plate in part exchange against a new Skoda Superb and it's pretty grim inside. Very cheap feeling although it's big and handles well the engine isn't great.

Personally I wouldn't bother with one!

 

[st4]

Just to add insult to injury, the Mondeo died on the road this morning, so I've spent two hours in the freezing cold being recovered. No fuel being delivered to the engine, probably fuel pump.

Good news is that the springs for the E were in stock, so I've just picked it up, and all is right with the world again.

Thats the thing with the E classes vs Mondeos

If you had a Mondeo and it gave up and you were loaned a 211 you probably would feel sad to give the 211 back and get the Ford.

Quite simply the Mercedes is the better car, even ignoring the badge issue, the Merc is just better

 

[Dryce]

Thats the thing with the E classes vs Mondeos

If you had a Mondeo and it gave up and you were loaned a 211 you probably would feel sad to give the 211 back and get the Ford.

Quite simply the Mercedes is the better car, even ignoring the badge issue, the Merc is just better

Put this in context. If you buy a well spec'ed Mondeo you're buying a car that starts at say £14K on a new deal. Spend more and you get leather, some extra buttons, and a bigger engine - but it's still based on a platform that Ford expect to make money off selling at 14K.

If you bought a W211 new the low end was something like £26K on a new deal two years ago. So you're buying into vehicle based on a platform that MB expect to make money off selling at nearly twice the base Mondeo.

That said. I'm not knocking the Mondeo too much. Not as good as a W211 - but that's to be expected - but it's actually still IMHO a competent and decent car (but not at £25K list for a 2.0 turbodiesel auto with trimmings!).

 

[moosehead]

I had a couple of Mondeos and a Cougar (Mondeo underneath) as my last company cars. Both Mondeos did over 100K faultless miles and the Cougar 198K miles only requiring a new power steering oil cooler. I wish I could say the same about my 2005 C230 and the wifes SLK.

 

[bpsorrel]

Me too. When I worked for a Ford dealer in the late 90s I had both Mondeo 1.8 Zetec and Cougar V6 company cars and both did very well. The Mondeo did 30K miles in 18 months, faultlessly and the Cougar around 20K over 12 months, again with no problems. I actually liked the Cougar a lot and when I left the company very nearly bought my ex-company car, only a deal on a Volvo C70 stopped me.

 

[Rory]

The one I drove lists at a bit over £25K.

So likely to be around £19K to £20K on a deal.

You can get a reasonable 1year W211 E220 for £20K - £21K.

The W211 will probably pull ahead in terms of depreciation costs after about 2 years.

Sure, but buying a top of the range Mondeo is as mad as buying a top of the range E Class. Some people will still do it of course, but the sensible buys are the more entry level versions.

In fact I had a previous model demo Mondeo diesel auto for a few days and then decided to buy my nearly new C Class instead.


I had a Mondeo in the mid-90's as a company car and still remember it as a great handling and great body control car. I chose that as it was very loaded whereas the A4 and 3 Series cars everyone else had were very basic in those days. AutoCar did a comparison test of Mondeo and 3 Series while I had it and said that by any objective measure the Mondeo was better!

 

[moosehead]

I actually bought my Cougar V6 off the company and intended to run it for about another year. Needless to say it kept on going and when the power steering cooler started to leak it was only £35 for the replacement part. In some ways I wish I'd kept it just to see how many miles the V6 was up to. It's a shame that Ford has decided to stick with the mainstream Mondeos and Focus.

 

[NewMB]

My company also operated a few Monedeo's (although in Sweden). We had various versions of the 1.8 auto, 2.0, 2.0 auto, V6 and the V6 auto. All pretty good cars and good runners. None of them did little mileages. No diesels though...

The V6 auto was extremely thirsty however!