HELLOM8

Local Ford dealer has a 2.0 GLX 95M Mondeo with 75K on the clock for £1150.
This is the sort of car I'm looking to buy but want to know if they are any good.
My basic need is an 80 mile a day motorway journey (97%), car needs to give me 35ish MPGS, be reliable conformable and safe.
Does anyone know any good/bad things about these cars.
Cheers.
Ian.

RS Grant

I ran a MK2 Mondeo, not the newest shape, but the style newer than yours...

It was a MY00 2.0 Zetec, bought with just under 7k miles on it, and traded in with just over 65k on the clock.

Very cheap car to run, servicing is typical Ford costs (low), MPG, well I could get around 400miles out of a full tank with mainly fast A-Road/M-Way driving, to fill the tank was about 40quid IIRC.

Car was very reliable, normal wear and tear items were cheap to repair, and if you feel like going a bit D.I.Y then its not hard to change parts yourself.

One thing I noticed was that I went through front tyres rather quickly, not due to racing about the place, apparently all Mondeo's are heavy on front tyre wear.

One major thing that went wrong with mine was the clutch, would have been around £400 to replace, but due to a fault in original it was replaced F.O.C.

If you are buying from a dealer then I assume that you are getting a warranty with this car?? Is it full parts & labour covered??

75k isnt a huge amount to be honest, especially for the age of the car, does it come with Full History??

Bodywork on my mondeo was sound, no rust etc.. I assume that the older ones were just as solid, unless neglected?

If its just a Motorway car you are looking for then I think that Mondeo should do the job no problem mate, just check it all out properly before you hand over the £££.

Hope that helped a little!!

Cheers,
Grant

HELLOM8

Bloke just phoned me about the car, it's coming in today.
Don't think it has warranty, px to clear I think but will find out.
Cheers.
Ian.

CraigH

Think you'll be able to knock 'em down a bit on price. Mum was offered £800 for her 97r car as a trade in.......

scooby_si

they are good cars & pretty good milage munchers & cheap run abouts IMO at least for me with my 1.8LK facelifted 97 on i think it was cars are a better drive but for the money you can be a right choosy get as there are loads about, i kinda rushed a bit when i needed one ASAP having sold the scoob & so was left needing to fork out for a cambelt & full service which wasnt ezactly cheap buit having done the same on scoob previously it was relatively lol.
Have you read parkers & such like for the general review & model guide? click here if not
Si

brickboy

Most of the body panels are galvanised so MOT-failure rust isn't a problem. Front tracking is easily upset by kerbing so check for UNEVEN tyre wear, as said above they are heavy on front tyres anyway but Kwikfit cheapo specials are easily good enough.

The 2.0 is stronger than the 1.8 motor and gives less top-end problems, but check it's had a recent cambelt. If it hasn't had one recently, change it soon.

Run it on the cheap 5W30 oil for the Zetec motors you can get from Ford dealers (about £14 for 5 litres) and change it every 6000 miles, the hydraulic tappets prefer it.

One electrical weak point on the early models is the connector for the lambda sensor, which is tucked behind the front bumper. It gets all the road crap and water, and if the contacts get dirty then you'll get bad emissions readings. So if the MOT station tells you the cat has failed, check & clean this connector first. If you've got ramps it's a 2-minute job.

Edited to add that the plug leads can get dicky, they're a weak spot but dirt cheap & easy to replace.

Overall it's a good car for what you need it to do: comfy, fast enough and IMHO they still handle much better than your ordinary family car. They are good fun to chuck around on a B-road, without any nasty habits.

[Edited by brickboy - 1/8/2004 1:53:00 PM]

HELLOM8

Thanks for the replys, some useful little things to look out for.
I have a parkers guide and know enough (I think) not to buy a lemon.
Just want something for a grand'ish with a years MOT and don't need the cam belt doing, just to run for a year.
I wrote the Scooby off end of November and the Girl friend is getting a little impatient with me clocking up the miles on her car, so need to get something fairly quick.
Cheers.
Ian.

BOB.T

Have you looked in the trader, I think you should be able to find summat cheaper than that

jjones

even if the dealer says the car has no warranty you still have your basic rights and the car must be fit for the purpose it was sold. so if it goes bang after a week you may well find it aint a disaster. this is completely different to a private sale.

MattN

sounds expensive to me.

I sold my 97 (facelift) for 1400 a year ago.

A friend has a 96 (facelift) Si with 100k and trade are offering 700-800.

For a car of this age and value I wouldn't bother with a dealer, they will still want a profit. Better off going private for 700 quid.

fatherpierre

You should be able to pick a 24v V6 for a grand.

Much better than the 4 pots and the give almost identical MPG to the 1.8.

I've had one for 10k miles and was gonna get rid and spend a fair whack on a new car but have decided to keep it as it's smooth, quiet, (fairly) fast and so cheap to run. Very capable cars.

Mine's got 118k on the clock but you wouldn't think it to drive it.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Much better than the 4 pots and the give almost identical MPG to the 1.8.


Er how does that work then ?

My 1.8 (2001) does 31 mpg.

Cabinet Enforcer

My dad has a 2.5V6 and regularly gets 33mpg on mixed running, and it is good for chasing bimmers on the motorway, they hate being tailed off roundabouts

[Edited by Cabinet Enforcer - 1/8/2004 11:14:40 PM]

fatherpierre

Which bit don't you undrestand J4CKO??????

Better as in more power on tap, faster and lovely and smooth.

MPG of mine is 25-30 town driving and an easy 35mpg on motorway cruises without going mad, which would equate to a very similar fuel consumption rate to your 1.8, would it not?

The V6 Duratec unit it very unstressed, so on long cruises it'll sit at 70/80 without much effort at all.






[Edited by fatherpierre - 1/9/2004 3:53:29 AM]

HELLOM8

Problem I seem to be having at the moment is the lack of cars for sale in the Brighton area and viewing cars can only be done a weekends for me, so the convience of a dealer is appealing, but I do end up paying for that convience.
Does anyone have any othe buying suggestions other than autotrader, friday-ad, fish4 etc?.
Cheers.
Ian.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

I run a 1.8 lx M reg (94) with 91.5k on the clock (owned since 68.5k).
I would suggest you ensure the car has had ALL the belts changed (5yrs/80k) as this could set you back upto 300 quid.
Ive never had any real problems with my 1.8lx, you "may" have some problems if your running tpft on said mondeo your looking at as the GLX comes with ABS/electric front seat/heated front screen/foglights over the LX version, you will notice that tpft will not cover your windscreen cost (98 quid for my last windscreen) as the heated ones cost over 400 quid
If your looking for a car, i would suggest going further afield and making a day of it further up north (P reg escort for sale with a trader just up the road, 1.6 LX 50k fsh etc, £1495.00) as these will run just as well.
The 2ltr is ok for what your doing, id personally go for a 1.8lx as these will run until the cows come home and will cost you slightly less per mile and are more available. Watch for rust on the rear arches though (mine is starting to suffer from this, costs around 150 quid for it to be sorted) and the engine shouldnt be clattery in any way (some do get a bit noisy the older you get but you have a wide variety to choose from). It took me 5 or 6 mondeos before i ended up with this one and she runs pretty well (will need some new rear bearings in another 10k ish or so though).
Also look out for the master cluch cylinder as it does go on the older cars (heavier clutch) but the car can still run fine (just no assistance). Exhausts for the 2ltr changed in 95 so look out for that too, it is more promenent due to the exhaust (looking from the rear) having 2 rather than one silencer.

Tony

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Should state that you need to check for a damp passenger floor as the pollen filters have seals on them that can go, leaving you with a wet patch or 4 (just look for water marks) but its very cheap to sort out (20-30 quid for new seal/filter fitted).

Tony

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

What would a V6 do around town, 13 mile commute ?

I get 31 mpg but based on what you are saying I may as well chop it in for a V6, I would estimate that it would do 25 mpg, I suppose my 1.8 being the current shape is bigger and heavier so not as good on fuel as the earlier ones ?

si_kosta

Not considered a Cavalier as a cheap run around??

M reg one, you'd pay easy less than a grand for...

My dad has a Cavalier workhorse... Its a 95M 1.8LS, its done 170k on the same engine and gearbox, hes had it 4 years, and it had 25k on when he bought it. They are very reliable cars as long as u service them every 6k (dad just changes theoil) It still runs like a 25k car!

fatherpierre

My V6 gives me a minimum of 25mpg and that's based on a commute in heavy(ish) traffic on a stop-start 17 mile round trip from N London into C London which I average about 13mph there and 25mph back.

I too was very surprised by its economy when I 1st got it but I've worked it out almost to the 1/10th of a mile from the 60 litre tank and that's what I get!

I had a straight six 320i and that gave me just over half that economy.

I can get to Leeds and back (425 miles) and still have over 1/4 of a tank left if I don't sit @100mph.

[Edited by fatherpierre - 1/10/2004 4:43:02 PM]

HELLOM8

Have spent 4 weekends now looking at utter buckets, been looking all around the south coast only to be disappointed.
Got more info on said mondeo which was due the cam belt and a service and only 3 months MOT, so didn’t bother for that sort of money.
Ended up with a pug 405 GLX TD. One word ‘ taxi’ . It’s a nice clean car with service history, a/c, hpi, warranty etc, should be sufficient for my needs.
Thanks for all the help guys.
All the best.
Ian.

Paul_M

4-pots are bulletproof though as long as they ain't abused, V6s are by no means unreliable but far more likely to have major probs (water pump failure and head gasket failure are two things to be wary of on V6s - both can lead to very expensive bills).

On the whole though great cars for the sector, I've had one for over 7 years (don't use it any more though but it still runs perfectly whenever I start it up every now and then). In that time it's needed a starter motor and idle valve replaced, everything else was routine stuff. Handling compares very well with most other cars in this class, although factory suspension is far too soft even on "sporty" models - I had an Avo setup on mine and it transformed it.

Just find one that has been looked after - there should be no rust unlike the Sierra that came before it. Mine is one of the earlist models and it still doesn't have a spot of rust. As has been said use the recommended 5W30 oil or 5W40, no thicker as the tappets will become noisy and in extreme cases can start sticking.

Paul_M

Oh well just noticed you got something else, didn't spot page 2

HELLOM8

Cheers Paul .