TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Having purchased my 1994 M reg 1.8LX Mondeo (2 previous owners) back in December 2002 and having now covered just about 30k, its time for a report

I bought the car with 68.5k on the clock, 2 owners, in green with beigh interior (sounds gross but grows on you) and it having been a non-smokers car (lovely clean interior with no burn marks or marks to speak of) for the sum of 1300 quid (included a new starter motor in this price) for work use (i do a fair bit of driving) i needed a sound, reliable car to do the miles in.
My initial findings on buying and driving the car were that the seats were very comfortable (for a car that was nearly 9 years old) and the steering was very light (a bit over assisted tbh) but the car was more than happy to run up and down the country without any major problems. My first costs were a service, including brakes (discs and pads) belts and some other minor bits, setting me back around 650 quid, expensive you say? well not really, if your going for a budget car then your going to have to budget on getting alot changed at once, and the next on the agenda were the tyres (v cr@p cheap and nasty things) with a nice set of 50 quid goodyear eagle nct5's (which improved wet weather handling no end, i also shoved a good dollop of redex in there to see if that would improve the slight lack of performance, and it seemed to do the job nicely
The car itself came quite well equipped, with electric front windows, PAS, C/L and an RDS rad/cass (plus manual sunroof) which was more than sufficient for my needs, the biggest problem i think was going from a car with over twice the power to one with only a mere 113bhp, but the 1.8 16v engine isnt too bad on the original shaped Mondeo, it isnt going to be lightening quick but does its job nicely
One of the main reasons i purchased a mondeo was the 10k service intervals (major service every 3 years/30k, belts at 5 years/80k) and the cheap running costs, plus its pretty ecenomical too

So far my costs have been down to wear and tear items, brakes/belts/tyres, i had a problem with water on the passenger side one day, this turned out to be down to the pollen filter, its under the grill by the window (grey box) and the seal had deteriorated letting water in, cost around 20 quid to sort out (rather than let ford do a water test at 130 quid ), then at around 90k i needed some new rear bearings, this set me back around 240 quid, the only "real" cost the car has taken out of my pocket.

So what have i found out todate?
Well ill look for the master cylnder for the clutch, the one on my car has gone (300+ quid to replace from a ford dealer so you may as well get the clutch done at the same time ) its still drivable though, slightly heavier than normal but the clutch has lots of life left in it.
Gearbox... no problems here, still nice and smooth, a bit stiff when cold though.
Engine, uses about 1/2ltr of oil every 10k, i do rag the engine when hot up hills though so probably accounts for that.
Dodgy temp gauge.... new coolant, new temp sensor, same problem, its a dodgy gauge, not worth replacing (fans still kick in and the car doesnt over heat).
Pollen filter, look for water marks in the passenger side footwell, dirt cheap to fix, just a seal and filter
Hesitation when cold.... hmmm 4th gear, 30mph, a little hesitant but i can live with that. (ecu problem from the factory?)
Check the tracking, a big one, the early model mondeo's wear the bushes very quickly, they need to have uprated ones fitted, the car will also pull left more than it should if its got this problem, these are a git to get to so may set you back a few hundred quid to sort out (fixed on later, phase 2 cars)
No other real problems, servicing is cheap (60-70 quid) and i get around 38mpg on a long run, 33-35mpg on mixed driving.
This is a car worth looking at buying if you want a reliable and comfortable (but not a hard performer unless you get the V6 2.5 unit ) which wont cost you the earth to run and maintain, but budget to replace a few parts and change the belts!

Tony

NACRO

Nice report on one of the best value cheap cars available in the UK. Might get one myself if I turn my 205 into a track day only car.

I've seen later phase II cars with good spec (air etc) for 2.5K, that has to be bargain motoring in anyones book.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Just sold a Y reg, was a superb car, just no turbo, performance or anything like that.

ScoobyDoo555

I've got the GLX (1995 though). We bought it for the wifey as a replacement for her Escort that blew up. Paid £1200 for it with 76K on the clock. In the 6 months we've had it, not a single thing has gone wrong.

Has Aircon too

I still have to change one of the courtesy lights in the rear door handles, but so what!!!

Great car, has a boot space that the Scooby Wagon would die for. And is cheap as chips to maintain/run.

Bargain!!!

Dan

Paul_M

Agreed totally, they are great cars for the money if you get a looked after one. I've had one for about 8 years, a 1993 model (got it from my dad when I was 17, my first car). It's now got over 100k on it, and in that time the only non-wear items that have needed replaced were the starter (still worked but sometimes didn't engage the flywheel so had to try it a few times), water pump (apparently a common problem - probably worth replacing on an old model just in case if it hasn't already been done) and the idle control valve. All-in about £200 worth of repairs in 8 years/100k! Not a spot of rust on it either, Ford finally seem to have sorted this problem completely.

Mine doesn't get used any more cos I bought an Audi for daily use, so I'm no longer insured on the Mondeo. It's been sitting outside for about 6 months now so I keep the battery in the garage and top it up with the charger now and then. I then pop the battery in the car and let it run for a while, even when it's not turned over for months it still starts within a second of turning the key every time.

I wouldn't say they're particularly economical TBH, one of the main reasons I got the Audi was because my annual mileage has got a lot higher these days and the Mondeo gets low-30s MPG. The Audi is noticably better, it's a 2.0 petrol as well although the Mondeo engine is far better (the 2.0 16V is pretty good for a repmobile - decent turn of power at 4500RPM). However the handling is excellent for such a large car, I had AVO suspension on mine and you could really throw it around with confidence.

All-in it's a great runaround, avoid the diesel cos it's an absolute dog (82BHP, horrendous turbo lag and the 2.0 16V has more torque) and isn't particularly economical either compared to modern TDIs. V6s are very nice and sound great too, pretty reliable but ultimately not as reliable as the bulletproof 16V Zetec engines.