Are the Mk2 Mondeo the new uber banger?

[sierraman]

I absolutely love these beasts, I paid £550 six and a half years ago for one, still running now. Such a simple car (by modern standards) to keep going. Who else rates the old mondeos

[Timewaster]

Hasn't Lord Bol just scored a barely run in Gee Har for £400?

 

Edit: Yes he has!

 

HOLY SHIT I've just won this!

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2000-X-REG-FO ... 1146480712

 

2.5 V6 auto, full ticket and service history supposedly with old MOT's to back up the 52k on the clock. £400!!!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I'm getting one shortly, ask me when I have investigated it fully. They seem to be amazingly worthless.

[Morgan84]

They are a nice comfortable car;and some do have damage free bumpers still !

[Cavcraft]

-1, can't sodding stand the things.

To be fair though they do seem reliable and pretty much every car goes through that thing where they become Road Wars fodder and (sometimes seemingly) hardly anybody wants to own one. I'd still sooner walk though. Right off the end of the Blackpool South pier in a force 97 gale in the middle of winter.

[gearoil]

See also: Vectra B

[Mike D]

I actually really like them, i had a mk1 1.8 auto - which was crap, and a 2 litre mk2 'zetec', this one, in fact:

 

They're suprisingly comfy, that one did 36mpg on a run, I only bought it to use for work as my 840 was crippling me with its rubbish 17mpg, and it did the job a treat! plenty spacious too. I gave it to my best mates Dad when I bought a focus to replace it, as someone tried and failed to nick his mk3 astra from outside his house, so set fire to it! It's still doing sterling service!

 

Rear door handles seem to stick on them, and the rear arches go crusty. Front wishbones are a hot favourite to go through, and one of them, I cant remember which side, has the bolt inserted from the 'wrong' side, so you'd have to strip the world to remove it... or lop the head off, buy a new one and put it in from the other way

 

Not wanting to dampen Mr.B's GHIA lovelyness, but my mate has had a 2.5V6 Ghia auto for years, and it hasn't been the best Pray to god the alternator doesn't go, as it's buried in the depths of the engine, and they're pretty thirsty.. nice old thing to waft around in with its heated leather mind...

[Wilko220]

The Mk1 hasn't exactly become a classic yet!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yeah i've read about this alternator lark, looks like thats somethign to look forward to!!!

 

TBH I just fancied a cheap 'posh' barge to drive to France at Christmas, if this thing ends up being too thirsty (I drive 500 miles a week!) I can't afford to be putting up with it for too long. I am looking forward to trying it out though!!!

[Mike D]

Oh, and it'll no doubt be 'moose-ing' its tits off at idle when warm, it's a proper odd thing to hear at first, I thought i'd fucked it when it started! Seems they all do it though!!

[Morgan84]

They were pretty well specced cars in fairness to them,and the Zetec engine is a wonderfull free revving engine;the quickclear windscreen in the better specced models is a god send in winter.Yes,the bumpers are made of egg shells,but externally they seem to last fairly well,appart from the usual rear arch flaking most cars can suffer.Nice dashboard design,and comfortable interiors .... However I prefer my Sierra Ghia

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Nice dashboard design

 

I find the shiny placca wood on 'posh' ford dashboards of this age mega laughable, it looks like its fashioned from human turds and french polished into a perspex-like finish

[Negative Creep]

If anyone has some spare space then buying up all the undamaged bumpers you can would be a shrewd move. They'll be worth a fortune once the OMG OLD SKOOL FORD TAX kicks in

[Albert Ross]

I think he's on about the 2001-2007 model. Those shown above are Mk1.5 and Mk1 respectively. Yeah, I'm an anorak. I still hate the friggin' lot of 'em.

[stuboy]

mk2 mondeo i got is ace.............

[whitevanman]

NS front wishbone bolt............DO NOT try to remove it, grind the fecker off and replace.....straight from the Ford Head mechanic at a branch near me.... Oh and he is right, it makes life so much less difficult

[Morgan84]

The new supplied by Ford bolt needs shortening a tad so its not so close to the transmission and give a vibration;We always used to drill a hole through the end of the bolt and put a split pin as well as a precaution to make it fail safe

[warren t claim]

When I used to rent out private hire cars the Mondeo was the only car that never gave me any trouble, I had one that was double shifted and driven around the clock and never gave me a solitary untoward expense. All I had to pay for with them was six weekly oil changes and the odd suspension bush.

[trigger]

I've owned both a 1.8 Verona and a ST24 and neither ever gave me any troubles, I found them to be nice cruisers and well spec'd if a tat dull to drive.

[CreepingJesus]

Such a simple car...

 

Love the Mk1/2 Mondeos, but I can't agree with that. Ford went from the Sierra, which you could fix with a few spanners and a variety of hammers and chisels, to the Mondeo. At which they threw the combined ideas of all their competitors. Complicated front and rear suspension? Check. Lots of stuff crammed into the engine bay (except the povvo 1.6's), so you have to have triple jointed wafer thin arms, with magnetic fingers and x-ray vision to see what you're at? Check. Then there's the V6...

They eat front balljoints for fun, and once that rear arch rot spreads out, there's not much in that back end, that isn't within 30cms of something structural. Longevity really wasn't foremost in the designers' brief there.

All that having said, I miss my Ghia X (even with its' joke 'wood' trim), and I wish I'd had some place to store it, and sort its' faults out.

[warren t claim]

I think they're getting to be the banger racers weapon of choice these days.

[Negative Creep]

Such a simple car...

 

Love the Mk1/2 Mondeos, but I can't agree with that. Ford went from the Sierra, which you could fix with a few spanners and a variety of hammers and chisels, to the Mondeo. At which they threw the combined ideas of all their competitors. Complicated front and rear suspension? Check. Lots of stuff crammed into the engine bay (except the povvo 1.6's), so you have to have triple jointed wafer thin arms, with magnetic fingers and x-ray vision to see what you're at? Check. Then there's the V6...

They eat front balljoints for fun, and once that rear arch rot spreads out, there's not much in that back end, that isn't within 30cms of something structural. Longevity really wasn't foremost in the designers' brief there.

All that having said, I miss my Ghia X (even with its' joke 'wood' trim), and I wish I'd had some place to store it, and sort its' faults out.

 

 

Would it be fair to say that the introduction of cars such as the Mondeo began to sound the death knell for DIY driveway repairs?

[CreepingJesus]

Dunno, I reckon that point had arrived before the Mondeo did; I recall a neighbour of mine getting into all sorts of bother doing a service on his newish early Celica GT4. He got there in the end, but it was quite evident that Toyota didn't really consider servicing the thing without a ramp, and all the special tools.

In all likelihood, Ford were simply following everyone else's lead that way. Maybe it was one of the cars that finally put the nail in the coffin of simple home servicing tho'.

[Volksy]

Dunno, I reckon that point had arrived before the Mondeo did; I recall a neighbour of mine getting into all sorts of bother doing a service on his newish early Celica GT4.

 

They were quite a spesh piece of kit, a mate had one and it cost him £30 a cv boot, it needed ALL EIGHT replacing. Which cost the same, and took about the same time as a Mondeo clutch - which is why IMHO they well for evermore be snubbed. The Saab 9K at least had a split subframe.

[outlaw118]

I think they're getting to be the banger racers weapon of choice these days.

Indeed, they have been for a while now, to the extent that some promotions run "no Mondeo/\cougar" meetings. They seem to go well and a pretty strong.

Soft Arses on the HAtch, mind....

[peter9000uk]

Funnily enough I acquired a Mondeo Ghia X estate not that long ago. even has has digital climate that works Still prefer the Laguna estate it replaced though

[R9UKE]

The only Mark 2 I'd buy is either that one of Mr Bs - a nice 2.5 auto Ghia X, or an ST24 Saloon, but it's so hard to find one of those that hasn't had the shite ragged clean out of it. All other models are as dull as an Avensis.

 

The Mark 1 on the other hand - absolutely love that car, still waiting patiently for a K, L or M Ghia with all the options to come up (Ghia X didn't exist for those plates). There was one in Nottingham on Gumtree about three months back, I missed out on it, looked a real gem and was cheap too. Then there's the odd ones, the Si 4x4, the Ultima special edition was nice and if you're feeling really dull how about an Aspen with keep fit windows all round and no rev counter? (Yes, my childhood was pent mostly flicking through Mondeo brochures... )

[retrogeezer]

Had my mk2 p reg 2.0 ghia for over 5 years now, best/cheapest car we have ever owned. Nice and smooth to drive, very quiet, effortless motorway cruiser and all it has cost in the last 3 MOT's is a £3 brake pressure relief valve from the scrappy.

 

Paid £350 for it in April 07, had a cambelt, new exhaust, front wishbones and front discs/pads in the first couple of years so has cost about £800 for 5 years motoring.

 

I don't see the point in the V6, more costly to run, more issues and hardly any extra usable performance in this day and age. The ST24's do look cool though but I just bought the alloys for mine!

[cobblers]

They deffo seem pretty hardy, check these crazy dutch sounding idiots out, they nock ten bells out of a 3 series beemer with one.

 

[Shep Shepherd]

I think they're getting to be the banger racers weapon of choice these days.

 

To misquote the original launch ad, they have strength with inner beauty