AS Communal MK4&5 Mondeo Thread

[Mally]

So, I'm a 75 Tourer fan. My current steed has problems and MOT looms. I'll probably just buy another with a long MOT and park the spares car in the garden.

Can you convince me that I should upgrade* to a Mondeo ( I have owned a couple) , and which model is preferable, auto maybe? My leg could use the rest.

Around 2k available, but insurance and running costs need to be as low as possible.

Thanks for any input.

[Bren]

The powershift box is too much of a risk. Titanium is the one to go for. Check both subframes as they get grotty enough to fail the MOT.

[junkyarddog]

Late models Powershift gearboxes were better than the earlier version,but I'd still be wary of them.

Best find another 75 and enjoy having a spares car.

[sierraman]

3 hours ago, Mally said:

So, I'm a 75 Tourer fan. My current steed has problems and MOT looms. I'll probably just buy another with a long MOT and park the spares car in the garden.

Can you convince me that I should upgrade* to a Mondeo ( I have owned a couple) , and which model is preferable, auto maybe? My leg could use the rest.

Around 2k available, but insurance and running costs need to be as low as possible.

Thanks for any input.

Some of the pre 2010 ones are conventional automatics. £2k should get a half decent 2.0 TDCI. Make sure the clutch is good, it boosts ok and it idles smoothly. I’ve never seen one fail a test on subframe corrosion. Any spec should be ok, they’ve all got electric windows etc, steer clear of optimistic enthusiast owned garbage though at mad money. 

[Mally]

3 minutes ago, sierraman said:

steer clear of optimistic enthusiast owned garbage though at mad money. 

Rover 75 enthusiasts are probably worse. 

[sierraman]

28 minutes ago, Mally said:

Rover 75 enthusiasts are probably worse. 

Trouble with ‘enthusiast owners’ is they think it’s worth the GDP of China and they spend a lot of time meddling. I’ve no doubt it’s the same for any brand but Ford attracts some of the worst of the worst, it almost makes me keep liking them to myself as you immediately get grouped into one of these pillocks in the Ford Performance jacket, Ford Performance hat, the badges and all the bullshit about their uncles Mondeo Cosworth that Dunton built specially for him what with him working in a scotch egg factory in Mansfield. 

[Cookiesouwest]

10 hours ago, Mally said:

So, I'm a 75 Tourer fan. My current steed has problems and MOT looms. I'll probably just buy another with a long MOT and park the spares car in the garden.

Can you convince me that I should upgrade* to a Mondeo ( I have owned a couple) , and which model is preferable, auto maybe? My leg could use the rest.

Around 2k available, but insurance and running costs need to be as low as possible.

Thanks for any input.

Powershift don't have the best of reps, but mine has been fine. Issues largely down to Ford forgetting to tell customers and dealers that it needs a service every 3 yrs / 30k ish miles.

As sierraman points out the prefacelift should have had a traditional slush box, but late (2009) pre facelift seem to mostly have powershift.

If the car is sub 2k, I wouldn't worry about the powershift. Its almost throw away money at sub 2k.

The estates are huge. Much more cavernous than the 75. 

Titanium X spec if you must have all the toys, but the zetec is reasonably well equipped and not as popular as the titanium, so cheaper.

The mk4 drives better, better built, better equipment for comparable spec levels. I've had both. The 75 still feels a bit special, but the mk4 is hands down a much more accomplished car. Its a generation further on.

[Mally]

 

1 hour ago, Cookiesouwest said:

Powershift don't have the best of reps, but mine has been fine. Issues largely down to Ford forgetting to tell customers and dealers that it needs a service every 3 yrs / 30k ish miles.

As sierraman points out the prefacelift should have had a traditional slush box, but late (2009) pre facelift seem to mostly have powershift.

If the car is sub 2k, I wouldn't worry about the powershift. Its almost throw away money at sub 2k.

The estates are huge. Much more cavernous than the 75. 

Titanium X spec if you must have all the toys, but the zetec is reasonably well equipped and not as popular as the titanium, so cheaper.

The mk4 drives better, better built, better equipment for comparable spec levels. I've had both. The 75 still feels a bit special, but the mk4 is hands down a much more accomplished car. Its a generation further on.

Thanks for that. The less buttons the better for me. What's the fuel consumption like on an auto?

I've driven a new one years ago, but my late wife paid for the fuel.

If I can get the ABS light out and there's not much else needed for MOT I'll stick with my 75.

It needs an exhaust but I've had a Polish one under my bed for 18 months. That's exhaust obviously.

[Cookiesouwest]

30 minutes ago, Mally said:

 

Thanks for that. The less buttons the better for me. What's the fuel consumption like on an auto?

I've driven a new one years ago, but my late wife paid for the fuel.

If I can get the ABS light out and there's not much else needed for MOT I'll stick with my 75.

It needs an exhaust but I've had a Polish one under my bed for 18 months. That's exhaust obviously.

I get 40mpg round the houses, but I'm enthusiastic with the loud pedal.

Just over 50 mpg on a 350 mile 75 mph run.

 

[warren t claim]

Sad day today. I saw a HILTI branded Skoda estate crossover thing. No black botthandle either.

[sierraman]

9 hours ago, warren t claim said:

Sad day today. I saw a HILTI branded Skoda estate crossover thing. No black botthandle either.

Saw a HILTI mk5 estate for sale locally, seem not a bad buy as they always seem looked after. 

[beko1987]

Evening. 

I'm helping a friend car hunt. The clutch in his hyundai i40 is close to exploding and he has some company collecting it tomorrow and assuming they don't notice the clutch will give him £1900.

We've been throwing cars back and forth for days now and went to see this earlier today

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202408112771607

The dealer didn't have the keys, but drove us from the office, down some streets to the unlocked mondeo parked where it obviously had been for some time... Just like every premium car buying experience. My mate looked at me when we were told to get into the Nissan pajero and I just shrugged and got in the back.

Couldn't start the thing, but the miles look genuine, it was a cat d fairly early on in its life, and the bonnet is a bit wobbly above either headlight but latches OK. 

He bought me along to look over it and the front bumper fixings and subframe look OK, it's not mega rusty underneath, no oil around the  engine, low but OK oil, coolant was fine. Brake fluid is low but the discs and pads are lipped and tired all round. Many receipts for oil changes every year and a service in Surrey but nothing for anything big... 

The parcel shelf was sat in the boot and the spare wheel full of condensation. Wheel well was bone dry. Exhaust looked OK, but old but not rusted out and the back subframe looked mildly cleaner than mine on the Xsara. 

Any suggestions? It's ripe for an offer, and my friend seems quite open to buying it, giving it a good service and discs/pads then just driving it. Needs to be ulez free as he goes into London a fair bit for football. Will get mildly trashed by his kids and their dog so cosmetics aren't a problem, and it'll clean up nicely under all the tree. Interior looks pretty mint. 

 

Was nearly a perfect day as when we got back we planned to swap batteries as his was new last year

But his is too tall for my clamp to work so we had to swap them back 😡

[Bren]

The tax on the petrol models can be a bit salty. Make him an offer.

[warren t claim]

It looks tidy. Does the MOT history back up the low mileage? 

A Zetec of that age will have cruise control but may lack Bluetooth. Even if it has Bluetooth then there's no chance it'll have A2DP. 

At that mileage you could be looking at it needing a fair few original bits like strut top bushes needing replacing. Expect a clutch in the near future too. Low miles usually means it has spent its life pottering around town so check tyre wear. If it is uneven then have a close look at the bottom arm bushes as speed humps fuck them up. 

[artdjones]

It seems more sensible to buy a clutch for the Hyundai . 

[warren t claim]

32 minutes ago, artdjones said:

It seems more sensible to buy a clutch for the Hyundai . 

Pretty much every I40 bought new for taxi usage locally was dead before its 5th birthday. A replacement clutch and flywheel for an i40 isn’t cheap. 

[beko1987]

4 hours ago, warren t claim said:

It looks tidy. Does the MOT history back up the low mileage? 

A Zetec of that age will have cruise control but may lack Bluetooth. Even if it has Bluetooth then there's no chance it'll have A2DP. 

At that mileage you could be looking at it needing a fair few original bits like strut top bushes needing replacing. Expect a clutch in the near future too. Low miles usually means it has spent its life pottering around town so check tyre wear. If it is uneven then have a close look at the bottom arm bushes as speed humps fuck them up. 

Yep, MOT history matches perfectly and goes back to the car being young. It must have been smacked quite young and low miles and got fixed up.

The tyres look ok/used, we found the invoice from 2021 for them and it's the same cheapo brand fitted. The suspension and clutch are our biggest red flags so far. It all visibly looked ok, none of the shocks were oily, the springs looked ok and the fronts didnt feel snapped at the bottom coil. CV gaitors looked fine and bouncing a couple of corners of the car didnt yield any odd noises. Sill fronts and rears are as solid as I could push with my hands on them.

Is my bad googling correct in saying this 2.0 pez engine is a chain driven one?

If he does test drive it the roads immediatly around it will highlight any clonks pretty instantly, the sod will be finding a clear bit of road long enough to try and test the clutch. As he said, he's beeing driving the hyundai with a dying clutch for so long he doesnt know what an OK clutch feels like (I'll have a go if I can but again, my bite point is a bit low and im used to that as it's fairly normal for my clutch 🤷‍♀️)

 

 

[sierraman]

Yeah chain driven, they’re not prone to oil consumption like the ones in the Mk3 but the oil level being low is possibly indicative of this. The suspension easy enough to test, I’d check the trailing arm bushes, not a game changer but still. Clutch should feel light and smooth, they do bite quite high anyway. Check for juddering from cold, they like to weep from the crank end seal. 

[Mr Pastry]

Hang on a minute.

If I have got this right, the dealer didn't have the keys, the car was left unlocked, and it wouldn't start, despite it saying in the ad that it drives well?

So the dealer CBA preparing it, there is probably something wrong with it, and he wants actual money for it?

I know this is Autoshite, but it doesn't matter how clean it is.  Just walk away.

 

[beko1987]

6 minutes ago, Mr Pastry said:

Hang on a minute.

If I have got this right, the dealer didn't have the keys, the car was left unlocked, and it wouldn't start, despite it saying in the ad that it drives well?

So the dealer CBA preparing it, there is probably something wrong with it, and he wants actual money for it?

I know this is Autoshite, but it doesn't matter how clean it is.  Just walk away.

 

It does have those vibes to it. But the part of Greenford we were in was full of car 'dealers', we sat in an office and talked to some people so it exists. Going by the rest of their 'stock' they've got lumbered with this somehow, chucked it through a test and are now trying to sell a car that no local wants to buy, hopefully cheap just to get rid of it. 

No key was the biggest arse of all. If we'd have got a cold start done there it would have said 60% of what we wanted to know. 

My friend is still looking, but within the £1-£2.5k range it seems the same condition as other identical mk cars with maybe a bit more history but 100k. I did a quick parts list at £220 Inc brakes all round, full service and the couple of trim bits it could need and we'd need to throw that at all but the best sub £2k mondeo/focus. The brakes could be fine for now if we could drive it and see

His plan B is to cash out the hyundai, survive with just his wife's car for the rest of the month and chuck more money in the pot on payday. That does seem sensible

[beko1987]

3 hours ago, warren t claim said:

Pretty much every I40 bought new for taxi usage locally was dead before its 5th birthday. A replacement clutch and flywheel for an i40 isn’t cheap. 

It's a tatty example too. When he bought it 3/4 years ago it had had a new gearbox and/maybe clutch for sale. It started not going in gear on us last year when we lift shared (roverfolksrus had a thread of an i30 with identical issues at the time and it all came true 😂) 

[sierraman]

A crap example of anything isn’t worth buying tbh, pay that but more and find something that’s decent. 

[Mr Pastry]

5 hours ago, beko1987 said:

we sat in an office and talked to some people so it exists. Going by the rest of their 'stock' they've got lumbered with this somehow, chucked it through a test and are now trying to sell a car that no local wants to buy, hopefully cheap just to get rid of it. 

This is a classic sales technique.  Make the punter beholden to you.  It's not really your problem if they are stuck with some piece of junk nobody wants, is it?

[beko1987]

3 hours ago, Mr Pastry said:

This is a classic sales technique.  Make the punter beholden to you.  It's not really your problem if they are stuck with some piece of junk nobody wants, is it?

They didn't say it at all, and we didn't ask. We just made that up on the way home. All the cars parked outside their office were 'nice' (filthy still) and this mondeo was dumped in free parking locally (we assumed someone they knew lived close enough to keep an eye on it). 

That bit didn't seem too suspect for where we were. A new experience and sod buying an expensive car there but it felt semi reasonable for the car we went to view. Not an experience I liked or recommend though 😂

Best text my mate and see if the hyundai has gone or if something went wrong

[sierraman]

Shitty low end operators and shitty low end cars go hand in hand. If it’s not right move on and find something else.

I mean you aren’t expecting a bunch of flowers on the back seat and some piss flaps but it’s not unreasonable for it to be available to start it up and it be semi presentable. I think some places go this way because of the ridiculous level of aftersales support demanded by someone paying less than 10% of its original price, they don’t want to invest too much time as they’ll be messed about no end. If there was some common sense applied to law and the consumer rights more appropriate to a nearly 20 year old car people would probably feel as if it was worth making an effort. 

[beko1987]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

Shitty low end operators and shitty low end cars go hand in hand. If it’s not right move on and find something else.

I mean you aren’t expecting a bunch of flowers on the back seat and some piss flaps but it’s not unreasonable for it to be available to start it up and it be semi presentable. I think some places go this way because of the ridiculous level of aftersales support demanded by someone paying less than 10% of its original price, they don’t want to invest too much time as they’ll be messed about no end. If there was some common sense applied to law and the consumer rights more appropriate to a nearly 20 year old car people would probably feel as if it was worth making an effort. 

No keys was too far though, even if it was all amicable and no one got chased with a crowbar. My mates happy to buy an car and there's no comeback, even if it's a bit shady but an alright car, it's got to last him 3ish years and not do much more but even with the cars I've bought I heard them run first 😂 

It's a shame he hasn't got any other friends who would go with him, I've bought so many cars from shiters in a row now I'm no use in the real world! 

My mate did say the guy who drove us there widened his eyes as I took my phone out of my pocket and threw myself under the car (wore shit clothes especially 👌) he didn't say anything but apparently looked over again as the car began to move from me rocking it underneath (and it all looked fine. No oil under the engine, nothing scarily rusty although I'm not a mondeo expert) 

Hyundai is still here, they go too late and wouldn't have got back to the yard before 6, so their coming tomorrow) 

[beko1987]

As I typed that though... 

So any places to check whilst it's running would still be helpful 😂 

If its still stone cold when we arrive I'll stand by the exhaust and see what comes out... Alot could happen in 48h though

[beko1987]

Then again, they have 2 other £1,495 mondeii

https://www.auto4ulondon.co.uk/used-cars/ford-mondeo-2-5-titanium-x-5dr-greenford-202407312379563

And

https://www.auto4ulondon.co.uk/used-cars/ford-mondeo-2-0-edge-5dr-greenford-202408112771500

Maybe their just worthless in sarf London? I'm also thinking if my mate could test drive the shitty one first then if unsure one of the others it might give him a benchmark from a pool of 2

I've told him he's doing it wrong though and should buy this

https://www.auto4ulondon.co.uk/used-cars/rover-75-2-5-v6-contemporary-se-4dr-greenford-202408112775933

 

[sierraman]

I think he’s going at it like a tit in a trance to be honest. Whats fixation with this particular one? 

[beko1987]

After spending hours trawling through every focus and mondeo in a 50 mile radius he says on paper this one is better (within the 1 to 2k price range) or as good as ones £7/800 more. 

Bar finding ones with clutches or belts in the paperwork he's thinking if he can buy an alright one a bit cheaper, even throwing it at a garage for £4/500 of work would work out the same as buying a £2.5k one that might need the same thing. 

I can't fault the logic but I'm also trawling mondeo mk4 forums for any gotchas or easy things we can check (whiny power steering pump, fluid looked clean and on the level and the reservoir wasn't covered in shite, creak/groan from the clutch pulling away) with the 10 minutes we'd have to find a walk away problem. I have suggested either test driving some others to get an idea. He did drive a mk5 from the m4 just inside Wales (heavy traffic, they did a driver swap) on thr way to his stag but hasn't a mk4. He didn't drive anything on the way back, we got 3 miles into the drive home and he passed out in the passenger seat until I had to brake sharply as we got back near home 😂) 

Otherwise it probably will get bought, if it needs fuel we'll stick £30 of super pez in it and head north. I'll have to drive his wife's astra behind him. I'll help him service and clean it up and it'll probably be as much of a liability as his hyundai was even without the clutch issues 🤷 It'll fit his dog nicely in the boot, the parcel shelf is already possibly broken anyway, saves him doing it

Glad it's not my money though 😂