New commuter hack Mondeo - petrol this time
Discussion
I'm still piling miles on mine too... It hasn't needed a thing since the rear hub when I first bought it, bar an indicator bulb!
I have put over 11,000 miles on it since April now - approx 400 miles a week. Just ticked over 80,000. Returning 37-42mpg typically.
Moved out of a two bedroom flat with it too - 3/4 of the possessions were mine, but the Mondeo was a godsend, especially with the rear seat base removed, seats flat, and passenger seat moved and tipped all the way forwards! It did help that we left a lot of the furniture behind though.
I wish it was an ST220, but I don't wish for those fuel bills doing 400 miles a week on average. I also wish it was a TitaniumX or Ghia, and not old-man-gold (ok, it's supposedly "platinum silver") but I can't see the point in "sidegrading" to one of them, as this one is a reliable known quantity after so much use.
I'm toying with the idea of an E60 530d saloon too, but for 10x the value of the Mondeo, I have my reservations that it's worth it... I'd want to keep the Mondeo in case the 530d was a lemon anyway, and in case I needed it's cargo carrying abilities
I have put over 11,000 miles on it since April now - approx 400 miles a week. Just ticked over 80,000. Returning 37-42mpg typically.
Moved out of a two bedroom flat with it too - 3/4 of the possessions were mine, but the Mondeo was a godsend, especially with the rear seat base removed, seats flat, and passenger seat moved and tipped all the way forwards! It did help that we left a lot of the furniture behind though.
I wish it was an ST220, but I don't wish for those fuel bills doing 400 miles a week on average. I also wish it was a TitaniumX or Ghia, and not old-man-gold (ok, it's supposedly "platinum silver") but I can't see the point in "sidegrading" to one of them, as this one is a reliable known quantity after so much use.
I'm toying with the idea of an E60 530d saloon too, but for 10x the value of the Mondeo, I have my reservations that it's worth it... I'd want to keep the Mondeo in case the 530d was a lemon anyway, and in case I needed it's cargo carrying abilities
Mine is still good. Recently turned over 123456 miles, and went through a test for a broken spring, the creaking strut top bearing (finally got remarked upon!) and a dead handbrake mech in a rear caliper. They all do that sir. Tester was unfazed, just shrugged and said "nothing you wouldn't expect at 120k, not difficult to sort out" so it lives on.
It burns no oil, returns 38-42 mpg average, still looks like sh*t and has my Mum moaning about it every time she goes everywhere. Well, yes, it's not a 2013 530d with 30k on, but it's not costing £300 a month on lease, so you choose.
It burns no oil, returns 38-42 mpg average, still looks like sh*t and has my Mum moaning about it every time she goes everywhere. Well, yes, it's not a 2013 530d with 30k on, but it's not costing £300 a month on lease, so you choose.
Have decided the Mondeo is a keeper. Sure, there are things I'd like to change about it, but my commute is so short now and involves some pretty narrow lanes that it's just not worth going to anything more barge-y.
The poor thing now desperately needs the interior cleaning. Apart from all the house moving it's been carrying logs to the new house for the fire, so it's pretty much covered in little chips of wood. I will probably just chuck it at a local cheapy valet place at some point and get them to do it, life's too short!
That leaves me free to focus on something really special for weekends and trackdays in a year or so.
The poor thing now desperately needs the interior cleaning. Apart from all the house moving it's been carrying logs to the new house for the fire, so it's pretty much covered in little chips of wood. I will probably just chuck it at a local cheapy valet place at some point and get them to do it, life's too short!
That leaves me free to focus on something really special for weekends and trackdays in a year or so.
The Mondeo is really starting to annoy me now. I want to replace it because I get bored with cars quickly and it's not exactly the most thrilling car on the planet as it is, but it's just too bloody good. Every time I look at something else as a cheap runaround the downsides outweigh the upsides. Bah.
It's currently caked in filth from a lot of long distance Christmas driving which has brought the mileage up to a hardly believable 70,578. How it's not a completely worn smooth at such high miles I'll never know
Over the last month the Mondeo has again proved it's a superb do-anything car, it's transported several loads of flat pack furniture, bulky bits of non-flatpack furniture, many boot loads of logs, acted as a taxi for innumerable friends and relatives (oh the joys of not drinking alchohol over the festive season) and tucked away a 600 mile round trip. The only thing it couldn't quite handle was a church pew (don't ask) which was too long to fit in the back and close the hatch, but even that was OK with some rope to tie the boot lid in place - how ghetto
It is also sporting a nice new bumper scuff and cracked rear light courtesy of the OH not looking behind her while reversing. A new rear light is on the way from eBay for a mere £25 - about double what a pre-facelift one would run me but I think I'll cope. That incident really made me realise that I had no emotional attachment to the car at all, I was mildly irritated about the hassle of sourcing a new light and that the bumper now looked a bit crap. That was it, not annoyed, not upset, just "oh no, I've got to find a new light cluster, that's a pain."
Same old same old then, perfect tool for the job, objectively it's of the best cars I've ever owned. It even drives nicely.
Bit dull though.
It's currently caked in filth from a lot of long distance Christmas driving which has brought the mileage up to a hardly believable 70,578. How it's not a completely worn smooth at such high miles I'll never know
Over the last month the Mondeo has again proved it's a superb do-anything car, it's transported several loads of flat pack furniture, bulky bits of non-flatpack furniture, many boot loads of logs, acted as a taxi for innumerable friends and relatives (oh the joys of not drinking alchohol over the festive season) and tucked away a 600 mile round trip. The only thing it couldn't quite handle was a church pew (don't ask) which was too long to fit in the back and close the hatch, but even that was OK with some rope to tie the boot lid in place - how ghetto
It is also sporting a nice new bumper scuff and cracked rear light courtesy of the OH not looking behind her while reversing. A new rear light is on the way from eBay for a mere £25 - about double what a pre-facelift one would run me but I think I'll cope. That incident really made me realise that I had no emotional attachment to the car at all, I was mildly irritated about the hassle of sourcing a new light and that the bumper now looked a bit crap. That was it, not annoyed, not upset, just "oh no, I've got to find a new light cluster, that's a pain."
Same old same old then, perfect tool for the job, objectively it's of the best cars I've ever owned. It even drives nicely.
Bit dull though.
I can live with dull, for the dull bits of my life. Tonight I have to drive 200 miles to London. In the dark and cold. It's going to be boring. The Mondeo will just do it.
As for load carrying, you're just not trying. This week mine had a single bed in it. A whole one, base and all. Now I did have to move the seat forward and I was sitting rather closer to the wheel than I would have liked, but it worked.
As for load carrying, you're just not trying. This week mine had a single bed in it. A whole one, base and all. Now I did have to move the seat forward and I was sitting rather closer to the wheel than I would have liked, but it worked.
charltjr said:
Boot struts.
b
d, bd boot struts.
My head hurts.
These are available on eBay, ask how I know ;-)b
d, bd boot struts.My head hurts.
The one I got were too strong, they sent the whole hatch flying up, hitting the limiter, and a car was bouncing up like a rabbit
Also, as the weather heats up, they'll regain some strength.
I remember my dads Y reg 1.8 Lx and I can't remember it ever putting a foot wrong. Sold it on 80k as the tax was nearly £300 a year or something. We reg checked it a few days ago and it looks like it's been scrapped after a It failed its mot 210k isn't bad going on an old petrol mondeo
More nothing to report. Having an M3 as it's stablemate has made the Mondeo feel much slower than it actually is, but other than that it just keeps on going.
Checked the oil recently and since it was serviced it's used a couple of hundred ml, if that.
Service time has rolled around and I quite fancy tackling it myself, not sure why as I know it's usually a pain in the arse but I've not self-serviced a car for a good few years now and making sure everything is spot on has some appeal. In reality I expect the next update will be me saying I've sent it off to my usual mechanic
I'm going to need tyres fairly soon. Because they're just boggo 16" wheels I can get a full set of top end stuff for about £250, so that'll make a nice change! Thinking of going for a set of Michelin CrossClimates as I've always fancied giving them a go and it really doesn't need a set of sporty summer tyres on it. Hopefully as we head into summer there might be some deals available on "winter" rubber.
It's been here for over a year now which is a rare thing for one of my cars. I still can't think of anything that could sensibly replace it as an all rounder.
Checked the oil recently and since it was serviced it's used a couple of hundred ml, if that.
Service time has rolled around and I quite fancy tackling it myself, not sure why as I know it's usually a pain in the arse but I've not self-serviced a car for a good few years now and making sure everything is spot on has some appeal. In reality I expect the next update will be me saying I've sent it off to my usual mechanic
I'm going to need tyres fairly soon. Because they're just boggo 16" wheels I can get a full set of top end stuff for about £250, so that'll make a nice change! Thinking of going for a set of Michelin CrossClimates as I've always fancied giving them a go and it really doesn't need a set of sporty summer tyres on it. Hopefully as we head into summer there might be some deals available on "winter" rubber.
It's been here for over a year now which is a rare thing for one of my cars. I still can't think of anything that could sensibly replace it as an all rounder.
I'm back in the Mondeo fold with this beauty. Reading your last post reminds me why I loved my old one (Mk2) so much. Although not exciting, it made up for that by being thoroughly competent at everything I asked it to do. Boot space is the key reason I went for a Mondeo shed this time round, about 500 acres of space.
battered said:
Looks like a good workhorse. Mine is showing 134k now, other than an oil change I've done nothing since the test at 120k in September. Actually, a thermostat. Will need 2tyres soon. It's motoring for free.
It really is. Mine cost less than one months PCP payment on a nearly new Mondeo and I don't care if someone opens their door into it or if it gets stone chips. Other than maintenance costs like you say, it's ridiculously cheap motoring. And then if it dies, onto Ebay with a 99p no reserve to get rid of it.OP (and fellow petrol mondy owners), how do you guys find the running costs vs the equivalent diesel?
I do ~25K a year in a fiesta diesel which is soon to die and whilst I understand the argument against diesels is the huge repair bill you could face, I'm not sure the difference between 55mpg & 35mpg is that easy to swallow.
Wondered what your thoughts/experiences were?
I do ~25K a year in a fiesta diesel which is soon to die and whilst I understand the argument against diesels is the huge repair bill you could face, I'm not sure the difference between 55mpg & 35mpg is that easy to swallow.
Wondered what your thoughts/experiences were?
On those numbers it's about £1350 a year more to run the Mondeo, but's it a pretty extreme case to go from a diesel supermini to a fairly large petrol car so not surprising there's a big gap.
If you're doing long runs I'd expect the Mondeo to do better than 35mpg, 38 or 39 should be fairly easy to get to and then you're looking at circa £1100 a year difference. Still a lot.
At that sort of mileage a diesel makes sense but I wouldn't want to be doing it in something that small and unrefined TBH. Then again, I'm old
If you're doing long runs I'd expect the Mondeo to do better than 35mpg, 38 or 39 should be fairly easy to get to and then you're looking at circa £1100 a year difference. Still a lot.
At that sort of mileage a diesel makes sense but I wouldn't want to be doing it in something that small and unrefined TBH. Then again, I'm old
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