New commuter hack Mondeo - petrol this time
Discussion
I commute about 20k miles a year so on top of my trackday toy I always need to run a commuter hack of some sort.
I've run diesels for years with no particular "diesel specific" issues but I've decided to go back to petrol given the price of fuel and the scarcity of really decent cheap mass-market cars.
Ladies and gents I present.... The 2005 Ford Mondeo 2.0 petrol in Ghia spec:
Be still my beating heart!
In all seriousness I really rate the Mk3 Mondeo and it should do everything I need from a commuter car. I'm hoping this will turn out to be a good example as it's a one owner car with a mere 56k on the clock. Cam chain engine so no worries there and it's one of the final facelift cars so most of the typical issues were sorted by then - notably the swirl flap failure issue is much, much less common.
It's been back to the supplying dealer every year on the dot for a service and MoT, four good Michelin tyres, even the wiper blades are recent and are genuine Ford ones. Given the absolute rubbish I've seen at this price point recently I think this is a bit of a gem. I paid pretty strong money for it in terms of 2005 Mondeos at £1850 but hopefully it will prove to be a wise purchase. Time will tell.
I've run diesels for years with no particular "diesel specific" issues but I've decided to go back to petrol given the price of fuel and the scarcity of really decent cheap mass-market cars.
Ladies and gents I present.... The 2005 Ford Mondeo 2.0 petrol in Ghia spec:
Be still my beating heart!
In all seriousness I really rate the Mk3 Mondeo and it should do everything I need from a commuter car. I'm hoping this will turn out to be a good example as it's a one owner car with a mere 56k on the clock. Cam chain engine so no worries there and it's one of the final facelift cars so most of the typical issues were sorted by then - notably the swirl flap failure issue is much, much less common.
It's been back to the supplying dealer every year on the dot for a service and MoT, four good Michelin tyres, even the wiper blades are recent and are genuine Ford ones. Given the absolute rubbish I've seen at this price point recently I think this is a bit of a gem. I paid pretty strong money for it in terms of 2005 Mondeos at £1850 but hopefully it will prove to be a wise purchase. Time will tell.
Picked this up yesterday and have done about 100 miles in it so far. I think I've got a winner here, everything works and it drives really nicely.
It's just done it's second tip run of the day loaded to the window line with rubbish. I'd forgotten just how practical these things are.
Will be interesting to see how it copes with the commute next week.
It's just done it's second tip run of the day loaded to the window line with rubbish. I'd forgotten just how practical these things are.
Will be interesting to see how it copes with the commute next week.
Two weeks in, five tip runs, two charity shop runs, plus nine hundred miles driven and it's pretty much faultless.
I want to get some new boot struts as the current ones are a bit weak, as I found out last week when I hadn't opened it quite far enough and it came back down on me. Ouch.
Other than that..... Errrrm...... Nothing.
When I bought it the trader said he was surprised it hadn't come with a second key, given the condition of it and the history. He promised to let me know if one turned up as apparently the previous owner had promised to drop it in to the dealer he part-ex'd it at. "Yeah yeah" thinks I, "don't give me that, I know the score.". A week later he phones up, then drops by on his way home to give me the spare key.
MPG is coming out at around 32 which is OK as the car has been doing a lot more urban driving than is normal for me. I'm expecting to see that up around the mid 30's when it gets a week of "normal" commuting.
The heated windscreen has been a godsend on a couple of cold mornings and it's nice to have the little touches like the puddle lights in the wing mirrors.
I know I said earlier it's easy to forget just how practical these things are, with the seats down it can carry a huge amount of stuff. Here it is on a tip/delivery run last week:
So not the most exciting thing in the world, but it rides well, handles quite nicely, overall I'm really happy.
Let's see what the MoT brings in a couple of months........
I want to get some new boot struts as the current ones are a bit weak, as I found out last week when I hadn't opened it quite far enough and it came back down on me. Ouch.
Other than that..... Errrrm...... Nothing.
When I bought it the trader said he was surprised it hadn't come with a second key, given the condition of it and the history. He promised to let me know if one turned up as apparently the previous owner had promised to drop it in to the dealer he part-ex'd it at. "Yeah yeah" thinks I, "don't give me that, I know the score.". A week later he phones up, then drops by on his way home to give me the spare key.
MPG is coming out at around 32 which is OK as the car has been doing a lot more urban driving than is normal for me. I'm expecting to see that up around the mid 30's when it gets a week of "normal" commuting.
The heated windscreen has been a godsend on a couple of cold mornings and it's nice to have the little touches like the puddle lights in the wing mirrors.
I know I said earlier it's easy to forget just how practical these things are, with the seats down it can carry a huge amount of stuff. Here it is on a tip/delivery run last week:
So not the most exciting thing in the world, but it rides well, handles quite nicely, overall I'm really happy.
Let's see what the MoT brings in a couple of months........
Thanks all.
I like the description of it as invisible, that fits it very well, certainly given the reaction it seems to inspire in some other drivers. Maybe it's the colour but people just don't seem to see it, at all. That's not always a good thing.
Yes the wheels were on their way to the new owner not the tip, had to practically give them away as 15" E39 wheels just don't seem to be in demand but that's another story.
That's exactly what's happening with the boot struts, they're fine as long as the boot is fully open, if not......
This week the MPG has been much more like what I was expecting, OBC says about 36mpg so even if that's a few mpg off that's perfectly fine for me. Usable range seems to be about 400 miles which is a little less than I was hoping for being used to diesels with 500+ mile range but it's not a problem, seems obvious in retrospect that the petrol car won't magically have a bigger fuel tank than the diesel to compensate for the worse fuel economy
I think I need a rear wheel bearing, there's a roar from the back at speed which seems to be gradually getting worse. Not entirely surprising something like that would crop up given that every day the car is doing not far off what was previously it's average weekly mileage. I'll check it out at the weekend.
I like the description of it as invisible, that fits it very well, certainly given the reaction it seems to inspire in some other drivers. Maybe it's the colour but people just don't seem to see it, at all. That's not always a good thing.
Yes the wheels were on their way to the new owner not the tip, had to practically give them away as 15" E39 wheels just don't seem to be in demand but that's another story.
That's exactly what's happening with the boot struts, they're fine as long as the boot is fully open, if not......
This week the MPG has been much more like what I was expecting, OBC says about 36mpg so even if that's a few mpg off that's perfectly fine for me. Usable range seems to be about 400 miles which is a little less than I was hoping for being used to diesels with 500+ mile range but it's not a problem, seems obvious in retrospect that the petrol car won't magically have a bigger fuel tank than the diesel to compensate for the worse fuel economy
I think I need a rear wheel bearing, there's a roar from the back at speed which seems to be gradually getting worse. Not entirely surprising something like that would crop up given that every day the car is doing not far off what was previously it's average weekly mileage. I'll check it out at the weekend.
Well I'm still very happy with it, although I think I'd prefer the V8 Mustang too
Managed to get the Mondeo up on the trolley jack earlier on and I'm pretty sure one of the rear bearings is on it's way, going to get it looked at tomorrow by my mechanic so we'll see.
Oh no, I'll have to drive the mentalist track day car to work tomorrow, how *terrible*
Managed to get the Mondeo up on the trolley jack earlier on and I'm pretty sure one of the rear bearings is on it's way, going to get it looked at tomorrow by my mechanic so we'll see.
Oh no, I'll have to drive the mentalist track day car to work tomorrow, how *terrible*
Thanks, I did know about the aux port etc, and I don't need to plug in extra bulbs because it's a Ghia don'tcha know rah rah rah 
The only thing I'm really missing in terms of kit is Bluetooth but that's easy enough to fit.
After a week of commuting at the speed limit I'm getting high 30's MPG now, which I'm more than happy with.
I think this one might be a bit of a keeper, at least by my standards anyway. It's comfortable, cheap to run, hugely practical, really can't fault it at all so far.
I'm almost tempted to upgrade it to a set of leather seats, like most used Mondeo parts they're insanely cheap, but that way lies madness........
The only thing I'm really missing in terms of kit is Bluetooth but that's easy enough to fit.
After a week of commuting at the speed limit I'm getting high 30's MPG now, which I'm more than happy with.
I think this one might be a bit of a keeper, at least by my standards anyway. It's comfortable, cheap to run, hugely practical, really can't fault it at all so far.
I'm almost tempted to upgrade it to a set of leather seats, like most used Mondeo parts they're insanely cheap, but that way lies madness........
Just a little weekend update. The Mondeo now has almost 60k miles on it, I'm getting a bit worried it might be getting worn out and I should replace it. Obviously I'm kidding, but it is odd to think that in just a few months I've driven not far off it's usual annual mileage.
I STILL haven't sorted the boot struts out, but now the weather has warmed up a bit they're holding the boot much better so I imagine I'll not bother until the lid hits me in the head again. My epitaph may well be "Knew I should have changed those boot struts"
It's going in for an MoT and a service next week. Gave it a very quick check over this morning and other than a few bulbs being out in the rear sidelights (do any Mk3 Mondeos actually have a full working set? ) there's nothing obvious that will give it a problem. Will be interesting to see just how old and manky some of the filters are or aren't on my "Full Ford main dealer history" car........
I've sorted out the only thing I was missing in terms of spec with £45 of bits from Amazon. The car now has a Bluetooth unit that plugs into the aux port in the Glovebox and does streaming audio as well as calls. I can also connect two phones to it at once which is great since I've got a work and a personal mobile.
It would have been a bit cheaper but I needed to get a ground loop filter kit for it to get rid of some noise on the connection. The wiring is a bit messy but.... Meh. I've got some little stick-on clips which I'll use to tidy it up a bit, I'm not going to rip the centre console apart just for that.
I was a bit annoyed to find that the 12v socket was permanently live as that would mean either putting a switch in or unplugging the kit every time I park up, but it turns out that all I have to do is move a fuse to a different position and that makes the socket ignition switched.
The car continues to be flawless. It's giving an easy 35mpg on the commute rising to not far off 40 if I just bimble along with economy in mind, decent to drive, very comfortable. Even the climate control works perfectly, ice cold air when needed.
This is probably the point where it horribly, horribly fails the MoT
I STILL haven't sorted the boot struts out, but now the weather has warmed up a bit they're holding the boot much better so I imagine I'll not bother until the lid hits me in the head again. My epitaph may well be "Knew I should have changed those boot struts"
It's going in for an MoT and a service next week. Gave it a very quick check over this morning and other than a few bulbs being out in the rear sidelights (do any Mk3 Mondeos actually have a full working set?
) there's nothing obvious that will give it a problem. Will be interesting to see just how old and manky some of the filters are or aren't on my "Full Ford main dealer history" car........I've sorted out the only thing I was missing in terms of spec with £45 of bits from Amazon. The car now has a Bluetooth unit that plugs into the aux port in the Glovebox and does streaming audio as well as calls. I can also connect two phones to it at once which is great since I've got a work and a personal mobile.
It would have been a bit cheaper but I needed to get a ground loop filter kit for it to get rid of some noise on the connection. The wiring is a bit messy but.... Meh. I've got some little stick-on clips which I'll use to tidy it up a bit, I'm not going to rip the centre console apart just for that.
I was a bit annoyed to find that the 12v socket was permanently live as that would mean either putting a switch in or unplugging the kit every time I park up, but it turns out that all I have to do is move a fuse to a different position and that makes the socket ignition switched.
The car continues to be flawless. It's giving an easy 35mpg on the commute rising to not far off 40 if I just bimble along with economy in mind, decent to drive, very comfortable. Even the climate control works perfectly, ice cold air when needed.
This is probably the point where it horribly, horribly fails the MoT
Benton said:
Where did you move the fuse to make the 12v socket ignition live? I need to do similar on the Focus (may be different, of course), annoys me having to unplug the dashcam every time I switch off.
Thanks for the tip on the boot struts.If it's the same as on the Mondeo the fuse has a larger socket than normal, three pins instead of two. The central pin is common. In one position it's switched, in the other it's permanently live. A really nice idea which I'd like to see a lot more often.
I got one of these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0037NYYFY
It arrived properly retail boxed so I don't think it's some dodgy fake, does the job.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0037NYYFY
It arrived properly retail boxed so I don't think it's some dodgy fake, does the job.
13aines said:
Thanks!
Does it affect the sound quality much?
I saw it in my searches, but saw that some of the reviews mentioned attenuated sound and just a general drop in quality.
Sounds fine to me, bluetooth is a bit average for sound quality at the best of times but piped through a stock Mondeo head unit and speakers I seriously doubt anyone would really notice a difference. Bass doesn't seem quite as good but then it's a filter so I've no doubt it's affecting something a bit. Perfectly listenable.Does it affect the sound quality much?
I saw it in my searches, but saw that some of the reviews mentioned attenuated sound and just a general drop in quality.
Just ticked over 8,000 miles in my ownership so time for a quick update.
One thing that I am finding interesting is that I'm really enjoying not having a diesel, by which I mean instead of relying on the in-gear torque I need to work the gearbox and engine when I want to "make progress" on quicker roads. It makes driving just a bit more involving for me, although I'm sure many people would find it annoying and miss the "foot down and go" torque of a turbo engine.
Other than that, there's really nothing to say. It's filthy and needs a good wash. Oh, the windscreen washer fluid level warning light came on the other day, that's about as exciting as it's got
One thing that I am finding interesting is that I'm really enjoying not having a diesel, by which I mean instead of relying on the in-gear torque I need to work the gearbox and engine when I want to "make progress" on quicker roads. It makes driving just a bit more involving for me, although I'm sure many people would find it annoying and miss the "foot down and go" torque of a turbo engine.
Other than that, there's really nothing to say. It's filthy and needs a good wash. Oh, the windscreen washer fluid level warning light came on the other day, that's about as exciting as it's got
Had a few days away in Devon this week, which confirmed that a) a 2hr+ journey hurts my left leg for some reason and b) no-one around Bristol knows how to use a motorway......
I also need a new windscreen, which is really annoying but hardly the car's fault. A stonechip picked up near the edge of the screen turned into a crack overnight, so I'll be on to the insurers to get that done.
Oddly after my last update where I said I really enjoyed the revvy nature of the engine compared to the "big thump of torque" turbo engines I found myself caught out a couple of times on really steep inclines and fervently wished I had a big thump of torque on tap. More to do with me still not being quite used to driving like that - the last time I was on the same roads was in an Alpina D3 Bi-Turbo which certainly didn't lack torque
I also need a new windscreen, which is really annoying but hardly the car's fault. A stonechip picked up near the edge of the screen turned into a crack overnight, so I'll be on to the insurers to get that done.
Oddly after my last update where I said I really enjoyed the revvy nature of the engine compared to the "big thump of torque" turbo engines I found myself caught out a couple of times on really steep inclines and fervently wished I had a big thump of torque on tap. More to do with me still not being quite used to driving like that - the last time I was on the same roads was in an Alpina D3 Bi-Turbo which certainly didn't lack torque
Update.....
67k miles on the clock now so I've done just over 11k in the last seven months, the car continues to soak it up as you'd expect.
The mondy has needed a new battery, not surprising as it was still running the 10+ year old original Ford battery. Tried a recovery cycle on a CTEK charger but that didn't help. £45 from ECP for a Bosch replacement and it's good as gold again.
I had the cracked windscreen replaced through insurance which was all done very smoothly, no issues with the replacement at all.
Sure, it's white goods motoring, I feel no more affection for the car than I do for my washing machine, but I can't deny it is doing a superb job and I'm still really pleased with it.
I'll be moving house next week which will cut my commuting mileage down to about 6k a year. It'll be interesting to see just how long my respect for this car can fend off the obvious need to get something with six or eight cylinders once I'm not doing many miles.
67k miles on the clock now so I've done just over 11k in the last seven months, the car continues to soak it up as you'd expect.
The mondy has needed a new battery, not surprising as it was still running the 10+ year old original Ford battery. Tried a recovery cycle on a CTEK charger but that didn't help. £45 from ECP for a Bosch replacement and it's good as gold again.
I had the cracked windscreen replaced through insurance which was all done very smoothly, no issues with the replacement at all.
Sure, it's white goods motoring, I feel no more affection for the car than I do for my washing machine, but I can't deny it is doing a superb job and I'm still really pleased with it.
I'll be moving house next week which will cut my commuting mileage down to about 6k a year. It'll be interesting to see just how long my respect for this car can fend off the obvious need to get something with six or eight cylinders once I'm not doing many miles.
A Mk3 Mondeo is an insanely useful house-moving companion. It's done countless tip runs and shuttling between houses over the last few weeks, picked up three loads of logs, moved items too delicate for the van to take, picked up eBay furniture purchases and as usual hasn't missed a beat.
I've settled into the new commute now and it turns out I will be doing about 4k miles a year on the commute, not 6k. My total annual mileage will be somewhere between 6k and 8k miles. Makes a nice change after a couple of decades of doing 20k+ miles a year!
MPG has dropped significantly, now down to low 30's MPG but I'm still more than happy with that given the commute and general use of the car is much more urban than it used to me. If it was just used for the commute a tank of fuel will last me about a month
No changes planned at the moment, but it will be interesting to see what 2017 brings. Definitely seems rude not to investigate the possibilities of something a bit more tuneful for the commute.
I've settled into the new commute now and it turns out I will be doing about 4k miles a year on the commute, not 6k. My total annual mileage will be somewhere between 6k and 8k miles. Makes a nice change after a couple of decades of doing 20k+ miles a year!
MPG has dropped significantly, now down to low 30's MPG but I'm still more than happy with that given the commute and general use of the car is much more urban than it used to me. If it was just used for the commute a tank of fuel will last me about a month
No changes planned at the moment, but it will be interesting to see what 2017 brings. Definitely seems rude not to investigate the possibilities of something a bit more tuneful for the commute.
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