£500 Ford Mondeo estate
Discussion
This isn't a typical 20-year old's car 
I was at the garage and chatting to the mechanic. He mentioned that this Mondeo was in for an alternator, and was being PX'd against something newer, but the owner was only getting £300 in PX even with the alternator sorted. I half-joked that I'd give him £500 for it. Haggling isn't my strong point
It's a 1.8 LX that had done under 106k miles, and has MOT until next March
It's been serviced every March without fail even when it's only done a few thousand between them which is good. It sounds like a Ford mechanic owned it for the first few years, and my garage have serviced it for the last 8 years so I know it's been well looked after (plus, the radio was set to Classic FM which is probably a good sign!). New clutch two or three years ago too. At this price point and mileage I'm well chuffed with all of that, and makes the fact that it's slightly scruffy completely irrelevant 
Goodyear tyres on the front and Dunlops on the back, all with decent tread but a bit old. Will probably stick some Uniroyal Rainsport2s on in a few months.
Anyway, it needs a new wheel trim (eBay, will probably just get a new set of the same style as the rest of them are a bit scruffy). The guy left a touch-up kit with it so I might try to tidy up some of the scuffs if I get around to it. The air-con doesn't work either, presuming it just needs a regas.
There are a few marks in the interior (buttons with print worn off etc) but everything is still solid and, asides from the air con, everything on it works (haven't had a chance to try the quickclear windscreen but I imagine that will be useful in winter).
Had the engine light come on which, after taking it to the garage to get the codes read turned out to be EGR valve. 20 seconds of fiddling from the mechanic later (no idea what he did) and the light went out, didn't charge me for that which is nice!
It averaged 39 mpg on its first tank with me over a fairly even mix of town driving, country roads fully loaded and 70-80 cruising, which I'm well chuffed with for the size of it and being a petrol. It isn't quick but it will happily carry four or five of us along with associated camping gear - being able to do that comfortably is a huge part of the appeal, plus fold the seats down and I'm pretty sure even I'll be able to get comfortable in it - it's huge!
Overall then, it's not perfect but for £500 I'm well chuffed and it will tide me over for the next year or two until insurance allows me to get something a bit more fun (ST220, hmm...)
I was at the garage and chatting to the mechanic. He mentioned that this Mondeo was in for an alternator, and was being PX'd against something newer, but the owner was only getting £300 in PX even with the alternator sorted. I half-joked that I'd give him £500 for it. Haggling isn't my strong point
It's a 1.8 LX that had done under 106k miles, and has MOT until next March
It's been serviced every March without fail even when it's only done a few thousand between them which is good. It sounds like a Ford mechanic owned it for the first few years, and my garage have serviced it for the last 8 years so I know it's been well looked after (plus, the radio was set to Classic FM which is probably a good sign!). New clutch two or three years ago too. At this price point and mileage I'm well chuffed with all of that, and makes the fact that it's slightly scruffy completely irrelevant Goodyear tyres on the front and Dunlops on the back, all with decent tread but a bit old. Will probably stick some Uniroyal Rainsport2s on in a few months.Anyway, it needs a new wheel trim (eBay, will probably just get a new set of the same style as the rest of them are a bit scruffy). The guy left a touch-up kit with it so I might try to tidy up some of the scuffs if I get around to it. The air-con doesn't work either, presuming it just needs a regas.
There are a few marks in the interior (buttons with print worn off etc) but everything is still solid and, asides from the air con, everything on it works (haven't had a chance to try the quickclear windscreen but I imagine that will be useful in winter).
Had the engine light come on which, after taking it to the garage to get the codes read turned out to be EGR valve. 20 seconds of fiddling from the mechanic later (no idea what he did
) and the light went out, didn't charge me for that which is nice! It averaged 39 mpg on its first tank with me over a fairly even mix of town driving, country roads fully loaded and 70-80 cruising, which I'm well chuffed with for the size of it and being a petrol. It isn't quick but it will happily carry four or five of us along with associated camping gear - being able to do that comfortably is a huge part of the appeal, plus fold the seats down and I'm pretty sure even I'll be able to get comfortable in it - it's huge!
Overall then, it's not perfect but for £500 I'm well chuffed and it will tide me over for the next year or two until insurance allows me to get something a bit more fun
(ST220, hmm...)Edited by vit4 on Tuesday 23 July 15:50
Excellent buy, for £500 that cannot be knocked. What more do you need from a snotter
I bought a 1.8 LX hatch off my mate for £200 last week, pick it up next week, uses a bit of oil but its taxed and motd until next April so if it lasts that long as a tip/pub/mtb car i will be delighted
Got to love a Mondeo
PS those trims are around £35 for 4 on eBay. Going to get some for mine.
I bought a 1.8 LX hatch off my mate for £200 last week, pick it up next week, uses a bit of oil but its taxed and motd until next April so if it lasts that long as a tip/pub/mtb car i will be delighted
Got to love a Mondeo
PS those trims are around £35 for 4 on eBay. Going to get some for mine.
I've got one of these as my run around (a 2001 2.0 LX estate) and I love it! Loads of room inside, reasonable running costs and compared to my main car (and previous ones) a magic carpet ride. I paid £1k for mine but it only had 82k with fsh. It still has a brand new unused spare wheel. I can't see me selling it soon.
I've have spent the extra 20p and gone for a Ghia X myself! ;-)
More seriously though, I had a 2.0 Mk2 Estate I bought at just under 100k and did ~80k of virtually trouble free motoring in it, the 1.8 needs a bit more throttle but isn't that much slower and is better on fuel, unless you're towing.
More seriously though, I had a 2.0 Mk2 Estate I bought at just under 100k and did ~80k of virtually trouble free motoring in it, the 1.8 needs a bit more throttle but isn't that much slower and is better on fuel, unless you're towing.
Had my first spend on the car - due to a fairly impressive cock-up in the maths department, it is now sporting four Uniroyal Rainsport2's The fronts, while legal, were a little lower than I'm comfortable with and are pretty old anyway (5-6 years) with a little crazing on the rubber. The rears were much better in the tread department but also quite old. I noticed a tiny bulge in the front left (combined with the absence of the wheel trim and marks on part of the wheel I suspect he may have 'kissed' a kerb ) so that needed replacing ASAP anyway. I was going to order a couple of Uniroyals online, I've always used them and find that for the price nothing touches them. However, to save faffing about I thought I'd get a quote from my local tyre fitters. The quote was good; so good in fact, that I decided to order a full set
I'm still not quite sure how I made 4x£80 to be £240, but I was extremely impressed that they were only £40 extra for a set than the comedy-skinny 13" jobs on my Escort, and instead of taking even half a second to double check simply put it down to the fact that 16" must be a more common size and so they can make them cheaper
I've taken this one on the chin, but have decided that if this does expire any time soon then the only requirement for its replacement is that it shares the same tyre size Still getting mid-high 30's to the gallon as well, one tank at 41 mpg but that was over dual carriageway
I had the engine light come on again, pretty sure this will be EGR again but it went off after a few days. Combined with the above, ahem, incident, I've made the executive decision that I'm going to learn the art of spannering to keep future costs to a minimum. I suppose I need a decent code reader, so if anybody can recommend one...
The fronts, while legal, were a little lower than I'm comfortable with and are pretty old anyway (5-6 years) with a little crazing on the rubber. The rears were much better in the tread department but also quite old. I noticed a tiny bulge in the front left (combined with the absence of the wheel trim and marks on part of the wheel I suspect he may have 'kissed' a kerb ) so that needed replacing ASAP anyway. I was going to order a couple of Uniroyals online, I've always used them and find that for the price nothing touches them. However, to save faffing about I thought I'd get a quote from my local tyre fitters. The quote was good; so good in fact, that I decided to order a full set I'm still not quite sure how I made 4x£80 to be £240, but I was extremely impressed that they were only £40 extra for a set than the comedy-skinny 13" jobs on my Escort, and instead of taking even half a second to double check simply put it down to the fact that 16" must be a more common size and so they can make them cheaper
I've taken this one on the chin, but have decided that if this does expire any time soon then the only requirement for its replacement is that it shares the same tyre size Still getting mid-high 30's to the gallon as well, one tank at 41 mpg but that was over dual carriageway I had the engine light come on again, pretty sure this will be EGR again but it went off after a few days. Combined with the above, ahem, incident, I've made the executive decision that I'm going to learn the art of spannering to keep future costs to a minimum. I suppose I need a decent code reader, so if anybody can recommend one...
Edited by vit4 on Monday 19th August 18:43
I have one of those OBD bluetooth readers permanently plugged into the OBD port of my mundane and partnered to my android phone with the Torque app
Code reader and a lot more for not a massive amount
BTW if you plan to carry some weight in the boot the Ghia came with self leveling shocks, if youc an find a cheap pair of these 2nd hand iirc they just bolt straight on
The abuse my mundane takes daily is amazing
Code reader and a lot more for not a massive amount
BTW if you plan to carry some weight in the boot the Ghia came with self leveling shocks, if youc an find a cheap pair of these 2nd hand iirc they just bolt straight on
The abuse my mundane takes daily is amazing
This is the sort of adapter i have
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELM-327-Bluetooth-Car-Di...
and this is the software i have on my phone
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org....
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELM-327-Bluetooth-Car-Di...
and this is the software i have on my phone
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org....
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