RE: Shed of the Week: Ford Mondeo 2.5 Ghia X
Discussion
Great cars these & a good shed, I think.
Had one from brand new (via Trade sales - RO02 LUP, if you are "still alive" out there?!) - A silver 2.5 V6 Ghia X Estate.
Had it for over 4 years. Did over 30,000 miles in it & never any trouble with it whatsoever!
Loved the V6 growl & fully loaded with leather,A/C, Alloys and S/R....It looked good - especially for just £15999, as a new import (Over £23,000 list).
Apart from standard Ford servicing (Which is a fraction of what BMW, Land Rover etc. would charge) ...I bought a full set of mats for about £40..And that was all I spent on it.
On a good run, I could get 32 mpg...But usually mid-20's/ 27 to the gallon, was the only drawback.
The V6 also had a chain (not a rubber belt) - So, in theory, would last longer.
My only regret?...That I bought it just before the ST200 came out.
Had one from brand new (via Trade sales - RO02 LUP, if you are "still alive" out there?!) - A silver 2.5 V6 Ghia X Estate.
Had it for over 4 years. Did over 30,000 miles in it & never any trouble with it whatsoever!
Loved the V6 growl & fully loaded with leather,A/C, Alloys and S/R....It looked good - especially for just £15999, as a new import (Over £23,000 list).
Apart from standard Ford servicing (Which is a fraction of what BMW, Land Rover etc. would charge) ...I bought a full set of mats for about £40..And that was all I spent on it.
On a good run, I could get 32 mpg...But usually mid-20's/ 27 to the gallon, was the only drawback.
The V6 also had a chain (not a rubber belt) - So, in theory, would last longer.
My only regret?...That I bought it just before the ST200 came out.
Some really do miss the point on this type of car .
Want to cruise up the motorway with a bootfull of kit and arrive relaxed and ready to work then this is the sort of car to do it .
Want to storm about the back lanes or industrial estates trying to impress ya crew or the honeyezzzze then look elsewhere.
Bit overpriced but most of the latest sheds are .
These are usually inherited from grandads or uncles then moved on because of insurance costs and thirst for fuel .
Want to cruise up the motorway with a bootfull of kit and arrive relaxed and ready to work then this is the sort of car to do it .
Want to storm about the back lanes or industrial estates trying to impress ya crew or the honeyezzzze then look elsewhere.
Bit overpriced but most of the latest sheds are .
These are usually inherited from grandads or uncles then moved on because of insurance costs and thirst for fuel .
To all those worrying about ~170bhp from a 2.5 V6: it's only recently and on PH that these things mattered. Cars like this used to be built for reliability, refinement and long-life which modern technology has allowed manufacturers to do with the inclusion of high specific outputs. 'Ring lap times were yet to be a yardstick of a car's desirability.
Good Shed? Yes, but seems a bit expensive to me. For the old £1,000 budget this could be a winner.
Good Shed? Yes, but seems a bit expensive to me. For the old £1,000 budget this could be a winner.
We had one from new back in 02, was an excellent car for it's purpose which was cruising up and down the motorway in a lazy manner. Was very well equipped for the time and the engine output again was good for the time.
Plus points - it had a cavernous boot and was one of the few cars on the market that could take a 4 ft fish tank sideways in the boot. Sounds weird but when taking pets to pet-sitter it was the critical factor. It would swallow 2 full sets of diving equipment without dropping the seats. Vectra, BMW, MB could not beat it at that time.
It was cheap to maintain and had a good dealer network without traipsing to the city
It was front wheel drive. To all those saying you could have had a BMW etc - try selling that to the wife who has had an E30 spin out on a roundabout resulting in side intrusion & concussion. One persons sporty handling is another persons 'unstable deathtrap'. Still will not consider RWD or BMW 20 years on.
Very comfortable and relaxing on motorway trips, decent sound system for time and climate control - wasn't a given in cars as it is now.
Negative points - Struggled with image hence the real killer was depreciation - went from 20K to 2K in 5 years. Which ever way you cut it that wasn't acceptable.
It had niggly things go wrong like a flaky alarm system
Too long to park in Cardiff's car parks with any ease. Sound trivial but these minor things take the shine off ownership. Really would not consider anything bigger so it's replacement wasn't even considered. Both since gone to shorter cars.
long since sold - I still see it on the M4 from time to time so it appears to have lasted
Plus points - it had a cavernous boot and was one of the few cars on the market that could take a 4 ft fish tank sideways in the boot. Sounds weird but when taking pets to pet-sitter it was the critical factor. It would swallow 2 full sets of diving equipment without dropping the seats. Vectra, BMW, MB could not beat it at that time.
It was cheap to maintain and had a good dealer network without traipsing to the city
It was front wheel drive. To all those saying you could have had a BMW etc - try selling that to the wife who has had an E30 spin out on a roundabout resulting in side intrusion & concussion. One persons sporty handling is another persons 'unstable deathtrap'. Still will not consider RWD or BMW 20 years on.
Very comfortable and relaxing on motorway trips, decent sound system for time and climate control - wasn't a given in cars as it is now.
Negative points - Struggled with image hence the real killer was depreciation - went from 20K to 2K in 5 years. Which ever way you cut it that wasn't acceptable.
It had niggly things go wrong like a flaky alarm system
Too long to park in Cardiff's car parks with any ease. Sound trivial but these minor things take the shine off ownership. Really would not consider anything bigger so it's replacement wasn't even considered. Both since gone to shorter cars.
long since sold - I still see it on the M4 from time to time so it appears to have lasted
This was a superb car in its day, probably better to drive than the equivalent model Audi A4/BMW 3 IMO, a very good chassis IMO
Top shedding
For all the children slagging it off, I imagine one day you'll grow up and learn something about actual cars rather than your dads or ones you've read about.
Top shedding
For all the children slagging it off, I imagine one day you'll grow up and learn something about actual cars rather than your dads or ones you've read about.
I used one of these a couple of years back wasn't this model but a Turbo D Ghia I think with 200k plus on it and properly neglected hack. It drove amazingly well, very comfy. So many people on here seem to think old BMs , Audis and Mercs are so much better than Fords and some of the more blue collar brands but whereas that was 100% the case up until the 80s beyond that I'm not convinced there is that much difference my E39 is a money pit of the highest order, so was my C43 and 330D.
I wasn't going to read the previous posts before having a go myself, but last time I put the boot into a car I got all sorts of abuse from the poor deluded fools who actually liked them, but I note that the posters who think it's nice had them when they were new, whereas when I had Mk3 Mondeo ownership thrust upon me, it was used, well used, abused some might say but given just how cheaply it was made I'm not sure how much TLC would keep them in away way 'nice' and it wasn't as old as this one is now when I had it.
On balance, even though my hated Mondeo was a boggo LX TCDI and this one is a 'upmarket' Ghia X I'd rather take the bus, in fact, I'd rather have gonorrhea than suffer another MK3, and this isn't some knee jerk reaction, I sat and thought about this, I pondered "Ah, but you hated the crap dash and this one has a Sony radio, beige bits and plastic wood" but I know without seeing them in the plastic that they'll be crap and only make it seems worse whilst at the same time framing the worse of all feature, the nasty oval clock in the middle, it was apologetically awful.
The steering was suggestive and notchy, whoever thinks the handling would be good has never driven one outside of it's warranty term and or any other type of car ever, it's crap. They torque steer, even though they don't seem to have any, everything rattles and everything feels cheap and flimsy like a car from the early 80s despite supposedly being from this century. Oh and bits just fell off it every few weeks,
Mechanic loved it "the parts are peanuts and you can get them anywhere" yep, parts were cheap in both senses of the word and 'everywhere' because, well they needed to produce a LOT of them.
I'm sure they were okay new, it's a Ford product and given it's age was no doubt designed to be sold cheaply at huge supposed discounts to hire fleets and company car managers (I know that the 1.8 TDCI Zetec was a £10k car to Hertz franchisee) but they were never meant to last long, certainly not 15 years.
I'm sorry if you like them, perhaps I just had a bad one (but I don't think so) - but i've never owned just an appalling car. I'm amazed any still exist.
On balance, even though my hated Mondeo was a boggo LX TCDI and this one is a 'upmarket' Ghia X I'd rather take the bus, in fact, I'd rather have gonorrhea than suffer another MK3, and this isn't some knee jerk reaction, I sat and thought about this, I pondered "Ah, but you hated the crap dash and this one has a Sony radio, beige bits and plastic wood" but I know without seeing them in the plastic that they'll be crap and only make it seems worse whilst at the same time framing the worse of all feature, the nasty oval clock in the middle, it was apologetically awful.
The steering was suggestive and notchy, whoever thinks the handling would be good has never driven one outside of it's warranty term and or any other type of car ever, it's crap. They torque steer, even though they don't seem to have any, everything rattles and everything feels cheap and flimsy like a car from the early 80s despite supposedly being from this century. Oh and bits just fell off it every few weeks,
Mechanic loved it "the parts are peanuts and you can get them anywhere" yep, parts were cheap in both senses of the word and 'everywhere' because, well they needed to produce a LOT of them.
I'm sure they were okay new, it's a Ford product and given it's age was no doubt designed to be sold cheaply at huge supposed discounts to hire fleets and company car managers (I know that the 1.8 TDCI Zetec was a £10k car to Hertz franchisee) but they were never meant to last long, certainly not 15 years.
I'm sorry if you like them, perhaps I just had a bad one (but I don't think so) - but i've never owned just an appalling car. I'm amazed any still exist.
your car is still alive mate
RO02LUP
FORD MONDEO
Check another vehicle
Colour
Silver
Fuel type
Petrol
Date registered
14 March 2002
MOT valid until
24 January 2019
RO02LUP
FORD MONDEO
Check another vehicle
Colour
Silver
Fuel type
Petrol
Date registered
14 March 2002
MOT valid until
24 January 2019
W12AAM said:
Great cars these & a good shed, I think.
Had one from brand new (via Trade sales - RO02 LUP, if you are "still alive" out there?!) - A silver 2.5 V6 Ghia X Estate.
Had it for over 4 years. Did over 30,000 miles in it & never any trouble with it whatsoever!
Loved the V6 growl & fully loaded with leather,A/C, Alloys and S/R....It looked good - especially for just £15999, as a new import (Over £23,000 list).
Apart from standard Ford servicing (Which is a fraction of what BMW, Land Rover etc. would charge) ...I bought a full set of mats for about £40..And that was all I spent on it.
On a good run, I could get 32 mpg...But usually mid-20's/ 27 to the gallon, was the only drawback.
The V6 also had a chain (not a rubber belt) - So, in theory, would last longer.
My only regret?...That I bought it just before the ST200 came out.
Had one from brand new (via Trade sales - RO02 LUP, if you are "still alive" out there?!) - A silver 2.5 V6 Ghia X Estate.
Had it for over 4 years. Did over 30,000 miles in it & never any trouble with it whatsoever!
Loved the V6 growl & fully loaded with leather,A/C, Alloys and S/R....It looked good - especially for just £15999, as a new import (Over £23,000 list).
Apart from standard Ford servicing (Which is a fraction of what BMW, Land Rover etc. would charge) ...I bought a full set of mats for about £40..And that was all I spent on it.
On a good run, I could get 32 mpg...But usually mid-20's/ 27 to the gallon, was the only drawback.
The V6 also had a chain (not a rubber belt) - So, in theory, would last longer.
My only regret?...That I bought it just before the ST200 came out.
mrbarnett said:
daveco said:
mrbarnett said:
Hmm, whilst this engine had been knocking around for a while by the time this car was produced, it was actually on-point with the market not long before.
Vauxhall got 170 hp our of their 2.5 V6, BMW also mustered 170 from their 2.5 i6. Subaru were putting out 165 hp from their 2.5 i4 and Hyundai just 165 hp from their 2.7 V6. Audi and Mercedes managed 170 hp from their 2.4 (or was it 2.6??) V6's.
...this is all from memory; I was a proper car geek in my teens.
Mid 90's vectra pushing out 190+ hp no?Vauxhall got 170 hp our of their 2.5 V6, BMW also mustered 170 from their 2.5 i6. Subaru were putting out 165 hp from their 2.5 i4 and Hyundai just 165 hp from their 2.7 V6. Audi and Mercedes managed 170 hp from their 2.4 (or was it 2.6??) V6's.
...this is all from memory; I was a proper car geek in my teens.
BMW were getting 192 hp out of their 2.5 unit as early as the E30
Note the M52TUB25 here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M52
HardMiles said:
Because Ford make non-aspirational, cheap, under-developed motors for the type of mr Mondeo. He sits in the third lane, because that's easy for him, regardless of travelling at 51mph to conserve fuel.
They're utter b
ks. You could buy an e38 / e39 that's been to the sun and back that'd be 1000 x better than this utter bag of wk.
C'mon Shed! You can do better than that! I'd rather tread in dog turd!
They're utter b
ks. You could buy an e38 / e39 that's been to the sun and back that'd be 1000 x better than this utter bag of wk.C'mon Shed! You can do better than that! I'd rather tread in dog turd!
You could buy a very well worn e38/9 for similar money but I can tell you which one will start throwing massive bills at you first and continue costing you more money. I'd much rather drive a tidy Mondeo than a worn out, wallowy old BMW too.
That said, I'd give this weeks shed a miss, it's overpriced (you can pick up an ST220 for similar money) and I think I'd rather a manual gearbox.
sgtBerbatov said:
Agree. They build cheap cars for those who want to look like they've made it. Case in point, all of those clowns driving around in Focus/Fiesta ST's where the engines are so silly they have to pipe in engine sound to the cockpit to make it sound better.
Eh? I'm not particularly a fan but this is tripe. What slum do you live in where a Ford badge is aspirational? They're utilitarian transport for the great unwashed with the odd hot motor thrown in here and there (and they're usually a decent steer) Safe to say this Shed was sold well in advance of Tony sitting down & cracking his knuckles before hitting 'search for anything less than £1500'.
Personally I would like to see SOTW limited to private sales only, seeing as cars like this Mondeo have at least £500 mark up (if not more) when a dealer thinks of a number. That surely wasn't the idea when increasing the budget to £1500, was it?
Personally I would like to see SOTW limited to private sales only, seeing as cars like this Mondeo have at least £500 mark up (if not more) when a dealer thinks of a number. That surely wasn't the idea when increasing the budget to £1500, was it?
P-Jay said:
I wasn't going to read the previous posts before having a go myself, but last time I put the boot into a car I got all sorts of abuse from the poor deluded fools who actually liked them, but I note that the posters who think it's nice had them when they were new, whereas when I had Mk3 Mondeo ownership thrust upon me, it was used, well used, abused some might say but given just how cheaply it was made I'm not sure how much TLC would keep them in away way 'nice' and it wasn't as old as this one is now when I had it.
On balance, even though my hated Mondeo was a boggo LX TCDI and this one is a 'upmarket' Ghia X I'd rather take the bus, in fact, I'd rather have gonorrhea than suffer another MK3, and this isn't some knee jerk reaction, I sat and thought about this, I pondered "Ah, but you hated the crap dash and this one has a Sony radio, beige bits and plastic wood" but I know without seeing them in the plastic that they'll be crap and only make it seems worse whilst at the same time framing the worse of all feature, the nasty oval clock in the middle, it was apologetically awful.
The steering was suggestive and notchy, whoever thinks the handling would be good has never driven one outside of it's warranty term and or any other type of car ever, it's crap.
Many moons ago I had a leggy Mk2 Mondeo and the company had a bunch of Mk3 as pool cars, some with many miles on, some with not so many. All were far worse to drive than my Mk2. I don't know if it was the company cars were LX and mine was a Ghia X or they had all been abused but on the basis of them I wouldn't consider a Mk3 either... On balance, even though my hated Mondeo was a boggo LX TCDI and this one is a 'upmarket' Ghia X I'd rather take the bus, in fact, I'd rather have gonorrhea than suffer another MK3, and this isn't some knee jerk reaction, I sat and thought about this, I pondered "Ah, but you hated the crap dash and this one has a Sony radio, beige bits and plastic wood" but I know without seeing them in the plastic that they'll be crap and only make it seems worse whilst at the same time framing the worse of all feature, the nasty oval clock in the middle, it was apologetically awful.
The steering was suggestive and notchy, whoever thinks the handling would be good has never driven one outside of it's warranty term and or any other type of car ever, it's crap.
On the other hand someone else at work had a nearly identical Mk2 to mine...except in LX spec. It was amusing being given a lift and spotting all the little filler panels and blank areas thinking things like "Mine has a fuel computer there", "Oh that looks terrible", my seats are far more comfortable etc etc. So I'm not sure if you can really compare the LX to the Ghia X interior.
PS with you on the clock. Terrible idea.
P-Jay said:
I wasn't going to read the previous posts before having a go myself, but last time I put the boot into a car I got all sorts of abuse from the poor deluded fools who actually liked them, but I note that the posters who think it's nice had them when they were new, whereas when I had Mk3 Mondeo ownership thrust upon me, it was used, well used, abused some might say but given just how cheaply it was made I'm not sure how much TLC would keep them in away way 'nice' and it wasn't as old as this one is now when I had it.
On balance, even though my hated Mondeo was a boggo LX TCDI and this one is a 'upmarket' Ghia X I'd rather take the bus, in fact, I'd rather have gonorrhea than suffer another MK3, and this isn't some knee jerk reaction, I sat and thought about this, I pondered "Ah, but you hated the crap dash and this one has a Sony radio, beige bits and plastic wood" but I know without seeing them in the plastic that they'll be crap and only make it seems worse whilst at the same time framing the worse of all feature, the nasty oval clock in the middle, it was apologetically awful.
The steering was suggestive and notchy, whoever thinks the handling would be good has never driven one outside of it's warranty term and or any other type of car ever, it's crap. They torque steer, even though they don't seem to have any, everything rattles and everything feels cheap and flimsy like a car from the early 80s despite supposedly being from this century. Oh and bits just fell off it every few weeks,
Mechanic loved it "the parts are peanuts and you can get them anywhere" yep, parts were cheap in both senses of the word and 'everywhere' because, well they needed to produce a LOT of them.
I'm sure they were okay new, it's a Ford product and given it's age was no doubt designed to be sold cheaply at huge supposed discounts to hire fleets and company car managers (I know that the 1.8 TDCI Zetec was a £10k car to Hertz franchisee) but they were never meant to last long, certainly not 15 years.
I'm sorry if you like them, perhaps I just had a bad one (but I don't think so) - but i've never owned just an appalling car. I'm amazed any still exist.
On balance, even though my hated Mondeo was a boggo LX TCDI and this one is a 'upmarket' Ghia X I'd rather take the bus, in fact, I'd rather have gonorrhea than suffer another MK3, and this isn't some knee jerk reaction, I sat and thought about this, I pondered "Ah, but you hated the crap dash and this one has a Sony radio, beige bits and plastic wood" but I know without seeing them in the plastic that they'll be crap and only make it seems worse whilst at the same time framing the worse of all feature, the nasty oval clock in the middle, it was apologetically awful.
The steering was suggestive and notchy, whoever thinks the handling would be good has never driven one outside of it's warranty term and or any other type of car ever, it's crap. They torque steer, even though they don't seem to have any, everything rattles and everything feels cheap and flimsy like a car from the early 80s despite supposedly being from this century. Oh and bits just fell off it every few weeks,
Mechanic loved it "the parts are peanuts and you can get them anywhere" yep, parts were cheap in both senses of the word and 'everywhere' because, well they needed to produce a LOT of them.
I'm sure they were okay new, it's a Ford product and given it's age was no doubt designed to be sold cheaply at huge supposed discounts to hire fleets and company car managers (I know that the 1.8 TDCI Zetec was a £10k car to Hertz franchisee) but they were never meant to last long, certainly not 15 years.
I'm sorry if you like them, perhaps I just had a bad one (but I don't think so) - but i've never owned just an appalling car. I'm amazed any still exist.
Sounds like you had a bad one!
Seriously though, the mk3 is a fine handling car, if your's wasn't it must have been very worn out, yes, the interior is a bit plasticky but I don't think it's any worse than a Vauxhall or (dare I say it) a VW of a similar age, compared to something from the 80's like a Sierra it doesn't even compare. Also, there's no such thing as a 1.8 tdci mk3....
njw1 said:
Also, there's no such thing as a 1.8 tdci mk3....
For us non-initiated Dagenham Dustbin Dodgers, what are the various mk's? Mk1 was obviously the 1993 first gen Mondeo. But is the facelift of that the Mk2? Is this shed the Mk2 or the Mk3? Even wikipedia calls this shed the Second Generation (Mk3) which confuses the hell out of me!BugLebowski said:
sgtBerbatov said:
Agree. They build cheap cars for those who want to look like they've made it. Case in point, all of those clowns driving around in Focus/Fiesta ST's where the engines are so silly they have to pipe in engine sound to the cockpit to make it sound better.
Eh? I'm not particularly a fan but this is tripe. What slum do you live in where a Ford badge is aspirational? They're utilitarian transport for the great unwashed with the odd hot motor thrown in here and there (and they're usually a decent steer) Go to Solihull's Land Rover plant, have a walk around the car park. The place is swimming in these ST's because the workers get them for cheap and they rag them around the roads thinking they're God's gift to sports cars.
Plus, look at Facebook on the barn finds/cars for sale groups. All those old boys stratching their pants looking at all the Escorts, Cortina's, Capri's etc on there. All wishing they could have the blue oval tax on their driveways.
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