First car, your opinions?

[SidClark96]

Hey all, so my dad is getting rid of his car and has offered it to me, for free, as my first car. The car is a Y reg 1.8 lx Mondeo mk3. Few scuffs all round but nothing to bad. The car is coming up to 127,000 miles but sailed through its MOT a month ago with one advisory which has been sorted since. Just wanted to know your opinions on weather I should keep or look for something else? Thanks.

[Waynester]

A free car?? What's not to like!!

Use it, gain experience on the road.. get a better car of your choice later. Nothing wrong with Mondeos..Will go on forever if looked after!

[SidClark96]

I do like the car, it is a lot different to the average Corsa etc of my age range and I do prefer a bigger car. Thankyou for your opinion, greatly appriciated

[vx220]

More room in the back for... Hobbies?;-)

Mondeos drive nicely, just don't Barry it up

[Waynester]

vx220 said:

More room in the back for... Hobbies?;-)

Mondeos drive nicely, just don't Barry it up

I think 'a little Barry'ing' is ok... We were all young once. What we thought was cool at the time, age and wisdom now dictates otherwise!

My first car was a 1980 2L Ford Cortina..bought from my mates dad in '89. I was 17 & just passed my test. I thought the 2 Litre Pinto engine was the fastest..ever!!

In the 2 years I had it:

Lowered the suspension
Sprayed the body in grey primer (i thought the primer look was great!)
Fitted 15" Sierra XR4 alloys
Fitted Ashley competition 4 branch manifold & exhaust
Tinted the rear lights black
Fitted dark tinted plastic lenses over the front lights (yep, I did do that!)
Fit K&N filter
Installed big stereo..1000w Amp/subs etc

I remember at the time, being very influenced by the film 'Days of Thunder'

Later, towards the end of my ownership...I painted flames along the side of the car, beneath the trim line. (Yep, I did that too! All external trim was removed)

Car was killed in the end by a blind female driving Mercedes. I don't even have a photo anymore..lost to the sands of time.


So, do what you want to it.. it's a first car. But once out of your system, and that all important experience gained..you can get a nice car of your choice, with stylish..sensible mods.

[SirTricky]

I have been thinking about a first car for my Son who is 17. I was pondering a PERODUA KELISA 1.0I (05ON) GXI SE as its cheap as chips, until that is I found out that the insurance TP F&T was a smig under £3k, even with a tracking device

My advice is check the insurance and add your mum as a named driver if possible, the insurers seem to like this :/


Dirk

[SidClark96]

Thanks guys, the only thing I would probably do to it is lower about 30mm as they ride quite high. Insurance isn't to bad for an unknown reason. About 1,800 with one of those blackbox things. I guess the mondeo would give me a lot of experience considering it is a lot larger than the typical 18 year olds car. It could only be good, right? not really sure how to quote several people at once so sorry about that. Although I have a few ideas for it, they will all be subtle. Maybe when I actually get the car I will post pictures up and show my progress

[LanceRS]

They are a good car and the 1800 is the nicest of the 4 cylinder engines, smooth and loves to rev. They handle well for what they are. We had a mk3 1.8 Graphite for 80k miles and were sad to see it go.
I know that we were all young once, but please do not spend your time and hard earned on ruining a perfectly decent car.
I hope you enjoy it, although a word of warning, if all of your mates are in Corsas etc, your might find yourself being called upon every time they want to go to the pub or move anything.

[SidClark96]

LanceRS said:

They are a good car and the 1800 is the nicest of the 4 cylinder engines, smooth and loves to rev. They handle well for what they are. We had a mk3 1.8 Graphite for 80k miles and were sad to see it go.
I know that we were all young once, but please do not spend your time and hard earned on ruining a perfectly decent car.
I hope you enjoy it, although a word of warning, if all of your mates are in Corsas etc, your might find yourself being called upon every time they want to go to the pub or move anything.

Cheers mate, as said before, the car has a highish mileage, not worth me putting money into it. Also it is a weird green colour, I think it's called spruce green. So not much to work with anyway haha I MAY lower it if I can find the time too. But it might not be worth it ha

[Zad]

To be honest, I would just leave it alone, even if I were 18! Spend the money you save on buying fuel for days out with mates. Smaller cars are fun, but it was my experience that when the group of you want to go somewhere more than 30 minutes away, they will pester you to go in your car. And the bigger back seat. Yeah, that.

Ford really knew what they were doing when they designed the Mondeo's chassis and suspension, plus modifying it means you'll have to tell the insurer, who may be fine with it, or may not. I imagine they don't get many chav teenagers driving and crashing Mondeos, which means that statistically you are a good risk for insurance. Keep giving it regular oil changes and that engine will go on for another 100,000 miles. After the first month of two of driving it you won't notice its size anyway.

[SidClark96]

Okay, Thankyou mate, I probably won't touch it as I hope to save up for a better car in a year or two's time and of course I'd much rather save for petrol, days out etc.

I have drove this mondeo on private land a lot and I must say it is good to drive, I personally believe it will give me good experience due to its size for parking and stuff