Ford Mondeo ST TDCI

[LosingGrip]

After my E46 330D M SPORT started pissing out white smoke, along with the clutch and flywheel on the way out I decided it was time to move on rather than throw money at it.

I started with a budget of £3,000. I looked at a Mondeo Titanium X, Saab 9-3, Volvo V70.

Yesterday I was having a look at eBay and came across a Mondeo Titanium estate and also a ST TDCI. Both from the same seller.

Quick message sent and arranged to go up today.

I was already leaning towards the ST, but test drove them both.

The ST was much better and only £50 more. It had a shorter MOT of 4 months rather than 12 and 14k more miles with 144k, but just felt better to drive (they both had the same 2.2 155BHP engine).



Now the proud owner of this. Cost me £1390.

I was worried that I would be bored having had the BMW, but I'm impressed with it. It's comfier than it. Clearly not as fast but good enough.

Heated leather seats which I'm never had ha.

Annoyingly my insurance went up...only £3.Xx but would have hoped it would go down ha.

[finlo]

I have the real version but have sampled these and they are rather good (overboost) also

[Northern.N]

Fantastic cars- love mine to death.
It’s my daily driver and I’m very attached to it!

Watch out for:
Injectors (use decent diesel, change filter every other service)
EGR
EGR boost pipe
Rear calipers (siezed for fun)

Good modifications:
Decat downpipe
Focus st225 front calipers, disks and pads
St220/optional extra recaros Seats


Enjoy it!

[Paul S4]

What sort of mpg do these engines do in the real world...!

I am going to have to change my Alfa 156 JTDM 150 soon as the miles are approaching 160,000, and have not decided what to go for.
I get around 43 mpg week in week out on a 70 mile daily commute on motorway/A roads etc.

I am considering a Golf 3 door 2.0 Bluemotion....but I am used to a remapped 1.9 with about 180 BHP so that may not be powerful enough !

[MattCharlton91]

I had a 06 plate one of these for a weekly peterborough-crawley jaunt I had to do and it was fantastic! I loved it!

£70 to fill it and 600miles to a tank, comfier than my sofa at home, quick enough, quiet and relaxed on the motorway and a fantastic stereo. Great cars!

Swapped it for a Merc ML270 which I hated.

[LosingGrip]

Northern.N said:

Fantastic cars- love mine to death.
It’s my daily driver and I’m very attached to it!

Watch out for:
Injectors (use decent diesel, change filter every other service)
EGR
EGR boost pipe
Rear calipers (siezed for fun)

Good modifications:
Decat downpipe
Focus st225 front calipers, disks and pads
St220/optional extra recaros Seats
Enjoy it!

It's already got the recaro seats .

Paul S4 said:

What sort of mpg do these engines do in the real world...!

I am going to have to change my Alfa 156 JTDM 150 soon as the miles are approaching 160,000, and have not decided what to go for.
I get around 43 mpg week in week out on a 70 mile daily commute on motorway/A roads etc.

I am considering a Golf 3 door 2.0 Bluemotion....but I am used to a remapped 1.9 with about 180 BHP so that may not be powerful enough !

Its showing 38MPG on the reader. I've found out how to reset it now so will see what I got.

The power isn't as crap as I thought. It pushed on well on the drive up to my girlfriend's. I'll be coming back my favourite roads tomorrow to see what it's like compared to the E46.

MattCharlton91 said:

I had a 06 plate one of these for a weekly peterborough-crawley jaunt I had to do and it was fantastic! I loved it!

£70 to fill it and 600miles to a tank, comfier than my sofa at home, quick enough, quiet and relaxed on the motorway and a fantastic stereo. Great cars!

Swapped it for a Merc ML270 which I hated.

The stereo is great! Much quieter than my E46 as well.

[ZX10R NIN]

These are a great car very well made & swift, as has already been said use decent fuel with that mileage an oil & fuel flush would be a good option.

[LosingGrip]

What would decent fuel be? I've always gone to Tesco and never had a problem with it.

[CX53]

I’ve been told Shell V Power is the best, but Tesco 99 momentum or whatever it’s called is also supposed to be decent, and cheaper than the shell stuff

[steve-5snwi]

I've got this engine in my Zetec Estate, it goes much better with some weight in the back - usually 15 bags of soil or hardcore, its averaging 40mpg. The EGR is easy to clean but the alternator tensioner rattles like a good un, i replaced mine but it seems its starting to fail again. They are pretty nippy when left in 4th and pull cleanly to legal speeds .....

[LosingGrip]

CX53 said:

I’ve been told Shell V Power is the best, but Tesco 99 momentum or whatever it’s called is also supposed to be decent, and cheaper than the shell stuff

Tesco 99 is petrol...that won't do the diesel engine any good ha.

[CX53]

LosingGrip said:

Tesco 99 is petrol...that won't do the diesel engine any good ha.

Haha! Oops! haven’t had a diesel for a few years, thought they might have done a ‘super’ diesel like the 99 momentum petrol but a quick google suggests they don’t! The 99 petrol is meant to be okay, not that that’s any use to you

Nice car, I really like the MK3 shape

Edited by CX53 on Sunday 30th September 22:19

[Jag_NE]

Out of interest, did you price up the work to put the 330d right? Cheap leggy cars often mean you risk inheriting someone else’s problems. If the BMW was an otherwise good car I’d prefer to sink a couple of k into putting it right versus buying an unknown and leggy Mondeo.

[LosingGrip]

I was quoted (well not quoted as the garage just had a quick look whilst the brakes were being done (calilper also leaking so that made a £90 job into £300...) around £1,000.

Plus the white smoke that I didn't really look into as I kinda fell out of love with it. Plus it had done 180k.

Reckon I can get £750 for it as spares/repairs.

[LosingGrip]

Bit of an update after around 150 miles.

It's quiet. Really quiet. I didn't realise how loud my E46 was until now. It's comfy. Easiest the comfiest car I've owned or been in (maybe the Volvo V70 at work beats it). Heated leather seats were nice this morning as well.

Its a nice place to be. There are parts that feel a bit cheap. I'm not a fan of the steering wheel controls or the controls to change the radio volume on the wheel.

Driving wise its good. A lot better than I thought it would be. I like it more than the E46! Picks up speed well. I did read the reviews that the first couple of gears are short which is true, but third/forth are good.

On the way back from the other halves I pushed it a bit. Down some A roads and some traffic. Returned 42.xMPG. Similar to my E46.

So far I'm very pleased with it.

[Pacman1978]

Considering the mk3 ended production what? 11 years ago? They still look tidy, especially in ST and Zetec guises.

I'd pay 1300 quid all day for that. More exclusive than the 3 series too (according to TG)

:-)

[ManicMunky]

I had a 57-plate one, was really good for the time I had it. Quick-ish, comfy, not too bad on fuel. As above, some fairly big/expensive potential bills on these.

[Podie]

I still miss my ST220.

Far better built than the Focus I have (which is a later car).

[LosingGrip]

I've had it a week now and covered around 300 miles.

The 250 miles since I've filled up have averaged 38.2MPG which isn't as good as the E46 (40) but it isn't too bad.

I got used to driving a rear wheel drive and this feels strange still. But still loving it!

[LosingGrip]

fking pot holes.

Go over one on Wednesday, check it when I get down the road and all fine. Fine going to work on Thursday. Away with work for the night and a colleague mentions its now flat.

Get back to the office on Friday. Pump it up, pressure seems to be staying enough to get the 2.5 miles home. Off to get it changed today and go over another pot hole...nearside this time. Didn't think it sounded right, checked the tyre nope thats fine. Get to the tyre place, take it off (was getting both replaced anyway) and the spring has snapped.

Annoyed is not the word.