The £495 03 Mondeo 2.0CDTI estate
Discussion
With the MOT on my £250 berlingo being due in a few days and not wanting to spend the money on all of the small stuff to get it through a test, I decided that it had more than earnt it's retirement in the year it has spent trundling around the country and it was finally time to upgrade/replace it.
As im also currently trying to clear off a large amount of debt over a short period of time this had to be done on a budget of £500.
I had a couple of requirements, it had to be diesel, it had to have a big enough boot for my German shepherd to be comfortably transported and it had to have at least 3 months MOT.
Naturally, I went straight to Facebook market place and after spending quite a few hours trawling through the listings, I found this.
It was located 12 miles away from where I work and priced at a firm £495.
I went to take a look at it after a 12hour shift, got underneath it, had a good look under the bonnet and took it for a test drive. Paid the moneys and drove it the 55 miles home.
It has 166,000 miles on the clock with a folder full of invoices and receipts showing it had been cared for fairly well.
Coming from a ropey 1.9 non turbo berlingo this is a big step up with a heated leather interior which for the miles is in great condition. It has working cruise control which the seller said didn't work but he just didn't know how to use it and it works fine. A 6CD changer head unit and an engine that actually has some power 😂
I plan on doing a couple of cheapish mods such as tinting the rear windows, debadging the rear, fittings some wind deflectors and possibly fitting a reversing camera but other than that it'll get serviced then used and abused for the next few months.
Will post more pictures later today.
As im also currently trying to clear off a large amount of debt over a short period of time this had to be done on a budget of £500.
I had a couple of requirements, it had to be diesel, it had to have a big enough boot for my German shepherd to be comfortably transported and it had to have at least 3 months MOT.
Naturally, I went straight to Facebook market place and after spending quite a few hours trawling through the listings, I found this.
It was located 12 miles away from where I work and priced at a firm £495.
I went to take a look at it after a 12hour shift, got underneath it, had a good look under the bonnet and took it for a test drive. Paid the moneys and drove it the 55 miles home.
It has 166,000 miles on the clock with a folder full of invoices and receipts showing it had been cared for fairly well.
Coming from a ropey 1.9 non turbo berlingo this is a big step up with a heated leather interior which for the miles is in great condition. It has working cruise control which the seller said didn't work but he just didn't know how to use it and it works fine. A 6CD changer head unit and an engine that actually has some power 😂
I plan on doing a couple of cheapish mods such as tinting the rear windows, debadging the rear, fittings some wind deflectors and possibly fitting a reversing camera but other than that it'll get serviced then used and abused for the next few months.
Will post more pictures later today.
Had an 02 hatch one of these back in 2005 with the same engine. It was a great car, decent engine and handling for its size and well specced - even took mine on track. Just looked it up and it passed its last MOT in 2014 with 175k miles on and nothing since so guessing it's not on the road any more.
Chris
Chris
Fermit and Sexy Sarah said:
Great cars IMO, they do everything so well, and are genuinely great to drive. Are the door bottoms rusty on your example? (a weak spot for them)
Nope, they're nice and clean. There's a tiny bit of rust on the rear passenger arch where it's had a small scrape and wasn't repaired but other than that it's very clean underneath. I'll be sorting that out in the next few weeks. RazerSauber said:
The Mondeo won't even blink at a trip like that. Take it on a 3000 mile drive and it won't break a sweat. These are up there with the Invincible cars, they just don't go wrong.
I've had two mk3 Mondeos, one was nothing but reliable, the other needed absolutely everything, I was forever chasing issues with it, interestingly the reliable car was higher mileage so perhaps a previous owner had spent money and time on it. That said, I'd have another one, they're fantastic things to drive and great value for money, yours looks like A LOT of car for the money OP.
I’ve had them as taxis and they were very reliable, in fact a colleague has just scrapped his as the engine finally let go. To be fair it was showing its age in other places but he bought it new on a 52 plate and died on 564k miles so he’d had its money out of it.
He’s replaced with a Nissan NV200 cab spec.
He’s replaced with a Nissan NV200 cab spec.
RazerSauber said:
The Mondeo won't even blink at a trip like that. Take it on a 3000 mile drive and it won't break a sweat. These are up there with the Invincible cars, they just don't go wrong.
And it didn't, it handled it with ease. Heater on, music on and cruise control set to 65mph almost the whole way. Returned 47.5mpg according to the computer. Eyersey1234 said:
Looks a tidy car OP. And only £495. Bargain.
It's not perfect paint wise, I could touch a lot of it up but I can't be bothered unless it's to deal with the arch rust. njw1 said:
I've had two mk3 Mondeos, one was nothing but reliable, the other needed absolutely everything, I was forever chasing issues with it, interestingly the reliable car was higher mileage so perhaps a previous owner had spent money and time on it. That said, I'd have another one, they're fantastic things to drive and great value for money, yours looks like A LOT of car for the money OP.
You have got yourself a bargain there. You could flog the xenons alone on ebay for £250.00. I love these MK3s. I've got one on a 2004 plate that I use for charity work now, it's been on road trips all round the world. I've been thinking of posting a topic about it on here simply cos some of the pics are so cool. Anyway I know these cars well and given that the ozzie mechanics caused some real issues and I had to baby them through a lot of processes, so if you ever need any advice give me a message!
I had one on a 54 plate bought it six months old with 10,000 miles on it and it hadn't had any servicing done.
I ran it for three years up to 110,000 miles in this period i kept meaning to get it serviced but never got round to it so it did 110,000 miles without anything but consumables brakes,tyres ETC.
Only issue was the electric motor on the passenger seat packed up fixed for free by Ford. No other issue took it to the south of France twice as well. It never missed a beat.
Got next to nothing for it when i sold it unsurprisingly.
I ran it for three years up to 110,000 miles in this period i kept meaning to get it serviced but never got round to it so it did 110,000 miles without anything but consumables brakes,tyres ETC.
Only issue was the electric motor on the passenger seat packed up fixed for free by Ford. No other issue took it to the south of France twice as well. It never missed a beat.
Got next to nothing for it when i sold it unsurprisingly.
After its long run yesterday, I treated it to a £10 clean. The 12v socket has stopped working, not a huge deal really, just annoying as I'm having to use a portable power bank to keep my phone charged. I'll add two USB sockets in somewhere.
Excuse the rubbish on the floor, I usually keep a small bag hung on the back of the passenger seat for rubbish but I haven't done that yet.
I've seen seats in other cars with lower mileage in worse condition.
Plenty of leg space in the rear for the rare occasion I have a human passenger or two.
Massive boot for my dog and for the rescue dogs I transport.
Excuse the rubbish on the floor, I usually keep a small bag hung on the back of the passenger seat for rubbish but I haven't done that yet.
I've seen seats in other cars with lower mileage in worse condition.
Plenty of leg space in the rear for the rare occasion I have a human passenger or two.
Massive boot for my dog and for the rescue dogs I transport.
Excellent cars. I had one very similar, TDCI 130 in red, up to 100K miles.
It had only a leaking rear Self levelling rear shock (DIY swapped to non self levelling shocks and springs, cheaper) and a split turbo pipe. Everything else was fine.
Performance good for the UK. Not the most economical cars. My Octavia petrol drinks less.
It had only a leaking rear Self levelling rear shock (DIY swapped to non self levelling shocks and springs, cheaper) and a split turbo pipe. Everything else was fine.
Performance good for the UK. Not the most economical cars. My Octavia petrol drinks less.
MC Bodge said:
Excellent cars. I had one very similar, TDCI 130 in red, up to 100K miles.
It had only a leaking rear Self levelling rear shock (DIY swapped to non self levelling shocks and springs, cheaper) and a split turbo pipe. Everything else was fine.
Performance good for the UK. Not the most economical cars. My Octavia petrol drinks less.
It's a hell of alot more economical than my old 1.9 non turbo berlingo. I was lucky to get 25mpg out of the thing driving carefully. It had only a leaking rear Self levelling rear shock (DIY swapped to non self levelling shocks and springs, cheaper) and a split turbo pipe. Everything else was fine.
Performance good for the UK. Not the most economical cars. My Octavia petrol drinks less.
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