What replacement for Mk4 Mondeo Estate?

[MC Bodge]

I've owned a Mk4 Mondeo 2.0 Tdci Estate for the past 7 years.

It has been great. Comfortable, brisk enough for the autobahn (although don't go there often), agile for its size (even fully laden), good boot, reliable and painless to own.

I'm wondering what to go for next.

Criteria:

Spacious
Big boot
Good handling
Compliant, comfortable & composed ride (not interested in rock hard suspension and massive rims) that combined with good handling make it a decent bumpy back roads car.

Torquey, ~140-180bhp+ . Would prefer a fairly frugal petrol turbo to a diesel.
Image is irrelevant
1-3 years old

Cheers

Edited by MC Bodge on Thursday 23 November 11:40

[MC Bodge]

Can the Superb or Mk5 Mondeo be hustled along a back road with gusto in comparison?

Ford 1.5 petrol turbos are rare.

[MC Bodge]

Cheers folks.

To clarify, I don't often drive on the autobahn, but was making the point that my existing car was quick enough.

I currently do only around 9,000 miles per year.

Superb TSI 148 is looking promising.

Mazda has a hard ride, doesn't it?

[MC Bodge]

IanCress said:

Coming from a diesel, the OP may find the naturally aspirated Mazda a bit gutless. He did ask for a torquey turbo petrol.

Correct. Decent torque starting from quite low in the Rev range is what I'd like from a big road car. It's not a racer.

[MC Bodge]

markirl said:

quinny100 said:

Budget?

Honestly, your best bet would be the newest, highest spec Mk4.5 Mondeo you can find. Or an F11 5 Series Touring if your budget is >15K.
.

Agree, just get a good Mk4.5 Mondeo estate, brilliant cars.

Having owned a number of Mondeo estates, I fancy a change and a return to petrol.

I might try a Superb estate at some point, although used TSI 148's might be rare. A 280 could be fun if the handling is up to the performance and it will average 40mpg.

I do like a car with both feel and compliant suspension, though, hence the Mondeos.

[MC Bodge]

alorotom said:

Skoda Kodiaq ... a few pre-reg ones in the low 20s on AT, big and spacious plus come with the small 1.4 petrol

Cheers, but I don't want an SUV

[MC Bodge]

quinny100 said:

Driving an Insignia is about as much fun as having a root canal at the Dentist. I drive one out of necessity as a company pool car. The steering is artificially heavy with no feel. The ride is good, but it lols around on the suspension when pressing on. They're a good motorway car - I usually end up doing round trips of several hundred miles and at 80MPH with the CC on it's fine - decent ride, stable, fairly quiet even with a 1.6 diesel. No fun though.

If you end up looking at a Mk5 Mondeo you must get a Titanium with the X pack - denoted by the round foglights rather than the LED strips. The headlights on the non X pack cars are awful.

No, I didn't like the Insignias I've driven either.

Sadly, few drivers are interested in driving, so the public gets what the public wants.

[MC Bodge]

Given the lack of any inspiring alternatives and the fact that the current Mondeo appears to be working fine at 103K miles, I've decided to stick with it for now.

I'm quite enjoying having a fairly old (but still brisk, handling well and smooth enough) car that I dont worry about at all.

A set of new dampers would be good, but not really worth it.

[MC Bodge]

I'm back to considering a replacement car.

The Mondeo is still going strong (nothing other than consumables in 107K miles), but I'm wanting to to move it on before it does cost me any money, and I now fancy a change after so long with this one.

It is looking more likely that I'll be staying with diesel. Used petrol turbos are not common in the newer Superb and don't exist in the Mazda 6.

[MC Bodge]

CaptainSlow said:

Avoid diesel Mazdas...ask me how I know.

How do you know?

A friend has a 2009 Mazda 5, which has had DPF issues (from short journeys). I thought Mazda had sorted it out now, though.

[MC Bodge]

rix said:

My mk4 tdci is now at 260k, you’ve got some life in yours yet!

I've heard that sort of thing before. What sort of things wore out at 110K miles?

[MC Bodge]

CaptainSlow said:

MC Bodge said:

CaptainSlow said:

Avoid diesel Mazdas...ask me how I know.

How do you know?

A friend has a 2009 Mazda 5, which has had DPF issues (from short journeys). I thought Mazda had sorted it out now, though.

I've got one and had lots of issues.

The diesel dump into the crankcase during interrupted regens is the least of the issues.

Make sure your friend has the oil strainer in the sump inspected at the next oil change.

Affects all diesels, even new ones.

Thanks for the info. Having had a trouble-free PSA-Ford diesel, the Mazda may be a step backwards....

Maybe I should just fit Bilsteins all-round and new suspension bushes to the Mondeo after all...

[MC Bodge]

Oh yes, budget around £12K.

I have to say that, once again, the options seem fairly uninspiring

Having looked at Mondeos more closely, the 2015 onward Mk5 Mondeo doesn't sound to be very good for the enthusiastic driver and owners forums don't appear too enthusiastic about them.

The Mazda diesel doesn't sound very promising, which is a shame, as I suspect the rest of the car might have been ideal.

Superbs look like decent big cars, but reviews don't really make the handling sound very good. Most second hand cars are the lower powered diesels.

I'm, surprisingly, finding myself considering the Insignia.

Again, almost all are diesels. My experiences of them in the past have been unbelievably gruntless, peaky 1.8s with zero feel steering.
They are cheap, though. Edit: the boot is smaller than my car.

Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 20th August 21:28

[MC Bodge]

Fastdruid said:

MC Bodge said:

Having looked at Mondeos more closely, the 2015 onward Mk5 Mondeo doesn't sound to be very good for the enthusiastic driver and owners forums don't appear too enthusiastic about them.

The lack of decent petrol option, auto only and downgrade on how they drive puts me off.

Trouble is that I cannot find anything that will be as good a steer that is the same kind of size as the Mondeo Estate (and performance of the 2.5T) short of spending very large amounts...and in my case I don't want an auto either which rules out even those.

Bah humbug.

I think we agree that the Mk4 is a great car. Even if mine only has the modest Tdci 140. It has done everything asked of it, taken a lot of use and still cost pennies to live with.

[MC Bodge]

I'm back in the market, although I'm really not sure if anything satisfies my requirements.

I suspect that nothing will be as suitable as the Mk4 Mondeo estate has been.

A new requirement is for something without antisocial, laser-esque headlights.

I'll try some of the older and newer Superbs.

Going left-field, The Kodiaq might be ok, but out of budget.

[MC Bodge]

Sir Bagalot said:

I had a MK4 TitX 140 and only changed as I simply fancied a change.

The MK5 was out as I simply didn't like the looks or the seats. The Superb was great until I sat in the drivers seat, and that was the problem. The seats. (I'm short for my weight)

The budget was increased a bit (quite a bit) and I treated myself to a 5 Series Touring. Best car I've owned, but the TitX did come close

I've heard that the Superb seats are quite hugging, but I prefer that and the wife is quite trim too.

[MC Bodge]

It appears that turbo petrol manual large estates didn't exist until recently.

The usual websites don't through up many options.

150bhp VAG cars are fairly new and not cheap.

There is more choice in the Focus/Golf sized estate cars, but I want a big boot for camping trips and tip runs and I do like the smooth cruising ability of the Mondeo.

Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 11th February 21:46

[MC Bodge]

Glasgowrob said:

current mondeo with its minor facelift will be the last of them

Such a shame. The Mk1-4 were great cars.

[MC Bodge]

Andy Meads said:

That is a shame. It’s incredible how the market has changed and it feels like it’s happened quite quickly, too. It’s not just mainstream saloons and estates, either. It wouldn’t surprise me if, possible electric XJ aside, Jaguar stopped selling saloons in the medium term.

Mercedes, BMW and Audi still seem to sell a lot of saloon cars.

I don't want a saloon with a small boot aperture, but I don't want a big wheeled, high, pseudo off-roader crossing over anything either.

I just want a decent handling and riding family car with a big, square boot with windows in it and a lift up back.

[MC Bodge]

plumslikerocks said:

With all cars getting bigger at each iteration, have you thought about a well specced focus? Slightly more choice of petrol turbos.....like this one:


https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Funnily enough, I had been considering the Focus. There does appear to be more choice in the smaller cars. I'd need to consider the size of the boot. The width of the Mondeo, although bad for parking, made for a spacious car.