1999 Ford Mondeo Si review from South Africa

I bought this car with a FSH from the agents.

After only 4 days the front right shock BROKE! The aircon didn't work and after having it repaired under warranty, it still did not work (and still doesn't).

Various other small things have gone wrong with the car. The water coolant bottle cracked open, the water pump failed and all the auxiliary belts snapped (in close succesion) leaving me stranded on the side of the road on more than one occasion.

At around 156000km the engine appears to have reached the end of its life. It idles very strangely and occasionally backfires. There is a complete lack of power and the car stalls at various times.

Ford lives up to its poor name (even in SA) and the service leaves much to be desired. I was once charged for various filters that I was told were replaced (fuel, oil, cabin air filter, etc) only to discover that they were old filters and soime werent even there! There appears to be no Mondeo mechanics employed by Ford SA!!! They simply do not know how to service/fix this car at all.

Generally (when the car was working) this is a good car. It has lots of power with a very flat torque curve providing plenty of smiles!

It handles as if on rails and is very stable at high speeds.

Fuel consumption is horrendous even at legal speeds and seems to get worse as time goes by.

Great refinement all over, but poor service backing from Ford.