1997 Ford Mondeo GLX Estate review from UK and Ireland

Coolant thermostat stuck open at 72,000 miles.

Battery at 81,000 miles.

Replaced two tyres at 82,000 miles.

But all of these are just general wear and tear.

I had not been a big fan of Fords since owning a sierra in the early 90's, but after the arrival of our second child I needed something a bit more practical than my Alfa 156 so decided to get an estate car. I looked at various models, but nothing was any good so I decided to take a look at the mondeo on the bottom of my list and was not disappointed when I test drove it, at seven years old it felt as close to a new car as you could get at that age even now two years later there are no rattles or knocking noises any where on the car. It has got a full ford service history with the invoices not just the book stamped all services had been carried out by the dealer and any worn items like suspension bushes changed. The car is very spacious with rear seats up as well as down.

Reliability has been second to none apart from the wear and tear items listed above not a thing has gone wrong with the car, even the oil never has to be topped up just changed at the service intervals, over 6,000 miles it uses approximately 1/3 of a litre of oil that's at 83'000 miles 9 years old.

Fuel consumption is not bad either 31-32 mpg around town and 38-40 mpg motorway driving at 80-90 mph.

This has been the most reliable and best allround car I have ever owned and is a million miles away from the sierra, well done to ford.