1995 Ford Mondeo LX 1.8 turbo diesel
Summary:
Don't pull out of a junction in a hurry!
Faults:
Nothing in 3 days!
General Comments:
This was a hire car, so perhaps needed more time to get used to it. As it was, this was the worst car I've ever driven. Spongy brakes, unresponsive steering, slushy gearbox etc.
Worst of all was the performance: felt like a milk float pulling away from junctions, almost dangerously slow!
Did pick up when the turbo kicked in though.
Perhaps this was just a poorly looked after hire car - I thought Mondeos were meant to be good.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 15th July, 2000
27th Mar 2005, 23:45
Yes, diesel's require more attention when pulling off quickly. My neighbour has a Mondeo TD, and you can get an awesome take off, but firstly, you need to plant your foot to the floor to get the turbo spinning, wait till your at about 3500rpm when the turbo's in full swing and you have plenty of torque and then feed the clutch in. Results are very surprising! But if you get it wrong you can just sit there crawling along waiting for the turbo to kick in.
24th May 2005, 15:14
I have an old TD Mondeo - 184500 miles at present and its incredible. all started when I had my company car (a p-reg mondeo TD estate) which ran forver on no diesel, and never ever failed once in the 3 years I had it, so when this one came up I jumped at it. the only failing is the diesel primer pump (I'm on my 2nd in less than 6 months and its still getting air in somewhere). All diesels are sluggish, but give them enough stick and they fly. they're rapid, economical, and reliable. what else do you want?
8th Jan 2010, 13:08
I drove a 1.8 TD with over 150k on the clock, it requires a different driving technique, as others have said you need to get the turbo spinning to extract any performance. I wouldn't have said they were slow, they give a good account of themselves for what is a pretty small diesel engine for the size of car. You don't know slow until you have driven a Sierra 2.3 diesel.
3rd Apr 2003, 16:52
Diesel-engined cars are like that - you just have to drive them accordingly and I don't think you've had the experience in such a short distance to comment so severely. I had a similar diesel for four years and it was spritely when pushed - but never like my new v6 Mondeo! Horses for courses, dude.