Faults:

Clonking front driveshaft (replaced by selling dealer prior to delivery)

No faults since I took delivery.

General Comments:

Quite simply a superb, cheap, safe, reliable and comfortable family car.

The 1.8 TD engine is pretty gutless, but frugal, returning 45 mpg average. To be fair once rolling it goes well enough and a 70-80 mph cruise is pretty effortless. With kids in the back, who presses on anyway, and owning a sportsbike, most cars feel flat to me. The Ford diesel engine is bombproof in most respects, but prone to snapping cambelts which means a change every 30-40k to be sure. This can add substantially to running costs if you do high mileage. We don't.

The interior is a bit plasticky, but well made and doesn't squeak or rattle even "the wrong side" of 100,000 miles. Equipment levels are generous with a good quality radio/CD player, heated front windscreen, electric windows, electric seat height adjuster, ABS and air conditioning. It all works properly too, unlike on a lot of older/higher mileage cars. Seats are excellent and I have never driven a car with such a massive range of adjustment in seat and steering column position. Anyone could get comfy in here.

The car rides well and has excellent weighty power steering with lots of feel and a welcome lack of the "numb" sensation that affects VW and Vauxhall systems particularly. It's not a sports car by any stretch, but it can be cornered quickly, safely and accurately and unlike a lot of cars in this class, the chassis feels good when worked hard. Grip is excellent, even in the wet, and the ABS system is well set up, not intruding unless you really are stopping in an emergency.

I paid just UKP 2400 for the car this time last year, so it owes me very little. What I got was an immaculate, slightly dated, but safe, reliable family car which dynamically still holds its own with any more modern rival. Parts cost peanuts, and DIY servicing, sticking to the manufacturers schedule costs less than £100 per year. Being a diesel, it will always be worth a grand if its in reasonable nick, so over 3 years I estimate the TCO to be around the £3k mark. Or about 8 months finance payments on a new equivalent. I have better places to put my money than cars.

Buy carefully (there are hundreds to choose from at any one time), keep on top of the (cheap) servicing, and pay attention to the dreaded cambelt, and it will provide decent, safe family transport for pretty much as long as you want it to. Cruelly underrated and very seriously recommended.

Faults:

Original clutch replaced at 150,000 miles.

Vacuum leak caused by perished hose at 160,000 miles.

Shocks and front wishbone bushes at 170,000 miles.

Only the above, plus routine servicing in nearly 200,000 miles!!

General Comments:

I bought this car off my company as cheap family transport, having run it from new and been impressed by the fact it racked up 137,000 miles without a single thing going wrong.

Since then, we've put almost another 60,000 miles on it and it still drives superbly. I've had to replace some parts, but the car has yet to break down or fail to start, and it still drives beautifully.

The Mondeo has a great driving position with excellent seats, a good level of equipment (CD player, air-con, electric windows and mirrors, ABS, sunroof etc etc) and good overall levels of refinement with very low levels of wind and road noise. The engine is a little gruff under load, but at cruising speeds it is as quiet as cars costing twice as much.

The suspension work at 170,000 miles restored much of the sharpness and keen handling that the Mondeo is known for. Apart from a tiny, barely detectable amount of play in the steering, the car drives literally as new. The gearbox is still slick and tight, there's lots of feel through the wheel and seat, and the engine consumes only about a litre of oil between services which is still well within "new" tolerances.

The 2.0 Zetec engine is very torquey with superb mid-range pull even with nigh on 200k on the clock. Lively too - good for 0-60 in around 9 seconds and around 130 mph flat out. The engine has only had routine servicing at the intervals specified by Ford (and using OEM Ford parts and oil), and all the major engine components are original. Even on cold starts there are no rattles, and the idle is sweet and steady. It returns around 32 mpg - a little more on a long run, and a little less when driving hard.

It's a safe family car as well - since day one the Mondeo has had side impact protection, anti-submarining seats, belt pre-tensioners and a full complement of airbags. The ABS is excellent too, only cutting in when needed and allowing hard braking even in slippery conditions without intruding unnecessarily. It's amazing how many manufacturers get this wrong.

Overall, a superbly engineered car which is fun to drive, and a steal at today's used prices. The mechanicals are simple enough to work on yourself, and parts are among the cheapest you'll find for any car. The car owes me nothing either, so in the unlikely event it fell apart tomorrow, I wouldn't be out of pocket.