1999 Ford Mondeo LX 1.8 16v E-Zetec from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Cheap and reliable family car

Faults:

Thermostat stuck open at 60.000 miles, DIY job, new part cost £7.

Leaking left rear light, fixed it with a bit of silicone. Common problem.

Drop-links, front wishbones, brake discs (front/rear) and pads replaced at 75000 miles. Paid £25 for the wishbones, £60 for the brake discs, pads and drop-links.

Broken plastic tooth-wheel on driver seat height adjustment. Common issue.

Replaced leaking rocker cover gasket at 80.000 miles. Cost £14 from Ford.

Oil changed at every 6000 miles, using Castrol Magnatec 5w30. £17/4 litres from Costco.

General Comments:

Being the 1.8, it is not the quickest Mondeo, but it does 42-45MPG on a long run (driven at 65-70mph) and 35-38MPG combined (40/60 motorway/city driving).

Seats are comfortable, steering/gearbox are precise.

Unfortunately there is a bit of rust on the rear wheel arches, but it is a 10 years old car and it has never been garaged.

Will need a new clutch soon, but it is an expensive job to do. Ford quoted £850 for the job, the car is worth around £600.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 3rd January, 2010

4th Jan 2010, 04:10

A good indie will do the job for £400 or so. Don't use Ford dealers on a car of this age/value. In fact, don't use Ford dealers any longer than you need to for warranty purposes.

1999 Ford Mondeo LX 1.8 16v from UK and Ireland

Summary:

A rather nice car for little cash!

Faults:

Brake pipes needed replaced.

Front springs replaced.

Radiator and aircon compressor both needed to be replaced.

Rear hatch rattles.

New brakes all round.

Eats coil packs.

Sticky electric windows.

Immobiliser is playing up.

Steering shakes at certain speeds, varies from day to day!

Rear central locking is temperamental.

General Comments:

I was talked into buying the Mondeo by a girl I knew; she had one and reckoned they were a better car than the little Citroen AX I was running about in, 10 out of 10 for observation! But the offer on a 7 year old Mondeo for £600 was too good to turn down, even if it had been used as a courtesy car by a local garage.

Cosmetically, the car was fine, in fact it's the best Mondeo for its age I have ever seen; it was originally a Ford Fleet car and had plenty of history. Even so, I had the timing belt changed as a precaution.

Disappointingly, it failed its first MOT in my hands; brake pipe corrosion, a common enough fault on the Mk2, just a bit fiddly. After that it was all systems go, for a few months at least. The car started spluttering one day, and it didn't take Einstein to work out it was off a cylinder, the Ford coil pack had claimed another victim, as a 1350cc triple, the Mondeo is not a good performer, fortunately, it was a pretty easy fix and the car was soon back to its best.

The rear hatchback makes a rattling noise over bumps; you can remove the boot trim and reposition the lock, but it will start rattling again, just turn the stereo up and ignore it. And on the subject of audio, why, in the name of God do Ford insist on those huge double DIN head units that you have to buy a replacement fascia and ISO adaptor for. I have a 1991 Polo that you can put the stereo straight into, so all in all a poor show on the audio front!

Second MOT and it fails again, broken front spring, again a quick google shows this to be a frequent occurrence, easily remedied if all the suspension bolts had not been seized solid! In fact the suspension feels a bit tired, fair enough, it does get a very hard life so I can't complain!

The radiator sprung a leak, so that was replaced, and the knackered aircon condenser was replaced at the same time; it's a bonus to have aircon, especially when it works! The coil went bad again, fortunately within the warranty period of the replacement part.

This probably sounds a bit negative, but it's really a lovely car to drive; around town, it eats fuel, but on a run it does over 40mpg, quite a surprise really. It's a rather nice place to be, motorways are the real happy hunting ground for Mondeo drivers, I can't imagine many cars would be more comfortable, although the seat is showing signs of wear from my ample frame.

To be honest, I'm thinking of replacing it though, if I can find a Mondeo of similar vintage and condition with a diesel engine!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 4th August, 2009

16th Aug 2010, 17:46

Just been offered a 1999 Mondeo so it was an insight to read your comments, cheers. I will think about it.

1st Dec 2010, 08:28

Well, another year on, and I still have the Mondeo, although thanks to a 7 month romance with a Pug 306, it was lying up for that amount of time. True to form, it started first turn of the key, but the brake discs had rusted beyond redemption, replaced under warranty by the people I bought them of. It drove straight through the MOT, and is once again in daily service.

The central locking has cured itself, as has the immobilizer. Fuel consumption is as always poor around town, but it's a big car to stop and start.

One minor gripe, the aircon comes on automatically when the air is set to demist, which hammers the fuel consumption. But all in all, I'm still happy, and the car has just rolled over 131000 miles.