2004 Ford Mondeo Zetec review from UK and Ireland

No faults so far.

Chopped in a very troublesome 2004 VW Passat TDI 130 Sport that I had finally given up on (also reviewed on the site) for this car after being recommended this by a friend and being impressed on the test drive.

A very different car to the Passat. The engine provides broadly similar performance although feels a little punchier higher up the rev range. It is more refined than the VW PD 130 unit as well, although not as frugal (45 mpg best vs the low 50's from the VW). I suspect some of this is down to the way the car drives however, encouraging as it does, a much more enthusiastic driving style than the VW.

The whole car has a much more youthful and more dynamic feel than the Passat with a much sharper and more responsive feel to all the controls. The handling is in a different league with the car shrugging off its size and weight on B-roads to provide real fun, although it lacks the Passat's final degree of noise insulation at motorway speeds. The Passat was a fine cruiser (a bit better than this to be fair), but turned into a vague, bouncing, wallowing, understeering mess when driven with any verve. The Mondeo seems to love being taken by the scruff of the neck and thrashed which is a talent you wouldn't normally associate with a big, sensible diesel saloon. Very welcome though, and key to why I really like the car - after the oh so sensible, middle aged, conservative Passat, the Mondeo feels as if someone under 40 who cared about driving dynamics had a fair hand in the design. Shame it looks so dull outside though.

The interior is much improved over earlier Fords and now runs the Germans very close with good quality materials and a very high standard of fit and finish. If I'm being brutally honest, it isn't quite there yet, and does lack the final convincing element of the Passat's expensive feel inside, but it's not bad, and there's real engineering prowess under the skin.

My main point however, and the main reason I chose the car is reliability, and so far the Mondeo has been faultless. I've racked up nearly 3,000 miles in just under a month and all I've had to do is put about 500ml of oil in. Long may it continue!