2001 Ford Mondeo LX review from UK and Ireland

Cigarette lighter not working. It took days to figure out where the fuse was. You have strip out the dash under the passenger's air bag to find it. Then you are confronted with about 40 fuse positions with not one of them marked to indicate what fuse does what. It is a process of elimination until you find the correct one. Once done you commence to rebuild the dash and glove box. You have to be very careful not to break the very flimsy plastic clips. This part of the design is rubbish. It is no wonder the dealers want charge ridicules amounts of money to do the simplest of jobs on the Mondeo.

The Windscreen water filler cap looks like the power steering oil cap. These two fillers can be mistaken and have been on my car. I found water in my power steering oil. I was told by the local, very unfriendly Ford dealership, this was a known problem and it was hard luck. Oh and the fluid used in the new Mondeo is not your ordinary transmission fluid used just about every car made on the planet, but a special very over priced fluid that only Ford sell at extortionate price.

My car has now on its second MOT test and like the first test it failed. It’s a 3 to 4 year old car for goodness sake and it failed the MOT test on two occasions. Now it’s off the road with a fault that cannot be fixed with any guarantee of success. I bought this car because I need reliable transport that will just work and can be fixed easily. The old 249,000 mile 18 year old FIAT Regatta (yes 249,000 miles) was just that sort of car. Just kept going. Its only reason to end it's days was the amount of welding needed and shame of drive up to places in what looked like a clapped out old car. The engine emissions were as low on the day I scrapped it, as the day it was new. Never changed the injectors on pump or exhaust systems or handbrake lever or cables. I now have a Ford only 4 years old and the handbrake will not pass the MOT test 4 years old Henry Ford are you not ashamed of making a car that cannot be fixed, because at the MOT failure my wife asked how much to fix it and the reply was 500 pounds min possibly a lot more if they could find the fault i.e. no guarantee of success!!! I have stripped the whole assembly down my self fitted new rear calipers, new calipers, the car is 4 years old for heaven sake. I have looked at the adjustments and there are none. There is supposed to be an automatic adjustment, but no one can tell me how it is supposed to work, the garages don't know so if they don't know then how is any body supposed to be able to make it work.

This fault is not a trivial one since it is an MOT failure. There is no damage to the cables no fraying, no parts missing no wear to any linkages, but it just does not work the standard set by MOT. So how has such a massive outfit like Ford Motor Company got the design of this system so wrong and unfix-able or adjustable? I am in the process of re-engineer this design and when I am finished I will be offering a good solid reliable fix for this car. This will be based on a simple lock nut adjustable cable end at the handbrake lever like the sensible designs we see in reliable cars.

So have had the Mondeo just over 12 months and totally fed up with having fix faults on it like trim falling off the window weather seal, the plastic bumper to wheel arch point, plastic clip broken make the car look ridicules with a bit of plastic sticking out the side that catches on women dresses etc. This car is only 4 years old remember.

The sub frame under the engine compartment is going rusty in a big way. I do my own oil changes and when I took the sump guard off to get at the oil filter and drain plug I was amazed at the rust I saw on the sub frame. It is only 4 years old remember. Oh and from previous professional services not all the screw had been replace that hold the sump guard on by the way and the oil filter cover, which is plastic, had the oil sealing 'o' ring missing. Amazingly it didn't leak. Of cause this part is not Ford's fault although the paper work did say it was serviced by a Ford dealership.

There are many other things I would like to impart, but as you will see I'm not at all happy with the car or the dealerships / parts / service. I am going back to Fiat who have a much more helpful dealership and good technical back up.

Oh and I stupidly bought a 2002/3 Focus for my wife MOT due soon... watch this space.

Its been working OK so far, but only done 7000 miles to date.

This car is not for a person who needs reliable transport with minimum down time when it goes wrong.

If you have it as company car well OK you don't have foot the bills or fix it your self because the garages say they can't do the job.

I maintain my car because I cannot afford the time garages take to do the work and I can be sure it will be done correctly and only have my self to blame it all goes wrong.

As a car it is fine, but it’s not reliable and never seems to be fixable in a short time frame. Parts are an issue as well, but that's another story. But remember my car is only 4 years old and it's failed the MOT twice now!!! That should just not happen. My old FIAT Regatta I had from new was years before MOT failures stated to occur and these were body rust issues on a very old car.