1995 Ford Mondeo Verona review from UK and Ireland

Nothing has failed so far, though on collection the front bumper was damaged. Dealer quoted £300 to replace. I replaced it myself, in primer, for £65 including post and VAT.

I'm impressed by the ride comfort, handling, steering and responsiveness of the engine. The gearbox is good too. Although it will happily tootle in fifth at 1200 rpm and accelerate smoothly from that, it also loves to be revved in lower ratios and, despite its size, has a surprisingly 'nippy' feel to it.

I'm not a fan of the larger car, nor of things like sunroofs and electric windows, computer management systems et al. That said, I am actually enjoying driving it - it's almost as much fun to drive as my old Hyundai Pony!

I haven't owned it long enough to make a sensible judgement on things like reliability and running costs, but if nothing untoward happens in the next few months I might well hang on to it a while longer. There seems to be acres of plastic and fragile-looking accessories, as well as far too many 'gizmos', and I baulk at the thought of how much such things might cost to fix if they go wrong. If the front bumper low cost is a measure of general component costs then the main discouragement to running this vehicle would seem to be the dealer charges for replacing things.