2001 Ford Mondeo LX review from UK and Ireland

Engine management light came on, turned out to be exhaust re-circulation valve - £260.

New battery - £60.

Rear centre seat belt seized - never bothered to fix it.

Handbrake cables seized, caused back brakes to bind and overheat. Apparently a common problem on new shape Mondeo. Overheating warped the disc so needed new disc and pad and new handbrake cables - £200.

Despite £200 spent it is still not perfect because it needs 2 new brake callipers - £260, I said no to this and I am now selling the car because the MOT would pick this up on the rolling road.

Love the car despite its faults. I really don't want to have to sell it, but I can't afford the £400 upcoming MOT and wanted to change it in a few months anyway.

Very comfortable and spacious car. Being a heavy car the pick up is a bit slow from the 1.8 but once it's wound up it pulls well, but you have to take it over 4500rpm to make it do anything.

Economy is not too bad for such a big car - I average about 32mpg, drops to about 27 - 28 if you take it anywhere near a town, excellent on the motorway. On a run from York to Plymouth (370miles) at about 90mph it averaged 37mpg and did it in 5 hours dead!

The interior is well put together with only the odd rattle coming from the parcel shelf. Air conditioning in fantastic. I have never been in a car that blows cold air as well as this, very quickly cools a hot car.

The area where this car is unbeatable is handling. It is exceptionally smooth with excellent body control and has vast supplies of grip - even in the wet. I drove an '05 plate Vectra and it wasn't even a patch on my Mondeo!

Another bonus is the seats. I drove my bosses Mercedes SLK (new shape) on the motorway and had a sore back after an hour and a half. You can drive all day in supportive comfort in the Mondeo and arrive relaxed.

It will be a great shame to see my Mondeo go, I am trying to choose between a Vectra 3.0 v6 cdti and a Mondeo ST220. I know which one my heart says!!