2004 Ford Mondeo Zetec S review from UK and Ireland

So far the car has been very reliable although I have had the dealer check out the following:

EGR Valve at 5000 miles as exhaust puffs out an embarrassing amount of smoke on hard acceleration. This was replaced under warranty, but appears to have returned!

Front discs seemed to be warped due to vibration at 10000 miles, again replaced under warranty, but has returned again. Dealer thinks is may be ultra low profile tyres!.

18" alloy wheels look great, but have corroded badly already and Ford does not cover under warranty!!

Other than those niggles it has been faultless.

I knew exactly what I was getting with the Mondeo having done 115,000 largely fault free miles in a 51 reg 1.8 LX.

I went for the TDCi this time and whilst it feels far punchier than the petrol, it is rather noisy on idle especially when cold. However on the motorway it is quieter than the petrol!!.

I bought the car at nearly a year old from a Ford dealer with only 3000 miles in the clock. I saved £7000 on new cost of £19000 which is fantastic value for money considering it is a full sized car with all mod cons like Cruise and Climate and Ford excellent heated front windscreen. Boy did I miss this on my previous non ford car!!

I think the Zetec S is fine looking model with the subtle skirts and 18" alloys although the interior is pretty basic.

Handling is fantastic and its amazing how you go around corners with such ease and you find lesser cars rolling and pitching.

Fuel economy is 40-45 mpg, but I drive pretty hard over a mix of conditions.

Tyres are steep even for the cheap ones which I am experimenting with at the moment (Nankang and Hankook!). They seem OK for grip, but only time will tell with wear. Fronts lasted 15000 miles.

Looking forward to the new model arriving which will inevitably be a bargain when a year or so old.