1995 Ford Mondeo 24v review from UK and Ireland

This car was modified when aquired.

The aftermarket alloys had the totally wrong offset causing the rear tyres to rub on the arches over bumps.

Fixed with new wheels with correct offset 205/40 zr17.

Rear passenger side spring broke causing the car to be lower on that side, replaced all springs and dampers with new ones lowered 30mm from system-2.

Alarm didn't work so have replaced with toad ai606.

Drivers side wheel bearing.

Some minor stone chips on bonnet and small scratches to be expected with age of car.

Now head gasket has just blown after just 72500 miles! am replacing this car with a standard one and adding my bits too it suspect car may have been clocked before I bought it!.

Purchased this car in March of this year ('06) in ash black.

Overall a very nice car to own and to drive until the aforementioned head gasket problem.

My list of mods as follows: 17" ace 157 alloys, system-2 -30mm springs and dampers, rear windows very dark tinting, lexus style rear lights, morrete quad headlight conversion, ghia grille with mesh, ford rs bodykit, k&n induction kit, powerflow twin oval 4.5" exhausts (sound beastly!), superchips conversion giving approx. 205 bhp same as st200!, jvc cd head unit, toad ai606 alarm and immobiliser system, kenwood 5.25" door speakers, jbl 12" sub and amp, and finally the ghia electric sunroof!.

Phew! now that's the stuff I did to the car some was already done when I purchased.

Provided a very exciting entertaining drive on any occasion, I was averaging around 29mpg on long trips, however this would seriously drop in the late teens when pushed hard (mods me thinks;).

Turned lots of heads with looks, loved the attention from all passers by! got many enthusiasts asking about the car.

With suspension/wheel and tyre mods the car handled like a kart! which is amazing for its size and weight.

This was also very fast, have seen 145 on the speedo with a little power left!, midrange is where this car really shines though! its so responsive and perfect for overtaking!. however if in a traffic light grand prix I recommend dialling in about 3-3.5k otheriwse you bog down and risk a lot of embarrasment from hot hatches!.

Around 2.5 months ago the car suffered the infamous head gasket failure and ticking away to itself, ran it like this for a while, but now overheats too quickly to take any further than about 10 miles!.

So now sadly sits in the drive waiting to be sorted, have purchased a standard car now in the hope of transferring all my parts over to this one.

Such a shame that ford made a decent powerful engine in the duratec v6 but never provided a decent water pump/head gasket. Have heard numerous nightmares regarding the top and bottom ends failing! luckily that hasn't happened to me.

I recommend the car to anyone, but have it looked over first! and check the water tank for signs of oil or an oily smell!.