1995 Ford Mondeo GLX from UK and Ireland - Comments

Nothing in the short time I have had it. the paint seems to be not as resilient to parking scrapes as it could be. the car has a multitude of them.

Bought as a cheap runaround, Mondeos never really appealed to me as to look at they are ditch water dull, may as well be a clone of any number of 5 door hatches on the market, (toyota carina, vectra etc) and seemingly every other car on the road is a mondeo. I prefer something a little more individual.

But it was cheap and its quite pokey. its one of those cars that seems to do everything adequately rather than excelling in any one area. reasonable handling. reasonable performance (be a lot better if I could take off the cat, it feels strangled) and 35-40 mpg is achievable. i'd have another one as it's a drive and forget car that requires very little driver input. Hard to feel any kind of emotional attachment to it, you buy one in the same way as you would a fridge or a microwave.

I guess it depends what you are used to, although looking at the age/mileage of your car, it was a few hundred quid at most, and finding something "emotionally satisfying" at this price is somewhat challenging as I'm sure you know.

I find myself agreeing with many of your comments, although if you think the Mondeo merely does things reasonably well and in a very "average" way, I suggest you try a similarly aged Vectra which will show you just how good the Mondeo is.

While it looks about as exciting as a day stuck in a lift with John Major, I also cannot agree that any half-fit Mondeo is a dull drive. Driven hard, I still find it a more rewarding and engaging steer than many cars with far greater sporting pretensions. The chassis does need to be kept maintained to feel its best however and will quickly turn to crap if maintenance is neglected. That said, a knackered Mondeo probably still handles better than any of its contemporaries did when new.

Like I said, it depends what you are used to, and how reasonable your expectations are in line with your budget. Surely a lack of emotional involvement and ultimate driver satisfaction, not to mention desirability from a mass produced car with six figure miles are all a given. Anything "original" at this level would be so unreliable and generally shot to pieces it would be unusable.

I agree with you, I shouldn't expect much in the banger category- but I was comparing it with my previous car, an audi 90 which I think despite being 7 years older than the mondeo was a superior car in every way. and I did get very attached to it in the 3 years I owned it despite the £300 purchase price.