Advise on Mondeo Mk5 Estate - 2017 and newer

[LowEndTorque]

Hi All,

It is that time of life where I have to say goodbye to my trusty and reliable Mk4 Mondeo Hatch. Has reached almost 133k miles and about 7 years in ownership with 59k miles covered. It scraped through its MOT recently, however impending costs with Steering Rack replacement and rear bushes (being difficult to replace with corrosion), I have decided it is best to say farewell.

A wise man (yours truly) once said "Life is too short to buy the same car again.". Hence, I am looking for a Mk5 estate, just the same but a bit different.
Missus also said, that if we are looking at a Mondeo again at least look for an estate. To be fair we have our second son born few weeks ago so more space in the boot is always welcome for extra luggage.

Some things to consider when looking at these will be as below in no particular preference,

1. Service History (I am ok with partial as long as it is recent history)
2. Check for Timing belt and water pump if they have been replaced.
3. Check the usual how it drives and shifts through gears and other functions/buttons within the interior.

Are there any obvious things that I may have missed from the above please.
I have used the below parameters to filter on Autotrader.
Price < £8.5k
Mileage < 125k
Year >= 2017 (this is to get the Sync 3 vs Sync 2 in the ICE)

Two examples I found that tickled my gut feeling as below. By no means are these final and I am in no rush to buy. But wanted to put it out there to learn if these look good. I can then use these as a measure of scale for others that may come up for sale. The MOT history is good for both.

Example 1:
2017 Grey Estate 2.0 TDCi ST-Line

Example 2:
2017 Black Estate 2.0 TDCi ST-Line

I did consider the Skoda Superb, but I find the Mondeo better and the Skodas are overpriced for the spec on offer.
Accords are not available in plenty and the latest one is 2014 I believe they stopped selling them post 2014 and anyone having one is reluctant to sell. Also, I am not looking at cars aged beyond 2017/16.

Edit:
Ok with Petol and Diesel both. I do roughly 8k miles a year and mostly motorway in my journey to workplace.

Options considered (reason to ignore),
1) Skoda Superb (Overpriced for like for like year and spec with Mondeo. Also, timing belt change intervals are half of what they are for Mondeo).
2) DSG or Powershift gearboxes (Most of them haven't followed the manufacturers Transmission Fluid replacement intervals).
3) Honda Civic Tourer (Feels underpowered on paper and I am struggling to get to grips with the way it looks)

I have stayed away from Vauxhall and the German marquee brands for maintenance costs, and also there are no options within my parameters that haven't done intergalactic miles.
Toyota Avensis feels meh to look at too.

Appreciate your inputs and Thank you in advance.

 

[233]

Having put 300k miles on a mk5 mondeo buy the superb.

Day to day especially with family a superb estate is just all round the better car thstvdaid s mk5 mondeo isn’t the worst car in the world

Check the rear suspension and watch for head gasket failure on the diesels if your looking at a mondeo what sort of budget are you looking to shop with and what’s your annual mileage any other preferences I’d auto etc?

 

[LowEndTorque]

Having put 300k miles on a mk5 mondeo buy the superb.

Day to day especially with family a superb estate is just all round the better car thstvdaid s mk5 mondeo isn’t the worst car in the world

Check the rear suspension and watch for head gasket failure on the diesels if your looking at a mondeo what sort of budget are you looking to shop with and what’s your annual mileage any other preferences I’d auto etc?

Thank you mate..

I am looking at sub £8k ideally but can stretch to 8.5k max. I have added an Edit with my preference above as I forgot typing that thread initially. I do roughly under 8k miles a year. My work route is 27 miles one way with about 85-90 percent of 60/70 mph.

With autos I am concerned with reliability on DSG and Powershift both. I like the Mazda 6 estate too but Diesels are no good as per forums and Petrol ones are scarce.

 

[LowEndTorque]

In case anyone has been wondering or following this thread. I have pulled the trigger on the below..

I am very happy with the purchase. A new fear of those massive 19 inch wheels getting kerbed has been unlocked.

Introducing the "Dad Mobile"...

Old car in the background. Felt little emotional to bid goodbye as I had owned it for almost 7 years and 59k miles. Loads of memories and welcomed both my kids from the hospital to home in this.

 

[jpaul]

smart, looks cavernous, so it's a manual diesel - what is your mpg expectation;

Did you get a reversing camera - I changed recently, and that's a regret, although may not help for parallel parking next to kerb, also harder with a modern supersized car.

 

[LowEndTorque]

smart, looks cavernous, so it's a manual diesel - what is your mpg expectation;

Did you get a reversing camera - I changed recently, and that's a regret, although may not help for parallel parking next to kerb, also harder with a modern supersized car.

Yes, it is a 2.0 TDCi Manual Diesel. Got more oomph as more BHP at 178 and 400 Nm torque.

Edit: MPG should be marginally better. I am expecting better motorway mpg. Overall if it stays or exceeds my old 45 mpg, I am happy. This is a such a refined car for a Diesel. The engine braking is also lot lesser, gear shifts are buttery.

This is a 105k mileage car, but looks less than half that. Got full service history with it and a fresh MOT with no advisories on it.

I will however be ditching the new Linglongs fitted on it. Google says these are £100 a corner. Still early to comment on how bad they are. Will use them as swapping now is throwing money away which is not what I can afford. Rears are Road X. The 235/40 R19 size is expensive compared to similar R17 or 18.

Nope, no reverse camera, but has got overly sensitive sensors. I am getting used to them. They are active all the time, can be shut down but I am testing it for now.

This car has a Park Assist feature that helps with bay parking and parallel parking. It steers for you and the driver is in control of the brakes and throttle. Not tested yet to see if it works.

This car is a lot more spacious than my old one on the inside. Also rides higher than my older hatchback. I noticed it when I was getting my 3 year old in his
car seat.

 

[LowEndTorque]

Initial Impressions:

Have driven the car for about 150 odd miles now and wanted to share some thoughts.

Let's get the lows out of the way first.
1) The fear of kerbing the massive wheels is never gonna go away. They do feel little less comfortable than the previous 16s I had on the older car but by no means bad.
2) The massive A and B pillars do cause severe blind spots. The A pillar when navigating slowly out of junctions and the B pillar when reversing or lane changing. The extra little window near the A pillar is helpful in lowering this.
3) Infotainment buttons are small and will take time to get used to. At least it has buttons.

The Good:
1) Extra 38 bhp is evident and feels a lot safer to overtake. It's a smooth car to drive, very refined for a Diesel. Gear shifts are slick for a 105k mileage car.
2) This car is roomier on the inside and very comfortable to drive. Definitely quieter than the old one.
3) I read about lot on Mk5 steering to be not as good as the Mk4 with feedback. I do sense that, but it doesn't spoil the overall driving experience for me.
4) Sound system is a lot better than my old car. Has all the options I wanted, like USB, Bluetooth, DAB, etc and it sounds good too.
5) Rear AC vents are welcome update than my older car.
6) Seats are lot more comfortable. Even the passenger gets Lumbar support option.

The Party Trick:
I tested the Park Assist feature in this car and it works. Tested both parallel and reverse bay parking. Was pleasantly surprised by it's accuracy. It does need another car in vicinity for it to work as it relies on sensors all around to work.

What have I done to the car so far?
I wanted to update the Maps only on the SYNC 3 system, but Ford wanted to get the Sync 3 system updated first. I performed the update but it has slowed it down and made it laggy. I did a little map update later but that did not help in improving it. Ford Support was good in comms but they have asked me to take the car to a dealership. Before that I am going try and install the SYNC 3.4 version. This is a Ford official update but they don't provide it for cars manufactured before 2020. I have downloaded that update from Cyanlabs and intend to install it this weekend. A long drive beckons.

Conclusion:
The car came with FSH, clean MOT, two new front tyres, new front disc brakes and pads. front left wheel refurbished, new TPMs sensor for front left wheel and last but not the least a couple of bonnet chips were touched up. I need to improve the look of the latter.

The car is booked with the garage for fixing the Air-conditioning issue as it isn't blowing cold air. Was a nightmare to drive on D day being 30 degrees. I am hoping the fix will also help with the rear ac vents blow air with more power unless they are like that by design.

My friend noticed that front right fog light glass was smashed. I cross checked the D day photo and it was broken before delivery. The dealership have agreed to fix that too.

The auto stop start isn't working, but I am not bothered about it. Online read says a new battery should fix it, however the car starts fine.

Overall I am very happy with the car. It looks amazing and is the best one I have owned so far. For £7.3k its a bargain in today's crazy market. The same car with 65k miles costs almost twice as much. There are not many ST-Line Mondeo estates that I see and I enjoy the little rare factor. Ticked all the boxes for me.

Here's to many Happy and safe miles!

 

[alex24]

That is a bargain. I had a similar 2017 ST-Line TDCi in Magnetic and it’s still a car I miss. It was a company car and I had a chance to buy at massive discount but regretted it since! With this version you’re experiencing what is essentially also an American car as it was sold also in US as the Ford ‘Fusion’. That’s why it’s more comfortable, seats are larger, ride is good (body control less so..) and is overall a little wider than previous models. You’ll probably have noticed that.

However, I found it just a great car to easily make progress in comfort and throw many passengers and luggage at with space to spare. Mine was similar power but the automatic 5-door version.

One other thing I found back when it was new that people always pulled over out the fast lane on the motorway and let me by. Took a few weeks for me to clock that it looked like a plain police car!

I can’t offer any tips on prolonged ownership but I hope it’s pretty trouble free for you. Enjoy!

Oh, on the SYNC situation, I would try leave it alone and see what options there are for a replacement head unit or just using a phone/carplay. The nav wasn’t great even when new and software updates can sometimes make things worse in my opinion. This car is early days before OTA was really sorted out so getting updates is a pain. Maps often were years out of date on delivery unfortunately. Thankfully the new cars are much better but that won’t help you.

 

[gc123]

with the cyan update is this the beta version? i upgraded my 2017 cmax sync 3 maps and i think they only had the the 3.4 will check later. if you update and are stationary pop a battery charger on it before and while doing it i think it took about 40 mins with the c max.
only small problem i seem to have is the illumination on the sync 3. it seems to flicker. ive narrowed it down to being low light areas i.e at the side of the house/entering tunnels/garage etc or worse when sky is dull/early evening. it seems to be day/nightime illumination causing the flicker, wife noticed it and since then i seem to see it most times ,but the update was worth it .

 

[LowEndTorque]

That is a bargain. I had a similar 2017 ST-Line TDCi in Magnetic and it’s still a car I miss. It was a company car and I had a chance to buy at massive discount but regretted it since! With this version you’re experiencing what is essentially also an American car as it was sold also in US as the Ford ‘Fusion’. That’s why it’s more comfortable, seats are larger, ride is good (body control less so..) and is overall a little wider than previous models. You’ll probably have noticed that.

However, I found it just a great car to easily make progress in comfort and throw many passengers and luggage at with space to spare. Mine was similar power but the automatic 5-door version.

One other thing I found back when it was new that people always pulled over out the fast lane on the motorway and let me by. Took a few weeks for me to clock that it looked like a plain police car!

I can’t offer any tips on prolonged ownership but I hope it’s pretty trouble free for you. Enjoy!

Oh, on the SYNC situation, I would try leave it alone and see what options there are for a replacement head unit or just using a phone/carplay. The nav wasn’t great even when new and software updates can sometimes make things worse in my opinion. This car is early days before OTA was really sorted out so getting updates is a pain. Maps often were years out of date on delivery unfortunately. Thankfully the new cars are much better but that won’t help you.

Thank you mate!

Indeed it is wider and longer too than my old car. Mine is 2017 as well.

The SYNC 3.4 appears to sort out the lag issues. It is the same update from Ford just provided by Cyanlabs. Many owners swear by it and there are YT videos for the same on 2017 cars. Its worth a shot. Right now the screen takes 10 seconds to respond and does not show the proximity sensors on the screen quickly, have to rely on beeps. I am getting used to the dimensions and will take some time to adjust in tight spaces and country roads.
The 3.4 update reformats the whole system which I believe resolves the issue from root. I will report here on how it goes.

 

[LowEndTorque]

with the cyan update is this the beta version? i upgraded my 2017 cmax sync 3 maps and i think they only had the the 3.4 will check later. if you update and are stationary pop a battery charger on it before and while doing it i think it took about 40 mins with the c max.
only small problem i seem to have is the illumination on the sync 3. it seems to flicker. ive narrowed it down to being low light areas i.e at the side of the house/entering tunnels/garage etc or worse when sky is dull/early evening. it seems to be day/nightime illumination causing the flicker, wife noticed it and since then i seem to see it most times ,but the update was worth it .

Edit: It is the full version from Cyanlabs.
I meant the build update. It is 3.0 version for SYNC 3 which has slowed it down. I did a master reset too but that did not help either. It is very flaky since the update. Previous version was 2.2 and it worked fine. Ford Tech Support said they will remove the 46kb file they provide as map update from their website lol. Honestly speaking I was better off without any update. Since it was on their official website I went ahead with it.

Hence the Ford original upgrade to SYNC 3.4 from Cyan Labs to resolve this mess.

 

[jpaul]

[

1) The fear of kerbing the massive wheels is never gonna go away. They do feel little less comfortable than the previous 16s I had on the older car but by no means bad.

At least you can easily see and hear damage to the wheels - hidden damage people do to tyre carcass can be worse for them.

yes now I look, the park assist looks impressive - before it's time, even now.
my problem with a wider car is equally there are now double parked roads in cambridge where I can no longer park
]

 

[LowEndTorque]

Completed the SYNC 3.4 update today with latest maps (2023). It took 51 minutes to finish.

Happy to report that it went well and the lag has completely disappeared. Feels so much better now.