Attention Fox .... and all other Mondeo experts

Toryglen-boy

Toryglen-boy

Toryglen-boy

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Looking to buy a mondeo, i want something with a bit of grunt, but comfort to, although i dont have a lot of money, i have seen the two models i am after from 1500 notes, the the two i am looking at are the Mondeo Ghia X, and the Mondeo ST24, both have a 2.5L V6, and i guess both are pretty alike in performance.

can anyone offer any advice on them? (Fox seems to know his onions on this car) what are they like? MPG any good? speed any good? nice to drive?

I can get all the facts and figures online, but i would rather have peoples person opinions and experiences

many thanx
 
Well as foxy baby aint here i will have a go!

Great cars, V6 will give you 32mpg on a run, 23-24 round town, pretty realiable on the whole.

Things to watch out for:

Needs the plastic impellor water pump changing to a metal type, as the plastic one is made of cheese.this can lead to HG failure, but it doesnt exhibit the usual mayo in rad symptom.you really need to get under the car and flash a light up towards the rear bank on the Head, if theres any oil or sign of cleaning, walk away.

Alternators also go, and are a SOB to fix, as they are really hard to do.

Power steering pump leaks and drips oil down onto the Y pipe of the exhaust which then smells really bad, also the pipe at the back of the engine can tear very slightly and seep fluid, and the powersteering cooler at the front can get hit with a stone chip and start to leak too.

Wishbones tend to go, as with any other car and can be a little bit hard to fix, always use ford bit, the patter parts are rubbish.

IMRC fails too, this is a box of tricks which tells the engine when to use 8 valves for economy, and when to bring in the entire 24 valves, if this is ok, you feel a nice surge of power around 2.5-3k, if its knackered car feels really sluggish.

Apart from that the usual little suspension drop links may need doing depending on the mileage.

Oh and if the clutch is slipping walk away, its gonna cost you a fortune to fix.

If you are an enthusiastic driver go for the ST-24, its the same engine, but the suspension is stiffer and lower, makes a massive difference, the seats are half leather tho, but are huggier.I slipped around too much on the ghia x seats.
 
The 2.5 V6 is the same in the ghiaX and ST24 so 0-60 top speed ets is the same but the ST24 will handle better as it has a sportier suspension setup.

They are good to drive the V6 is very smooth and goes well in any gear but mpg isn't that good i'm getting around 250 miles to a tank on town driving averaging 20mpg but you dont buy a V6 if you want economy :)

Couple of things to look out for the IMRC was placed on the front bank of the engine so it gets very hot and can cook the elcetrics in side it that open the secondaries. Check to see if the water pump as been replaced for a metal impellor version as the orignal one ford used was plastic and broke up which cooked the head gaskets.

:)
 
wohoo said:
Well as foxy baby aint here i will have a go!

Great cars, V6 will give you 32mpg on a run, 23-24 round town, pretty realiable on the whole.

Things to watch out for:

Needs the plastic impellor water pump changing to a metal type, as the plastic one is made of cheese.this can lead to HG failure, but it doesnt exhibit the usual mayo in rad symptom.you really need to get under the car and flash a light up towards the rear bank on the Head, if theres any oil or sign of cleaning, walk away.

Alternators also go, and are a SOB to fix, as they are really hard to do.

Power steering pump leaks and drips oil down onto the Y pipe of the exhaust which then smells really bad, also the pipe at the back of the engine can tear very slightly and seep fluid, and the powersteering cooler at the front can get hit with a stone chip and start to leak too.

Wishbones tend to go, as with any other car and can be a little bit hard to fix, always use ford bit, the patter parts are rubbish.

IMRC fails too, this is a box of tricks which tells the engine when to use 8 valves for economy, and when to bring in the entire 24 valves, if this is ok, you feel a nice surge of power around 2.5-3k, if its knackered car feels really sluggish.

Apart from that the usual little suspension drop links may need doing depending on the mileage.

Oh and if the clutch is slipping walk away, its gonna cost you a fortune to fix.

If you are an enthusiastic driver go for the ST-24, its the same engine, but the suspension is stiffer and lower, makes a massive difference, the seats are half leather tho, but are huggier.I slipped around too much on the ghia x seats.
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many thanks! although what you have said has kinda put me off? are they pokey? quite quick off the blocks? nice to drive?
 
I have a Y plate ST200 best car i have ever had and iv never had a prob with it.

very nice to drive sticks to the road like glue, Every car has probs now and again.

On your buget i would go with a ST24 there are a lot about so shop about a bit:)
 
Dont get me wrong they are a great car, theres lots of good examples out there, so if you know what to look out for you wont go wrong.

For example i got rid of mine last summer with nigh on 170 odd k, so it wasnt that unreliable!

Its a mildly warm hatch, 0-60 in 7.8 secs, handles really well for a car of its size, not quite as chuckable as a hot hatch due to the big engine upfront, but its still damn good.

Its such a smooth engine, and its good for 140 on the motorway, also sounds great with a induction kit too :cool:

Would i buy one again? knowing what i do now, yep no worries, mind i wouldnt spend a lot on the car, for 2k the car would have to be mint and RSAP'd (ST-24 bodykit) the std car looks very average imo.
 
I'd love to try a Mondeo out.

I don't like Fords and I think the Mondeo is one of the worst looking cars without actually being ugly ever.

I'd like to know why people rave.
 
The Mondeo has an impressivly spacieish cabin and good equipment on the ghia x. I drive big cars and borrowed my mates mondeo the other week. Was shocked at the level of space even tho I used to own one!
 
cleanbluesky said:
I'd love to try a Mondeo out.

I don't like Fords and I think the Mondeo is one of the worst looking cars without actually being ugly ever.

I'd like to know why people rave.
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What age of Mondeo are you thinking of? I think the Mk.1s are quite unattractive, but the Mk.2 facelift from P reg. is a big improvement. I'm not keen on the latest shape much though.

I must admit I am curious to see how good Mondeos are myself. When I've test driven them I haven't been impressed even compared to a Cavalier, which they are supposed to be infinitely superior to. (I guess I would have to own one to see if it grew on me.)

Oh, I did consider getting an ST24 but it turned out that they aren't really very quick, considering their thirst so I didn't bother.
 
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dirtydog said:
What age of Mondeo are you thinking of? I think the Mk.1s are quite unattractive, but the Mk.2 facelift from P reg. is a big improvement. I'm not keen on the latest shape much though.

I must admit I am curious to see how good Mondeos are myself. When I've test driven them I haven't been impressed even compared to a Cavalier, which they are supposed to be infinitely superior to. (I guess I would have to own one to see if it grew on me.)

Oh, I did consider getting an ST24 but it turned out that they aren't really very quick, considering their thirst so I didn't bother.
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What do you define as quick tho, its 170bhp, 0-60 in 7.5, not that shabby it will give you 35mpg if you are careful on th motorway.

Where is beats its pauxhall rival is in the engaging drive, the handling and ride is superb, its a very good drivers car, but the vectra imo is nicer inside.
 
wohoo said:
What do you define as quick tho, its 170bhp, 0-60 in 7.5, not that shabby it will give you 35mpg if you are careful on th motorway.

Where is beats its pauxhall rival is in the engaging drive, the handling and ride is superb, its a very good drivers car, but the vectra imo is nicer inside.
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Parkers says 0-60 in 8.0. Yes that is fairly quick. I said considering its thirst it is not so quick :) It certainly won't return 35mpg if you drive it fast. It is no quicker than my Cavalier, and it is thirstier.
 
I thought it was quite economical for a V6 tbh.Parkers figures arent all that accurate ime.

What cavalier do you have, sri or summat?
 
wohoo said:
I thought it was quite economical for a V6 tbh.Parkers figures arent all that accurate ime.
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You must drive like a pansy :D

here its:
29mpg(ish) on the motorway,
town driving will vary from 18mpg-21mpg,
And when having a little play - around 14mpg

Thats pretty much what am getting atm but may I add, I have a heavy right foot

Drove down to Bristol from Preston - average 27mpg :o
 
Townlea said:
You must drive like a pansy :D

here its:
29mpg(ish) on the motorway,
town driving will vary from 18mpg-21mpg,
And when having a little play - around 14mpg

Thats pretty much what am getting atm but may I add, I have a heavy right foot

Drove down to Bristol from Preston - average 27mpg :o
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I used to in that thing tbh, but i was doing a lot of miles to and from work, just work miles alone was costing me £200 a month.

But it wasnt too hard to get decent mpg from it.

SRi 16v redtop (150bhp)

0-60 7.5 apparently.
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Yeah I thought it was, but then the cav is a lot lighter than the mondy, the more realistic comparison would be the Vectra 2.5 V6.

I would have thought the Cav would be quite thirsty too?
 
wohoo said:
Yeah I thought it was, but then the cav is a lot lighter than the mondy, the more realistic comparison would be the Vectra 2.5 V6.

I would have thought the Cav would be quite thirsty too?
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I remember reading in Autocar that they got the manual 170bhp 2.5 Cav to 0-60 in under 7 secs :) Albeit the overall official Autocar figure for the Cav was 7.3 because they average it over several runs.

My Cav is surprisingly economical when driven sympathetically. It is only four cylinders. Six cylinder motors like the ST24 are prone to be thirsty unless driven like a nun ;)
 
I would say tho if fuel economy is a concern, buy a 1.6.

Im not surprised VX got the 2.5 cav to under 7 secs, they always had the more powerfull car, whereas ford always had slightly less power but better handling/control.It was the story 20 years ago, and is the same today!
 
wohoo said:
I would say tho if fuel economy is a concern, buy a 1.6.

Im not surprised VX got the 2.5 cav to under 7 secs, they always had the more powerfull car, whereas ford always had slightly less power but better handling/control.It was the story 20 years ago, and is the same today!
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Fuel economy is something of a concern to every driver unless their company pays for it :) I gather that ST24s can be extremely thirsty if driven hard.

As for 20 years ago... Sierras didn't handle too great, as I used to own one :) Except the Cosworth and XR4x4 perhaps. I had a 2.0iS, it handled nicely but I can't state that it was better than the equivalent Cav as I didn't own one then.
 
dirtydog said:
Fuel economy is something of a concern to every driver unless their company pays for it :) I gather that ST24s can be extremely thirsty if driven hard.

As for 20 years ago... Sierras didn't handle too great, as I used to own one :) Except the Cosworth and XR4x4 perhaps. I had a 2.0iS, it handled nicely but I can't state that it was better than the equivalent Cav as I didn't own one then.
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Yeah but if you are bothered about economy a sports model car isnt the best choice to make, you buy a sports model knowing full well that its going to cost you in terms of fuel/insurance/running costs.
 
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