A superb family car with a bit of style! (Ford Mondeo 2.0 Ghia 4-dr)

Member Name: 137699

Product:	Ford Mondeo 2.0 Ghia 4-dr
Date:	22/11/02 (586 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic Build & Reliability, Very High Spec, Detailed & thoughtful design

Disadvantages: A little bland looking without bodykit, Adequate performance, could be a little quicker, Not the ultimate drivers car

I had a mk1 Mondeo 2.0i 16V from 1995 to 1997. It was an M registered car which I bought from a Ford dealer for £11,000.

I ran this car for 2 years, which doubled the mileage from 30,000 when I bought it, to 60,000 when I sold it - yet I still managed to get £8,750 in p/x from the supplying dealer when I traded it in for my next car - an Escort Cosworth.

The car was as tough as nails - I did not spend a single penny on reapirs, the only costs were mot, tyres and servicing. It was the most pleasant car interior I have ever had - the ergonomics were beautifully thought out - every switch where you wanted it, and it had the wooden dash trim, which some people loath, but I think it works really well in the mondeo.

It drove supremely well, possibly a little too well for my sporty driving, as it took corners so easily. The power was good, but had I been able to afford the insurance, I'd have gone for the 2.5 V6 model, which I had test driven, and had so much grunt as to give ultimate driving pleasure! Still, the 2.0i was good for 0-60 in under 10 sec, and had ample overtaking power.

Equipment spec was excellent - air conditioning, CD player, elec windows front & rear, elec mirrors, elec sunroof, heated screens front & rear, abs, airbag, remote central locking, alarm, immobilisor. Oh, and the pen-holder in the centre console is a fantastic invention!

It seated four adults in comfort, and the only gripe was that the boot was not as accessible as the five-door hatch version. In hindsight, I'd go for the hatch, as its just that much easier to fold the back seats down and get that awkward bit of furniture in!

None of the usual Ford quality problems come into play on the Mondeo - no creaks or rattles inside - the interior components are compiled from good quality noise-reducing materials, and the whole car oozes quality from using the door handle, to the thoughtful vanity mirror lamps, footwell lights, and the lights
-on alarm, which is a pleasant aircraft-style bleep. Also, these cars don't rust - compare any K reg mondeo with the fiestas, escorts, or granadas from the same era - all the rest are rot boxes these days, yet I have not yet seen a single bit of rust on any mondeo.

It was a supremely comfortable car to drive either around town, or on a long journey. It simply ate up the miles on a trip to John-O-Groats once.

It looked the part too - mine had full RS bodykit on it, and front fog lamps. Some reckon the later model mondeo looks better, but I think the restyled nose is a bit ugly, and much prefer the earlier model. The four-door version looks a bit lame without a boot spoiler, but fortunately mine had the full kit!

When Ford brought out the mondeo, they had a huge problem to solve - a poor reputation for reliability, build quality, refinement and handling. In the mondeo all these issues were addressed, and the result is that this car makes probably one of the safest 2nd hand buys you could make. When you consider that some of those early K-N reg cars chage hands for a few hundred pounds, then you can get yourself a superb car with many years of use left in it, with plenty of change from £1000!

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