I had an '06 mk3 Mondeo hatch as a runabout for a while and it turned out to be one of the best cars I've ever owned, it would tick all your boxes easily, it was like a van with the seats down, I had my mountain bike in it numerous times, mpg around town was around 38, 50 on a run was easily acheivable, it was quite happy cruising at 100 on the motorway (not that I ever did of course!), never mind 70 and it only cost me £800 too even though it was a top spec 2.2 tdci Titanium X.
What he said. Both of our Mk3 Estates could swallow a bike with ease and are a nice drive, nicer than a V40 IMHO .
Would avoid the mondeo. at that price it's an injector or a DMF waiting to happen. Would look at the V40, better than the sum of it's parts, and the grandad image will mean it'll get little attention and be insurable. Possible a Saab 9-3 if you can insure it. Both capable cars and reliable if looked after.
Would avoid the mondeo. at that price it's an injector or a DMF waiting to happen. Would look at the V40, better than the sum of it's parts, and the grandad image will mean it'll get little attention and be insurable. Possible a Saab 9-3 if you can insure it. Both capable cars and reliable if looked after.
I'm not quite sure why everyone seems to think the tdci lumps suffer badly with injector or pump problems, we've had many tdci engined Transits and Mondeos at work and not one has had an injector/pump problem and most of those vehicles got driven into the ground from day one, I'm not saying it's unheard of but you have to remember that there are so many of them out there that obviously any problems are going to seem more common. And the dmf could be an issue on any diesel built in the last ten to fifteen years.
TBH that is surprising. At work we used to take cars up to pretty high mileages and almost all of the TDCi had issues going beyond 70k. All of them had:
DMFs
Injectors,
Half of them had the injector pumps pack up
One had a timing chain snap and a seized piston on the next one
Turbos went on a couple of them.
These were between 4 and 7 years old with most being bought with 40-70k on them, and going to around 200ish. Almost no one touches a Ford now there. A BMW 320d in comparison had a DMF, breather and alternator in that time. Admittedly, a 525d there was horrific in comparison.
On both of the 2.0 petrols we had, almost nothing went wrong on them over 300k in comparison and even the 3.0 V6 was OK, bar a radiator and a few cooling hoses.
I only know of two Mondeos that run fine with big miles. One with 150k and a tuning firm's X-Type Estate with 180k. Both however do something most owners would never do:
Run on V-Power Diesel with a slight amount of two stroke oil in it
Genuine filters only being used (most aftermarket filters filter worse than what Ford specify, but they can block up less as well. This is said to be the main reason for why the pumps die ; the excess fuel is returned to the fuel tank)
Serviced on time without fail.
I'm not quite sure why everyone seems to think the tdci lumps suffer badly with injector or pump problems, we've had many tdci engined Transits and Mondeos at work and not one has had an injector/pump problem and most of those vehicles got driven into the ground from day one, I'm not saying it's unheard of but you have to remember that there are so many of them out there that obviously any problems are going to seem more common. And the dmf could be an issue on any diesel built in the last ten to fifteen years.
I'm lukewarm on Fords and very cold on Ford diesels, I know a lot of people who have had very serious & very expensive problems with their Ford diesels at mileages under 150K, (usually involving expenditure which is far more than the value of the repaired car). Mondeos are the worst I know of. I was looking to buy a diesel estate years ago and had a few friends who were mechanics, the first thing they all said was "Don't even think about a Ford diesel!" I think with many quality manufacturers like Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, VW, etc. you'd expect the car to soak up 250K, 300K even 400K miles on the original engine & injection system - Ford often struggles to match this.
Pretty & stylish;
Alfa Romeo Sportwagon
It's an Alfa so the engine probably won't be on a par with German / Japanese / Scandinavian engineering.
These are lovely, and I was considering one of these or the 159 over the current steed as a more 'sensible' choice. I had a 147 JTD previously and that was great.
That said the 156 is not that spacious inside over a Mondeo Hatchback. They do also have issues including:
EGR faults on the 16v Diesels : a modified gasket from Fiat cures most of the faults
Timing belts: The water pump is a known weak point and needs to be changed with every belt change
Suspension bushes ; upper arms die annually unless you get genuine Alfa arms or poly the arms ; Yup, I've BTDT with a 147 which uses the same parts ; 147s/156 & GTs are the same family .
IC hoses are made of chocolate, but again silicone replacements get around this issue permanently.
Some are beginning to rust in a few key areas like the sills and legs ; that could be down to poor jacking up of the car though.
BUT, I'd probably still get one. They still look good inside and out even today and with the right specialist looking at them and/or knowledge they're superb cars. I doubt they'll get any cheaper either. The petrols however make most V6s and even some V8s look cheap to run...