I prefer the silly/light hearted side of posting here, but just watching Casino Royale and watched Mr B driving his Mondeo and it brought up the raw emotion and pain the one I’m driving currently causes me.

Basically, it’s cr**!

I’m blessed enough not to have to own a car, because between me, work and the nice chaps at the hire place, I just have a hire 24/7.

Over last year, favourite is the i40, stunning motor.

Worst, and I expected most from, is this Titanium X Mondeo – “Oooh la la” I though, expecting something special (for me!).

The engine is dreadful (1.6 I believe), the steering is REALLY heavy, controls are totally non-intuative and so poorly designed,…for example, the heating control is some tiny, smooth surfaced thing which you can hardly turn, and the wiper motor makes a really audiable noise at slow speeds.

There’s more, but these are just really basic failures, last car of mu own was a 59 focus, which was a stunning car, this though is awful…and the steering really is shocking, plus it feels big, which it isn’t really. Not sure if it’s wheel positioning, but I struggle to judge this thing in car parks.

That’s it really, I feel mildly better now. Just wondered if it’s just me?!

EDIT: Fantastic seats, but that’s it.

What Car and Top Gear would suggest its just you.

It’s just you. My fathers got one I borrowed the other week. Fantastic car.

I borrowed the other week

Did you have to turn any corners or change the temperature!?

Horses for courses I suppose. We’ve got one at work, although a 2L, so maybe 150bhp or so (?). I like the heavy steering, the gear change is nice and quick, and it’s pretty quick to get past a ton. Position of the window switches is an ergonomic disgrace though.

i hired an i40…and it took me 15 minutes to figure out how everything worked….nice car though and 50mpg doing 80mph is amazing for such a big car…..totally lacking in power whilst cruising though…had to drop down a gear and the stupid sounds the car does when leaving entering etc… grates after a while.

Nowthat said just bought a 2008 VW cravelle 130 and its much nicer to drive than the i40!!!

I had one for four years (Titanium 2.0 diesel), just swapped it for an i40.

IME, without a shadow of a doubt, the Mondy was the better car. I swapped to the i40 knowing this as I didn’t want the same car for eight years.

Those two aside, there’s nothing else in the same class at the moment. The Passat is decent but feels like it was built in 1990. I’ve had a M-sport BMW five series for the last week, and it’s impressed me as a ‘drivers’ car and has a sprightliness that belies its size, but I’d take either the Mondeo or the i40 over it given a choice.

An i40 over a 5 series ?

totally lacking in power whilst cruising though…

In terms of power-to-weight, there’s not a lot between my 2L Mondeo and 1.7L i40 (I think it’s something like 136PS vs 140PS). What’s really noticeable though it the torque. The Mondeo could set off in third and not blink; the i40 stalls soon as look at it if you don’t give it quite enough loud when pulling away.

the stupid sounds the car does when leaving entering etc… grates after a while.

That’s a setting, you can turn it off. It is a car of many bings though. If you try and move without your seatbelt on whilst it’s cold outside and you’re parked near something, it sounds like an Intel advert.

An i40 over a 5 series ?

Yeah.

Don’t get me wrong, it was nice enough and all, but it wasn’t the prestige marque I was expecting. Surfing the web on it was amusing though. Mine’s a bit newer than the 5 though, maybe that was part of it. It was 12 months old -ish and from the mileage I think the previous owner was Captain Kirk, it’d had a hard life.

Well it’s just me then, I just think there’s too many design failures(interior-wise), it’s too heavy in the steering dept for a modern car (what happened to speed sensitive power steering?) and a PDC that switches itself on and off when it feels like at the time when it’s needed just boils my waste products…just basic failures. The p*** poor 1.6 engine doesn’t help matters I guess. The 1.7 in the Hyundai was a world apart, even in the estate version.

To be fair,

It’s a hell of a lot of motor for a 1.6 block to be dragging about. The 2L was superb, proper grunty. It was great for shocking boy racers.

:wink:Nice set of i40 Aero roofbars for sale here 😉

Now you tell me.

You’re too late, sadly, I bought a set of wingbars. I’ve got the Modeo aerobars for sale if anyone’s interested though.

I run a Mondeo for 35000 mile a year for work and it’s been excellent compared to the previous cars.

Mines a 2.0 Diesel Auto and even then it doesn’t miss a beat and pull along quite happily if a little heavy on the fuel compared to its manual counterpart.

I spend 5 hours a day in mine. I like it a lot.

I have an Edge model Mondeo, it was that or the zetec for me as I couldn’t abide the big colour screen Converse system. I’ve very few complaints, especially regarding how it drives. IMO Fords are in a very select group having decent steering weight, most other cars are horribly over-assisted. The brother-in-law has just got a 3 series, and previously had an a4. I told how horrid i thought the a4 steering was and how much better the bm is, he said he couldnt tell the difference! I haven’t rated the focus particularly since the mk1. Each to their own I guess!

Really? I loved the Converse+, just gutted I couldn’t get the X with the other half of it.

I think you’re right about weight though; I found it to be a rewarding drive. Getting courtesy Fiestas it was always a shock coming back to the Mondeo as to just how heavy it was, but after two minutes it just feels ‘right’.

You want to be glad it wash’t an Astra. I thought things might have improved but I hired a 62 plate 1.6 estate last week from Heathrow.

It was utterly shite. The steering input had the reactions of a lorry in a 70’s american movie and the engine was abysmal, a linear torque curve, but where x=0

The controls, displays and plastics were really cheap.

But, as has been said above about some other tinny euro box, the seat were dead comfy.

How dare you have an opinion!! This is STW!! Stick to making daft jokes about weeding and decking and answering questions about ‘what is the best…..’

Thanks.

Doesn’t surprise me.

I’ve had a couple of Vectras; the top-of-the-range Elite and the bottom-feeder Club. Can’t say I was overly impressed. And have you sat in an SRi? That’s a face only a mother could love.

When I was driving a lot of hire cars I always really liked the Mondeo’s I was given. But then they were all big diesel engines.

The only thing I didn’t like about them was the mad dash. Like five different blokes were asked to design a different part of the interior without being able to see what the others were up to.

Although admittedly, the latest ones look nicer.

Like five different blokes were asked to design a different part of the interior without being able to see what the others were up to.

That sums it up well for me, except no-one watched what they were doing and just put it into production.

I couldnt forgive the Converse owing to what it did to the rev counter, squashing the most important dial (OK I conceed it isn’t really on a diesel family car but still it offends me!) into a small daft semicircle. It looked to me like they’d thrown in the biggest screen that would fit into existing mouldings, I prefer simple dials or neater execution! I’m probably not normal though.

1.6 in a Mondeo is an Ecotec engine which is designed for economy not performance which explains why you weren’t impressed.
I have the older MK3 model and very impressed with it. I keep looking at different cars and usually comeback disappointed. I need an estate, comparison wise the A6 is much smaller than the Mondeo inside and lacks feedback in the steering and chassis so you feel disconnected when driving it. The 5 series is nice but needs a big engine to get a good performance but then it not worth the premium over a Mondeo. XF ticks all the boxes but the estate is too new yet so just need to wait for them to become more available.

Other Half has access to a lot of Hyundais at work. She likes them, but apparently they are always in the garage for repairs; lots of gearbox failures, apparently.
I love the look of the i40 estate though.

We’ve got a previous gen Mondeo estate at work 2 litre diesel Titanium & it’s a pretty nice car. Not sure about reliability!

I prefer simple dials or neater execution! I’m probably not normal though.

You need an Audi then.

All our company mondeos were dreadful. Massive catalogue of electrical faults and engine issues. Comfortable, loads of space in the estates, could do without electrical faults turning the engine off and taking the power steering with it comming into corners on a random basis…or just refusing to start..or having to get dasboards replaced…or issues where the cars would lock and randomly leave one door still unlocked…. shame as if you get a reliable one it’d be a nice car. I would never have another ford after my experiences with them though

The 5 series is nice but needs a big engine to get a good performance but then it not worth the premium over a Mondeo.

. I dunno, I just got a 520d and it has loads of power and seems pretty quick. As a company car it doesn’t cost me any more than a titanium Mondeo estate.

I had a test drive in the 520d and it was gutless compared to the 2.2 Mondeo even though the BMW on paper is more powerful. They are a nice car to drive though so long as it’s not an M sport. 530d SE would suit me nicely but it’ not much of a gain on a Mondeo for the price of it.

a few years back I was looking for an estate car, decided I wanted “premium” to get something back at sell-on time.

what a waste of money. what resale value?

BMW 320d which I ended up with was nicest car but boot not really that big
Audi A4 – someone needs to tell Audi about the concepts of “suspension” and “pneumatic tyres”
Jag X Type – couldn’t get an estate to test.
Freeloader – van with windows.

next estate car will be cheap as chips. probably a Citroen C5 or a Skoda Yeti/Superb/Octavia. Who cares what it’s worth in 5 years time if it costs £10k less than a “premium” estate?

You need an Audi then.

Nah, couldn’t cope with the attached stigma. As I said at the top, the edge or zetec models suit me fine, they may be poverty spec but they do for me: air con, cruise, Bluetooth still all present and correct.

The new Octavia might be a good shout in a few years but I don’t consider yetis or superb to be cheap, cheap compared to an Audi/BMW yes but not compared to the mighty Mondeo. Depreciation can be your friend!

I quite like my Mondeo. I’m sure there are better cars around, but it was pretty cheap and is low mileage.
The cabin is nice, quality feel to it. Not as quirky as my Saabs were, but ok. No problem with any of the knobs and dials.
I really like the handling – being a big estate I think it handles pretty well on back roads. Mine’s a 2.0 petrol and it has power somewhere, it’s hard to find it though and a nice surprise when you do. Damn juicy at 31mpg – that’s the only thing I dislike about it.
Boot is absolutely enormous, which is my favourite thing about it.
End of the day, it’s just a car and I hate driving with a passion beyond words, so as long as it keeps my stress levels fairly low, its ok with me!

You need an Audi then.
Nah, couldn’t cope with the attached stigma. As I said at the top, the edge or zetec models suit me fine, they may be poverty spec but they do for me: air con, cruise, Bluetooth still all present and correct.

I purely meant for the simple dash, nothing else.

I like mine. Felt right at home after 5 years with a Focus. A very soothing car to drive it just goes woOOOOOOOOOOOOosh

It’s you. ‘Family’ cars don’t get much better. 2L diesel engine is the one to go for, IMHO.

Currently driving a Mk4 diesel Mondeo replacement car whilst my own Mk3 diesel Mondeo has a scrape removed.

I have to say it’s a LOVELY car, handles well, plently of power, very responsive, steering is not at all heavy. Boot is bigger that Mk3 and “squarer” so easier to use.

As others have said, a Mondeo is a lot of car to try using 1.6 litres to move around so that’s probably part of your problem.

EDIT – my only complaint is that it seems a bit noisier than my Mk 3.

Now have one of the newer Mondeo Estates and ’tis a very nice car to drive. I can only assume you have a deficient one as the steering is incredibly light. Switched to the Mondy from a Vectra which despite widespread derision was actually a very decent car. The Mondeo is a heavy car though and if you want something resembling “sprightly” performance you are better off getting the 160bhp version over the 140bhp. We have the 140 version and no one is ever going to accuse it of it having brisk acceleration but these days I can sort of live with that. I do miss that bit of snap that the Vectra (150bhp SRi) had over it. Test drove an Insignia when we were looking and it was one of the more disappointing cars I have ever driven

A well timed thread… definately increasing the likelihood that the replacement for my current MK3 estate will be …. wait for it … a MK4 estate.

I used to own a focus and have had lots of previous model mondeos as hire cars in the past and liked all of them.

However, I think the build quality on fords had really dropped off in recent years. I had a brand new smax as a hire car the other day, ****ing terrible car. It was impossible to change the heater settings without taking my eyes off the road, trapped my fingers in the stupid aircraft throttle style hand brake and I struggled to get fuel in through the cap-less fuel addition point/hole.

Mine’s the 163 BHP one and the performance is only adequate. However, the handling makes up for it- Audi drivers don’t know what they’re missing.