Thinking about getting one but there are some dodgy reliability reports but hey I’ve got a Mondeo diesel 😀

Any experiences/opinions welcome!

Ta

I have one, had it about 7 or 8 years, one the best family cars I’ve had. 2004 model and bought used from a Vw dealer with 70k on it. Practical when out as a family although not much luggage room when all seats in use. Fits loads of bikes and kit in when needed. We used to do Cornwall every year in ours with a roof box on and got pretty good mpg from it. For us with 5 kids it’s fab (although we also now have a caravelle for the long holiday trips)
Never really serviced it and only problem weve had was clutch / dual mass flywheel. Cost around £900 to sort around 2yrs ago, probably more than car was worth.

Ours was an 05, bought at 3 yrs / 30k old, ex motability, 1.9tdi S. I ran it upto 150k odd in 5 years.

It was not as well screwed together as I was expecting, it had no rear speakers, or wiring for, or wiring for a towbar. It went wrong more often than I would have liked – ate suspension arms, went through two clutches, DPF, dreaded ABS failure, glow plugs etc. Final daft bit was that the boot strut bolts on the car are not accessible without cutting a hole in the bodywork to access – and one of ours fell off….

It was sold to a mechanic as the turbo started playing silly sausages, suspension arms went again, and the clutch then started slipping again – so I binned it openly as a ‘needs work’, and still got £2k for it 😯

Having said all that, it was comfy, mega practical and robust enough inside, did a *lot* of miles with canoes or bikes on and cost only £6k depreciation (in fact it cost more to maintain than depreciation).

I would be wary of another, but wouldn’t say no.

The Galaxy is better screwed together, and so far (2.5 years and 55k) much more reliable.

EDIT: I would look at an Altea XL over a Touran these days, especially if you don’t *need* 7 seats. Reviews less positive, but bigger and a proper bargain.

Yep, we have one. The older 1.9 tai engine. Second hand, highline spec. Basically, we use it as a van. Al the back seats are out, its pretty big but front wheel of bikes needs removing really. All good stuff like cruise, heated seats etc etc… The rear seats are removable completely, do newer ones remove in the same way? Not sure.

Its been reliable, simple and dependable, no dpf, tested technology from a long running engine. Ours has 230kms on the motor at the minute.

Its a car, uninspiring drive, does car things well, economical and robust.

I believe the 2.0 is less reliable with a dpf etc etc.

Cheers for the replies

I will check out a Altea XL and galaxy as well

I know all about DMF Failures as thats one of the things thats going on the Mondeo!

A c-max or s-max would be a better comparison than Galaxy – the Galaxy is just mahooosive (which we like!)

Weve got 4 kids and our zafira is starting to feel small

Transporter would be nice but im thinking galaxy is a more realistic bet

the zafira has been great for the last couple of years (one of the 10k new selloffs), but new twins have meant a rethink

even with a roofbox, theres just not enough bootspace, similar to a touran, if you do need all the seats then you loose a lot of storage

I’ve had two. The first 2004 1.9TDi was faultless for 100k miles. Only sold it as I was leaving the country. The second one is a 2008 2.0TDi and was faultless until about 80k miles. But after that (up to 100k now) it has had:
1) new turbo
2) new clutch
3) new gearbox
4) several seized brake callipers

I also have a 2013 Galaxy that has been in and out of the dealership 15 times now for various ailments.

It’s a lottery buying cars

The rear seats are removable completely, do newer ones remove in the same way? Not sure.

Yes all removable.

What Rickmeister said. Nothing has really gone wrong with ours in a 150K. I keep on top of the service (once a year or every 10k).

The only faults have been a couple of bushes in the front suspension (about a tenner each and a lot of grief) and the alternator. I’ve also just replaced the dual mass and clutch as a precaution/concern about a rattle in that area.Everything else has been fair wear and tear.

The rear interior trim is battered from dragging bikes in and out though

Hth
Marko

The rear interior trim is battered from dragging bikes in and out though

This will be the case with my car too
they are there to be used!

We’re on our second one now. We had it from new and ran it for 7 yrs, and apart from the ABS problem it was pretty good. Dull as dishwater, but practical as a family car, not too big on the outside and returned a decent amount when we traded it in against another one 3 years ago. We looked at every type of car for a good few months and ended up with another Touran, that says something.

We spent 17 hrs in it last year on our way back from skiing, and it was just the job.

One more point, it’s my wife run around and thus is the 1.6 tdi . If you were doing regular big motorway miles, I’d go for the 2.0tdi. But that’s just me.

Our first cost a lot just out of warranty, despite that we bought another one which has been trouble free for 3 and a half years. Boring but very practical car, spec levels not bad and van like capacity with seats out. its actually more comfortable long distance than our Audi A5.