kiwikermit

How reliable are high km Mondeo's? Just starting to fish for a daily runabout to replace my old 250,000 km Hilux ( I see rust repairs in my near future). I see 2002 -2004ish Mondeo's about reasonably cheap but usually high km's. What do I look out for and what is likely to give me trouble?

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

petrol or diesel?

Fullflush

Flywheels, turbos, injectors

kiwikermit

Not too fussed. Probably a petrol. My hilux is diesel though and cheap as to run. Which is more reliable?

The Crocodile Hunter

The tdci mk3s give loads of trouble.

Just look at all the threads on this site about the subject

bj928

get an early mk3 TDDi, none of the TDCi issues

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

as above the older TDDI engines suffer from lesser issues than the TDCI

Bailes1992

If you're going petrol then I wouldn't worry. They seem pretty bulletproof although the 4 cylinder models do seem to use oil.

The Crocodile Hunter

There are always a few petrols listed on ebay as spares or repairs needing engines? More than likely that people have run them out of oil?

Bailes1992

Not sure. Could very well be!
I know my Father had a 51 plate 1.8 LX brand new back in 2001 and he always used to go on about the oil consumption. From new it would use a litre over 2000miles. It never got any better or worse though.
There's a fair few threads on talk ford with people mentioning their duratecs use oil.

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

I don't think the duratecs are as good as they are made out to be. They all use oil and aren't uncommon for ring / bottom end failure. I had a 2001 tddi and it was brilliant, mate of mine has got it now. It's done 100k in our ownership and has done over 200k now. Only problem has been a broken wire in the fuel pump wiring plug but that was easily sorted by an auto electrician.

Fullflush

If you are buying a high milage car you want an Audi or VW, not a Mondeo. Unless you want practuce at fixing things every weekend.

turbolee

plenty of cheap early passats for sale great cars the tdi go for that instead

kiwikermit

I did have my eye on a couple of Passats also. I love driving my wife's Mk 5 Golf GTI. I will keep my eye out for tddi as well though. I will be sad tor see my hilux go but rust doesn't go away like a fwe mechanical isues do.

kiwikermit

I just found a 2.8 Passat 2004 wagon for sale wit 130k on the clock. Would that be a reliable wagon ?

Fullflush

You want the 1.9 tdi

The Crocodile Hunter

In fairness the tddi models will go on and on like a vag 1.9 pd?

The duratec as someone else said i dont think are that good and tdci's forget it.

Mk1 and 2 mondeos with the zetec engines were alot better at covering high milage imo

kiwikermit

Used diesels just don't seem to be on the maret down here in NZ.