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I tow a 1450kg Hymer van with a Mondeo 115tdci and it is quite the best towcar I have ever tried and that includes several well known large 4X4s. The service schedule for those models is two small services and then one large service on a 12 month or 12500mile schedule. I have just paid OMC ford main agents £159 for an A service ( one of the small ones and including an MOT. I have had the car for 6 years and 50k miles and in that time I have replaced the tyres twice ( once this summer ) so the tyres are averaging 30k per set. I have had brakes replaced all round including discs and a handbrake cable and the total cost was £400, I replaced the exhaust this summer ( for the first time ) and the cost from Ford was £280, I also replaced the rear sub frame bushes ( again main fords dealer ) and the cost was £220.  The cars along with virtually all modern small diesels has a Dual Mass fly wheel fitted and after 6 years use and a lot of towing I priced a replacement using a solid flywheel from a non ford source and was quoted £650 fitted the job has not been done and will not be until it needs it ( I thought about changing the car earlier this summer as I could see all these jobs coming up but decided that the car itself does my job just about as well as any car could and that if I kept it another 6 years it would be considerably cheaper than replacing it ).  The engine looked after is unburstable, just make sure the oil is changed regularly.

It costs me £130 a year in raod tax, £350 a year to insure, and fuel consumption is fantastic. Knocking around town with short journeys  I can guarantee averaging 48+mpg, on the motorway travelling at the speeds that my wife wants to travel at ( mid 50s as she has vertigo and struggles with fast movement ) I get 65+mpg, at 70 it returns just less than 60mpg.  Towing my heavy caravan I can guarantee 33+mpg and expect 35+.

The car is comfortable and feels to be lazy doing what I do in it, but just a little pressure with my right foot turns it into something that is raring to go.

You may get the message that I like it, you would be right.

The difference between the 130 and the 115 is minimal if you see a good 115 don't be put off it is more than adequate. The 130 has a 6 gear box and the 115 has a 5 gear box but to me the 5 gear box has a better selection of gears for my use, the 6th gear is too high when towing and the 6 gears 5th is lower than it is on my 5 gear box so the fuel economy suffers very slightly. Other than that with care you can not go wrong. Just check with a 90k mile plus car that the clutch has been changed and the rear suspension bushes done and you should be able to avoid most problems.

hi camping100, I have owned and Towed with a 115 TDCI Estate for 5years now and can say it does the job very well.(just short of 160,000 miles on the clock ) With 4 passengers a Bailey Pageant bordeaux and fully loaded it returns approx 30 mpg on a run. Usual problems as above DMF changed, wheel bearings on front and sticky rear caliper. all can be fixed easily enough. Lots of spares available for the Mondeo from all good motor factors as well as dealers. As with damon st i will probably change to a newer version when the time comes.

Quote: Originally posted by janus on 07/9/2012

The difference between the 130 and the 115 is minimal if you see a good 115 don't be put off it is more than adequate. The 130 has a 6 gear box and the 115 has a 5 gear box but to me the 5 gear box has a better selection of gears for my use, the 6th gear is too high when towing and the 6 gears 5th is lower than it is on my 5 gear box so the fuel economy suffers very slightly. Other than that with care you can not go wrong. Just check with a 90k mile plus car that the clutch has been changed and the rear suspension bushes done and you should be able to avoid most problems.

 

 

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Great tow cars. I tow a 1200KG caravan with mone and loaded with kids and bikes etc it makes short work of hills and crusies very nice at 60mph getting mid 30 mpg.

On my daily commute I get 58mpg (steady 50mph) and even crusiing at 80+ I get mid forties.

I paid £1400 from a dealer for a 130 ghia x that had recently had the clutch/flywheel done at a cost of £927 and had a 3 year warranty. It also had 4 new tyres, 106k and full service history. As far as I was concerned with the clutch/tyres been done in the past few months the car was pretty much free.

Also use it for towing my boat and jetski, does fine with both. Without a doubt the best value tow vehicle I've ever had.

Quote: Originally posted by DamonST on 07/9/2012Due to the sheer number of TDCi mondeos on the road, it is possible to find some which are borderline indestructible, as well as complete dogs.

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In addition to Bills points, be aware that on this generation of TDCi engines the injectors have been known to be notoriously fragile, and to completely replace all four (a worst case scenario) could involve a four figure workshop bill. However regular maintenance and decent quality fuel significantly reduces the likelihood of damaging particles making it past the fuel filter and into the injector nozzle.

More obvious engine issues to listen for on a test drive are the DMF as noted above (rattles from gearbox area when driving and clunky gear changes), and rattles from the drivers side of the engine bay (more on that below).

The Dual Mass Flywheel does take a lot of grief if the vehicle hasn't been driven appropriately (driving with revs too low, ie sub 1500RPM for long periods; harsh acceleration and aggressive gear changes). As a guide, I'd expect a vehicle with more than 75-80k on the clocks to be approaching a replacement DMF. When this part is replaced, it is a matter of course to replace the clutch and slave cylinder whilst everything is in bits, as the labour costs make up the majority of the total outlay.

Personally, I wouldn't go down the Single Mass Flywheel route on these engines unless it was for an exceptionally high mileage use (cabbies tend to be the main customers for this type of conversion). The purpose of the DMF is to absorb vibrations and shocks from the engine in order to prolong the operational life of the gearbox. Replacing with an SMF would result in these forces being transmitted through to the gearbox, which has been known to lead to damage and failure of the gearbox and/or crankshaft.

The other rattle I mentioned would likely indicate a problem with the crankshaft pulley, idler pulleys and/or auxiliary belt tensioner. These are pretty common, and tend to be more irritation than problematic. Many mondeo owners drive with these rattling their tits off for months or even years. You will know if this is the fault if it is rattling from straight in front of the drivers position at idle, but the rattling stops with a slight increase in revs.

Outside the vehicle, check the bottoms of all the doors, especially on the inside of the lip. Certain builds had problems with the welds and sealing here, resulting in corrosion setting in from the inside out. Unless it is caught immediately it becomes evident, by the time it has been noticed it is usually too late and needs a lot of work doing, and possibly even four replacement doors.

Don't let all this put you off, all vehicles have their known issues. I for one love my 2.0 TDCi and cannot imagine changing it unless it was for a newer version of the same beast. My mileage isn't as good as Bills, however I believe this may be partly due to a slightly sticking rear caliper or handbrake cable, which I will be investigating in the near future.

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Quote: Originally posted by jayc001 on 07/9/2012

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]I paid £1400 from a dealer for a 130 ghia x that had recently had the clutch/flywheel done at a cost of £927 and had a 3 year warranty. It also had 4 new tyres, 106k and full service history.

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Quote: Originally posted by DaveCoaches on 07/9/2012

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My caravan has a MTPLM of 1450 kg.

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Quote: Originally posted by janus on 07/9/2012

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I am not sure that I agree with the advice given earlier about DMF and driving with less than 1500 rpm, though as has been said aggressively changing the revs ( heavy righ foot), and aggressive driving in general will put a lot of stress on the vflywheel and clutch plus I will murder the fuel consumption.

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Quote: Originally posted by jayc001 on 07/9/2012

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I paid £1400 from a dealer for a 130 ghia x that had recently had the clutch/flywheel done at a cost of £927 and had a 3 year warranty. It also had 4 new tyres, 106k and full service history.

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Quote: Originally posted by DamonST on 07/9/2012

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Quote: Originally posted by DaveCoaches on 07/9/2012My caravan has a MTPLM of 1450 kg.

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Thanks for adding that bit Dave, it gives me a good idea of what I'll be able to tow with mine. I was restricting myself to sub-1400kgs, but a few of my shortlist tickle 1450-1500kgs.

Quote: Originally posted by janus on 07/9/2012I am not sure that I agree with the advice given earlier about DMF and driving with less than 1500 rpm, though as has been said aggressively changing the revs ( heavy righ foot), and aggressive driving in general will put a lot of stress on the vflywheel and clutch plus I will murder the fuel consumption.

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The reason to keep the revs above that point are that lower revs result in increased engine vibration when the engine is under load. Compare how the engine responds when accelerating in 3rd gear and higher from 1400rpm, and how it responds when accelerating from 1800-2000rpm. You will get a lot more shuddering and labouring from the engine at sub-1500rpm, which is simply not good for prolonging the life of the part designed to dampen those vibrations. The DMF has springs connecting the two plates which dampen down vibration to the gearbox. If you can 'feel' the vibration then your revs are too low. I tend not to go higher than 3rd gear around town.

Quote: Originally posted by jayc001 on 07/9/2012I paid £1400 from a dealer for a 130 ghia x that had recently had the clutch/flywheel done at a cost of £927 and had a 3 year warranty. It also had 4 new tyres, 106k and full service history.

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Blimey!

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Quote: Originally posted by DamonST on 07/9/2012

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Quote: Originally posted by DaveCoaches on 07/9/2012

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My caravan has a MTPLM of 1450 kg.

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Thanks for adding that bit Dave, it gives me a good idea of what I'll be able to tow with mine. I was restricting myself to sub-1400kgs, but a few of my shortlist tickle 1450-1500kgs.

Quote: Originally posted by janus on 07/9/2012

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I am not sure that I agree with the advice given earlier about DMF and driving with less than 1500 rpm, though as has been said aggressively changing the revs ( heavy righ foot), and aggressive driving in general will put a lot of stress on the vflywheel and clutch plus I will murder the fuel consumption.

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The reason to keep the revs above that point are that lower revs result in increased engine vibration when the engine is under load. Compare how the engine responds when accelerating in 3rd gear and higher from 1400rpm, and how it responds when accelerating from 1800-2000rpm. You will get a lot more shuddering and labouring from the engine at sub-1500rpm, which is simply not good for prolonging the life of the part designed to dampen those vibrations. The DMF has springs connecting the two plates which dampen down vibration to the gearbox. If you can 'feel' the vibration then your revs are too low. I tend not to go higher than 3rd gear around town.

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I paid £1400 from a dealer for a 130 ghia x that had recently had the clutch/flywheel done at a cost of £927 and had a 3 year warranty. It also had 4 new tyres, 106k and full service history.

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Blimey!

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AS I said in my first post I also tow a 1450kg caravan, if you were excluding vans of that weight think again, you will have no trouble towing one with a Mondeo.

I find the acceleration from lower revs to be no problem at all, but then I rarely push it hard at all. it is also very rarely that I find myself using fevs above 1800 so whilst I do know the comparison to me it is irrelevant. The acceleration from 1200rpm onwards is smooth and even if not startlingly quick but it is surpising how ell the car keeps up doing that. I had a brand new Ka last week when my car was in for service and found myself having to really push that simply to keep up, like chalk and cheese. I would still maintain that keeping the revs down is a better prospect than pushing the revs on, it lowers the pressures on the flywheel, simply because of the rediuced torque and keeping the engine running with the minimum use of the turbo makes an enormous difference to the fuel consumption. After 50k usage on a car that had 105k miles on the clock when I bought it 6 years ago the clutch is still as sweet and clean as it was when I bought it.

Quote: Originally posted by Grampian91 on 07/9/2012

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In 2009 i bought a Diesel 130bhp Estate with the 6 speed gearbox.

Its brilliant.

Going to cornwall with the caravan a turbo pipe came off and i pushed on and it still had the power to pull the van up those hills on the A30.

Averaged 31mpg, It was doing 34mpg before that point.

I had a remap and wow what a difference. Steady run up the M1, M62 M6 north and i averaged 39mpg.

Coming back bit more traffic and a bit quicker, Averaged 36mpg.

When towing it will tow fine in 6th gear but 5th will give better economy and less likely to kill the DMF.

Lots of horror stories about flywheels and injectors.

But lots of modern diesels have them now, Injectors. Yes they are not what they should be but lots of people blame the injectors or pump when its something else.

But they only go by what the code reader says. Low fuel pressure its the pump or injectors. Lots of other causes.

If your on a budget and dont do lots of miles buy a petrol one. I had a 2L petrol. It needed tyres, brakes and oil and filter changes nothing else.

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