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The TDDi is a good car and at your budget a much better car than the TDCi (2003-2005)which can be very expensive when the fly-wheel falls apart.

1500kg is the maximum towing weight for the mondeo ,Petrol might struggle a bit on the hills .And before any jumps on and says it will tow it fine I have a Mk 2 Zetec 2.0lt petrol towing a 16ft lunar Clubman fantastic on the flat but I do have to use the gear box more on hills and rev the engine to keep road speed up , Mpg can be as low as 20 to the gallon but the car only cost me £1750 3 and half years ago and has been ultra reliable .

Dave

I would plump for the diesel if towing the heavy van, it will be much better on the hills, why not look at some high milers with full history? my Volvo is now 110,000m it drives the same now as new (I've had it from new, 55plate) it spends most of its life sitting on a motorway in 6th gear, if anything is wrong it gets replaced as it doesn't cost me (its a company lease car) its due for change, it will just be sent to auction then end up on a forecourt somewhere.

A colleague bought his mondeo diesel a while ago from the lease company for his dad, it now has 175,000 on the clock!!

Just a thought

The petrol mondeos are lighter than the diesels. Estates are heavier. I would be very wary towing 1500kg MTPLM with a Mondeo.

My 406 hdi Diesel is on 112000 miles and still like new so high milage wouldn't bother me. I'd go for newer with more miles with a service history.

Alternatively the Vauxhall Omega. Shame they dropped the Granada/Scorpio. There aren't many bigger cars without going to the Mercs etc.

Quote: Originally posted by darthillcat on 05/9/2009

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1500kg is the maximum towing weight for the mondeo ,Petrol might struggle a bit on the hills .And before any jumps on and says it will tow it fine I have a Mk 2 Zetec 2.0lt petrol towing a 16ft lunar Clubman fantastic on the flat but I do have to use the gear box more on hills and rev the engine to keep road speed up , Mpg can be as low as 20 to the gallon but the car only cost me £1750 3 and half years ago and has been ultra reliable .

Dave

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Hi all. We bought a 52' plate Ghia TDCi 130. It has high mileage, 140k, but it's had one owner, has a full service history & is in good condition. It cost us £1800. It drives lovely, is smooth & has loads of power; certainly doesnt feel like a 140k mile car of old. It should be ok as a tow-car until we change the Verso for a CRV. I really really want a Sorrento but the wife says they are big & ugly...

I've ordered a tow-bar for it so will be fitting that on Friday, oh & it needs a rear wheel bearing but these are a 15min job to replace, & parts for Fords are very cheap.

We got fed up with looking at cars in the end. There is some absolute rubbish out there, loads of ex-minicabs. We finally spoke to a really nice chap who is a buyer for a big chain of dealers. He gave us some really good advice & we feel that for £1800 it's not the end of the world if it does need some bits replacing. Its a Ghia model so is very plush inside.

As for the towing, I appreciate that we could be at about 93% if we fully load the caravan, but I estimate that we'll be running at about 1425kg so just over 89%. Car is listed as 1584kg, I'll pop it onto the works weighbridge later in the week to confirm. Actual running weights likely to give about 75% match. Have heard some good reports about the Mondeo 130 TDCi as a tow car so looking forward to trying it out.

Cheers.