Ford Mondeo as a towcar? Your experience please.
Do you have - or have you had a Ford Mondeo as a towcar? What is/was it like. I need to buy a used towcar on a very limited budget and this is one of the contenders. Thanks in advance.
Comments
-
We started towing with a petrol 2 L estate and it was a very stable tow car, towing 1400 kg. However, it lacked torque and was not good on steep hills, particularly if you had to stop for any reason. I think the diesel variant would have handled hill starts
better, given its much better torque figures. The other problem was hitch load. Although current models are higher, ours was only 70 kg, which involved a lot of fiddling. However, if as you say the van is only 1000kg, I think either variant would work.0 -
I used to tow a 1980 875Kg Eccles Topaz with a 1.8 petrol Mk 1 Mondeo. Did south of France with it no problem. Its predecessor had been a 1.6 petrol Sierra which was arduous, to say the least.
0 -
I have towed a 1375kg Lunar, with a 2009 Mondeo 1.8 tdci, 125 bhp.
It towed very well, very stable, 90kg towball limit, unfortunately the mondeo was expensive to run and reliability left a lot to be desired.
Our first Ford car, sadly, perhaps the last, cheers.
0 -
Really good towcar. I had a 2011 2.ltr TDCi Zetec estate & towed a Bailey Unicorn Valencia at 1450 kgs with no trouble at all. Bags of room inside & very comfortable on long journeys, towing or solo. Mine was a company car, so no costs for me at servicing
etc, but from what I've heard Ford's are not that expensive to service or fix.0 -
My Ford Focus broke down twice in France and it has cost me a pretty penny indeed. It seems they are cheaper to buy than some Japanese towcars but maybe they are less reliable - the older ones anyway - and thats what I would be buying...
0 -
I've now had three Mondeos, the first manual and the last two autos. Have been extremely satisfied with their towing abilities pulling a 1350kg caravan. My latest, a 2015 2ltr 180bhp, returns about 28 to 30 towing and 48 to 50 mpg solo. There is bags of
room in the car, (estate versions each time), and a very generous loading capacity and with a 90kg tow ball limit.0 -
As JohnM20 says good all round towcar. I have a diesel 2ltr. 140 bhp and it tows very well indeed. 90kg noseweight limit. Bought it in 2010 ex demo car and we do about 2500mls in France every year. Only problem so far is failure of aircon this year (in
the heat wave!!!). Not everyone wants or needs a 4x4 for everyday motoring!0 -
It really does depend on who has owned the car previously. Many ex-company cars will have a high mileage but because the driver doesn't usually have to pay for servicing and repairs these tend to be done religiously. No company rep wants to be off the road
because his car has let him down. On the other hand, some lower mileage cars may not be serviced when they should have been, usually because the owner, apart from the cost, thinks "I don't do much mileage so it doesn't matter".I don't think there is any one point at which a mileage could be considered too high or any one specific fault that is typical of any particular model of car. The older and / or the higher mileage a car has done should be reflected in the price which means
that the cost of repairs should be a more acceptable price to pay.Although you have had a costly problem with your Focus, Flutel, it was probably cheaper to repair than many other makes would have been for the same fault. If you own a car you can expect repair bills at some time in ones ownership of the vehicle.
0 -
Traded in our 56 plate 130bhp Tdci Mondeo a few years ago now as it was reaching 100k miles but it pulled like a train. Been all over France and never missed a beat. Got a Kuga now on a special 'Friends and Family' deal as step daughter worked for Ford and that does just as good a job if not better as its180bhp and 4x4.
0 -
I had a MK4 1.8 tdci Mondeo and wouldn't chance buying another. 2 injectors failed within 30k miles and at £550 per injector not cheap to repair.Didn't trust the car after this so got rid. It was stable when towing but the torque came in in a very narrow
band so i found it tiring to drive.0 -
I think all the above posts show that many will have no problems and a few might experience something. This, almost certainly, goes for all makes of car.
As regard your clutch problem in France, Flutel, it would probably have cost a lot more to repair if you were in the UK as Red Pennant, I believe, pay all the labour costs and you only pay for the parts. Sometimes, I think, you have to claim back the labour
costs once you are back in the UK or, in some instances, pay the parts costs back to R.P. It depends on whether the French garage will invoice R.P. directly.0 -
The only big problem with Ford (and others I believe) is the dual mass clutch, but more modern (post 2007) cars are less expensive than the older ones. Daughter went looking for a Galaxy and one had 'low' mileage. On inspection it had probably been round
the clock!!!!!0 -
The only big problem with Ford (and others I believe) is the dual mass clutch, but more modern (post 2007) cars are less expensive than the older ones. Daughter went looking for a Galaxy and one had 'low' mileage. On inspection it had probably been round the clock!!!!!
A million miles?
Odmeters have 6 digits these days 
0 -
We have had a Mondeo estate, 2.2 TDCI since 2009, with self-levelling rear suspension. It is a superb towcar, always riding level, powerful but economical, with our Swift 480 SE (max 1400kg). Nothing has ever gone wrong. Now looking for a new(er) one but having a job to find one with self-levelling suspension. Don't know what it would be like on standard suspension.
0 -
Hi Hesperides. We have a 2.0 TDCI 180bhp Estate but with standard suspension. It has proved to be an excellent tow-car and have had no problem with the suspension. There are only two of us so total loading is not excessive. Total weight over and above the two of us is round about 90kg for awning etc etc including 20kg for the towbar itself plus a nose weight of another 90kg so, in total, about the weight of two rear seat adult passengers. With a total payload of over 600kg available we are only about one third of the way to maximum and hence, I guess, no trouble with pitching/wallowing. We tow a Lunar at 1350kg.
0
