The Mondeo... 18 Months Later.

Back on 21 April 2008 I posted here about my then "new set of wheels"; a Panther black Ford Mondeo mk3 2.0 TDCi.
After a somewhat sizeable upgrade from a 1.0 petrol Swift I was understandably pleased with the purchase and gave it a very favourable review of 95%. I concluded the review saying "I am still struggling trying to find something I am not happy with about this car, and if I really must name something the gears can sometimes feel they are not as smooth as they could be. Other than that it is an excellent car. I will amend this review if anything about it upsets me in the meantime but don't hold your breath."

So fast-forward 18 months and much has changed.
The credit-crunch turned into a full-blown recession taking with it the very garage that I bought the Mondeo from (pictured above). But has my opinion of the car changed?

Well it has to be said the car itself has been incredibly reliable (touch wood) and has never let me down so far, though I have been doing my best to look after it.
It has been treated to regular washes/waxes, the oil and water being checked regularly and the tyres checked every month.

Has anything annoyed me about the car? Yes, but nothing serious.
The gears are definitely not the smoothest in the world as I said last year and it is incredibly annoying when you are moving without a seatbelt when you are reminded by a constant beep from the dash. Thankfully I wear a seatbelt when driving so this doesn't bother me too often.

The CD player isn't the best in the world though the sound is fantastic. The system is let down by a fussy lens which can play a CD-R fine one day then spit it out next saying "BAD CD". Take it out and put it in again and it will probably play. A bit annoying when you just want to play it in the first place and be done with it.
A CD-player upgrade is on the cards when I get the funds along with some alloy wheels. Yes, I will be keeping this car for a long time yet, by far the best car I have had the pleasure to own in the short 4.5 year period I have been driving!

I would still recommend a mark-3 Mondeo to anyone who wants an affordable reliable diesel car.