My first Ford!! - MA Mondeo Zetec

[bigdude1011]

Hey comrades,

I've finally decided to buy myself a car to replace my old Integra. At first, I was looking at the old Japanese "favourites" (Liberty, Mazda6, Accord Euro, Camry), as well as the Falcon/Commodore on Gas, and then, out of nowhere, I decided to look for the Mondeo. There were about three private sale Mondeos here in Canberra, so I took a look at all of them yesterday afternoon. Two of them were XR5s, and the other was a Zetec.

I chose the Zetec, because, well, it was $6-7k cheaper than the XR5s, even before haggling, it was a year newer, had half the mileage of the others, and had most of the gadgets of the XR5. Sure, I'll miss having a manual, but I've still got 6 speeds, so I'm not complaining. As I just commute between home, work (10 minutes away), the gym and TAFE (20 minutes away), I don't really need the extra power.

The seller was in the defence force, and got posted overseas, so she was easy to negotiate with, so I was able to get it down to $16,000. Not bad for a 2009 with 50k on the clock.

What do you guys think? Did I get a good deal? Will the car last me 5+ years without trouble? Anything I should know?

Thank You!!

[aware]

Cool story bro.

[Riksta]

I'm going to ignore aware's post because he's banned.

Sounds like a good pickup mate, I don't think you'll be too disappointed.

Even though you don't have a manual, you've still got the manual shift option in sports mode which is pretty snappy, I don't use it all that often but when I do its like my car has woken up and is ready to parrr-taaayyy.

As for it lasting, I can't say, I've only had mine just under 6 months, but no major problems yet, 21,000km on the clock now (I've racked them up considering it only had 6,000 when I picked it up 2 days before NYE!).

What colour is it? Any pics?

[bigdude1011]

Originally Posted by Riksta

Sounds like a good pickup mate, I don't think you'll be too disappointed.

Even though you don't have a manual, you've still got the manual shift option in sports mode which is pretty snappy, I don't use it all that often but when I do its like my car has woken up and is ready to parrr-taaayyy.

As for it lasting, I can't say, I've only had mine just under 6 months, but no major problems yet, 21,000km on the clock now (I've racked them up considering it only had 6,000 when I picked it up 2 days before NYE!).

What colour is it? Any pics?

It's Sea Grey. I haven't picked it up just yet, but I'm giving it to my mechanic to check it out, then if all goes well, it's all mine!! It's going to be a great daily hack, and is even roomier than the FG XR6 that Dad is driving at the moment.

I got the picture off Carsales, as I don't have the car in person, but I photoshopped the number plate out.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Does the automatic mode ever override the sports mode? When I was testing a newer Accord Euro with my dad, the sports mode would get overridden by the auto mode, if you didn't change your gear in time.

[Riksta]

I've not had it do an over-ride upshift.

Basically, whack it sideways from "D" to "S" and you're in sports mode, although still fully auto. Its not until you click it up or down that it will be in manual.

I dropped mine a couple of gears to help get up a big hill one night, and when it flattened out I had to stop at a set of lights. Took off and wondered why it was revving the hell out of it, realised it was still in first gear and flicked it back over to "D".

I have however noticed in manual mode it auto shifting back to "1" when you pull up to stop at the lights.

Looks the goods though mate, and they really are a pleasure to drive.

One thing to remember though: I've heard they don't like "normal" fuel (91RON), my manual says 95RON or higher, but I tend to always just use 98RON (either VPower or Ulitmate depending where I am when I need fuel) - I'm getting almost 600km's out of a tank though, averaging around 9.7L/100km which I won't argue with.