2013-14 mondeo wagon: what to look out for?

[cooperplace]

When the magna wagon eventually dies, the choice for its replacement seems to be narrowing down to a later MC diesel wagon. I'll look for a low kms FSH car. There's a few areas where I'd appreciate advice:
1. Is it worth paying more for the higher trim levels?
2. do these go LX>Zetec>Titanium?
3. What should i look out for in a test drive, apart from the obvious? I'll especially check the trans shifts OK.
4. What are the headlights like, especially low beam?
5. Anything else?
Thank you!

[cooperplace]

the kids want rear a/c, so it looks like it's got to be a Zetec or Ti.

I found the brochures here: v useful.

[Mondaveo]

To address your questions a bit out of order:

2. Yes, LX is base grade, then Zetec and Titanium is top.
Here's a summary from another thread that should be useful for you: Purchasing MB/MC Mondeo Titanium

1. Worth paying more to get all the fruit? That depends on what you want out of the car. If you just want spacious transport and keep your change then LX is surely compelling. Zetec essentially adds conveniences (auto lights/wipers, dual-zone a/c), and Titanium loads on the tech for maximum posh. Personally, my head was keen on the active safety features of the Titanium (forward collision warning etc) and my heart was lured to the sports bodykit and sunroof, so the price premium was worth it to me, but aside from the safety tech, I've found most of the gizmos I could live without - with the unexpected exception of dual zone climate control

6. I'm not sure why you think the requirement for rear a/c would exclude LX? All grades get rear vents the same. Zetec up does get you dual zone a/c, but the zones are left/right controlled from the front seats only.

3. The main thing you want to look for (try to avoid) is obviously any Powershift issues. The wet-clutch transmission isn't the basket case that the dry-clutch in Fiesta/Focus/Ecosport has been, but nonetheless faults are not-uncommon and expensive to fix. Otherwise there's no clear trends of problems with these cars, they seem to be pretty reliable overall.

4. Headlights are adequate. I personally would like them to throw a little further down the road (both high and low beam), but what you get is probably par for the course. I do have the Titanium with adaptive headlights (point around corners as you steer) which is pretty neat. High beam seems to me to be spread too wide and reflects annoyingly off road signs and the like. Auto lights are fine but I had to turn off the auto high beam function, which was confused by those road sign reflections.

5. Anything else...
Zetec and Titanium get an upspec instrument cluster (Convers+) with integration with the stereo system. It's neat, but the stereo head unit is nothing to write home about (single CD player with aux-in/Bluetooth/iPod/USB). There's no ICC or screen with inbuilt GPS or reversing camera etc.
LX's 16" wheels and tyres with their deeper sidewalls give a more compliant ride over rough surfaces than do the 17/18" alloys on Zetec and Titanium. Mondeo is pretty low-slung and the sports suspension on Titanium makes it even lower, so bear in mind if you regularly have to traverse less-than-billiard-smooth roads.
Wagons come with a space-saver spare wheel, but there was a factory option for a full-sized spare (raises the floor of the boot by a few cm). Something to look for if it's important to you. The dish will accept a full-size 16" wheel and tyre but you might fall foul of the bigger wheels on Zetec and Titanium.

[rondeo]

We have an LX and a Zetec wagons (MY2011). I prefer the LX generally except for a more limited range of fan speed control in the cab.
My wife prefers the Zetec, parking sensors, dual zone climate control.


Our Zetec has rear vents under the front seats and in the B column I think you call it. The LX has no vents in the B column, just under the front seats.

I prefer the ride in the LX with its deeper tyres.

[Mondaveo]

I stand corrected, I thought all grades must have air vents for the rear occupants in the door B pillar. That would be a deal-breaker on the LX then.

Unless some have it and some don't. I observed back when I was car-shopping that some MC LX appeared to have front and rear parking sensors, and others were rear only. So it seems like some features vary car to car.

[383hq]

Traded out of an MC zetec tdci after 194,000 km

Had a parking bulb blow once. Very underrated car.
I'd buy again.

Headlights were typical Euro - not as good as an aussie car. One of the first things I did was to put higher intensity bulbs in the high beams for country driving.

Preferred the zetec for iphone integration (It's better then the falcon fg of type) and auto wiper.

Watch outs - can't use normal engine oil , needs a more expensive low ash oil or you'll have dpf issues at some stage.

Someone else has spoken of the gearbox - money i saved on fuel (Usually saw 1000-1200 km/tank of diesel) went on gearbox oil every 60,000 km. With fuel prices where they are, that's no longer the case, and money saved today will even pay for the timing belt replacement.

What else ? Wiper blades were expensive ($100/side), but aftermarket are available now. Towing is limited compared to aussie cars.

Only sold it because I started to get nervous about the cost of replacement diesel components (injectors, pumps, turbos) All of which are priced in the thousands, not in the hundreds. I couldn't find any examples of 300,000 km units where history was known to allay my fears otherwise I would have kept it.