FORD MONDEO 1.8 Zetec 5dr (2005)

Second gen Mondeo still feeling solid

Ours is a second generation Ford Mondeo 1.8 Zetec, and my only real regret is not getting in with the first generation. I suppose I was bothered by the 'Mondeo man' thing for a while, but to Ford Mondeo I will be loyal from now on, as long as the newer ones haven't messed up what's good so far (always possible). My main reason for wanting to move on from this one is the relatively low fuel economy, it gets a good deal under 40 miles a gallon, which these days isn't so great, and I understand is quite a bit better in the 3rd and 4th gen Ford Mondeo.

Lots of things have always impressed me about my Ford Mondeo, I still smile about them. The first is the windscreen with this instant clearing thing, takes just over a minute to get completely clear even in the worst weather, that's just brilliant. Aircon is good, although it has needed regassing a couple of times, perhaps because I use it quite a bit.

I've always found it really handy to have the big old box in between the front seats for storing stuff. I get really confused now when I'm driving a smaller car like my parents Corsa, just don't know where to keep my sunglasses and hat.

One little downside is that the 1.8 in this Ford Mondeo feels a little like it's lacking a bit of power. I have driven some really small cars before, like 1 litre engines, and they're really light so they fly about. Maybe all the features in the Ford Mondeo weigh it down a bit, or maybe it's another engineering thing, but it's not quite the beast you might want for a modern 1.8. That's something else I'll be looking out for when I upgrade.

Other thing I couldn't leave out is the boot. It's just massive. It's always easily big enough for all my work gear, but it gets the real test when we go camping and take a nice big 6 person tent in it, plus all our camping gear and food and things. It's a bit tight in the end but we just use all the space, totally adequate.