Anyone ever towed with a 2005 Mondeo petrol 2.0l hatchback?
I appreciate the diesel would return a better mpg consumption, but I was mainly interested in the the engine and vehicle as a whole for towing a van under 1300kg.
I've always preferred towing with an automatic, it's a me thing while I know many prefer a manual.
Finally, are these vehicles reasonably reliable? I'm quite handy working on cars, and the bonus is there are Mondeos at every breakers should the occasion need that!
I think you will find 2litre petrol of this age has cam chain not cambelt. They have been known to break which is terminal for engine & unlike cambelt it is not reasonably easy diy routine replacement. So usual advice for car of this age would be replace cambelt to ensure reliability cannot be applied.
Also have you checked road tax cost? could be high for 2litre petrol.
I had the 2L petrol manual and it towed fine approx 26mpg when towing.
My diesel does an average of 34mpg, i have had 39mpg when towing though.
The diesel does pull a lot better though. With an auto that would balance out somewhat. I found on steeper motorway inclines i would be changing down where the diesel just pulls and pulls.
I had a 55 plate diesel auto with the 5 speed tiptronic gearbox. Transmission was bulletproof and great for towing but had to use in manual mode as auto couldn't adapt to towing for gear change speeds.
Fuel consumption fine on motorways but hopeless round town.
I still have a 52 plate 1.8 Mondeo, and its manual, so not the same as the one your looking at, it only tows my trailer. But, as for the car, it has 96K on the clock and apart from 2 rear shocks which i got changed last year which wernt costly at all, the only other thing that has failed on it was 1 coil pack and a car battery that depsite only being 2 years old decided it didnt like its life anymore, so that wasnt the cars fault.
Oh, i had 2 drop links changed too, thats all
Ive had it from 30Kmiles and about 7 years now, so i know its still lowish milleage but its been good to us. Sorry i cant comment on the autobox, but the rest of the car is the same :) and yes, it is a timming chain, needs inspecting at 100k but id do it before, and only needs adusting if need be. The Mazda sourced engine in it runs nice and smooth, so no complaints
My 2001 2L petrol engined car had 150,000 miles on it when i sold it. And not a drop of oil burnt between services.
The 2L engine is one of the best out there, but as mentioned fuel consumption around town is quite poor. I got better fuel economy when towing to cornwall etc than around town. But there again ive had my diesel below 30mpg during very short winter journeys.
I start the car and then clear all the windows and any snow off the car completely. And at that time i was taking the inlaws a few hundred yards up the road between doctors and chemist and shops so when i say short i mean short.
Aside from needing to replace the front discs and pads which I'll do next weekend, very happy with it.
Need to have a tow bar fitted too.
Managed to knock off an extra £50 when I said the discs and pads will need replacing! That I can do myself as I'm quite handy fidding with cars.
Had it since Friday. Had a spin on the dual carriageway, had plenty of ooomph when needed, transmission changed at the right time every time.
To keep myself happy will change the oil and filter this weekend.
Looking forward to seeing how it tows, but yes I am expecting it to be quite similar to my old Mitsubishi which returned about 26-28mpg towing.
I've read up on the cam chains. Some approve of them some do not. They're supposed to last the lifetime of the vehicle, but if it goes it goes, not different to a belt breaking, typically it will be unlucky for me and wreck the top end!
But yes, a few little jobs need doing but I am very happy with the purchase (so far!). I also think they are good looking cars too.
Normally a chain will rattle to warn you though, where a belt is usually thats an odd noise why has it cut out? Why can i see the internal engine bits on the outside of the engine? :)
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Topic: 2005 Mondeo 2l petrol auto
