Currying favour
The first warranty claim I ever encountered on the Ford Mondeo was a strange one. With the heater on, the blowers on the car were emitting a strong smell of curry. Surprisingly, this was seen as a problem and not a feature!
Dismantling most of the lower dash and the pedal box, the source was finally found: it was the heater box itself reeking of stale spices. Once out and prised apart, the heater unit was found to have been assembled with a used curry container inside it. I don’t know which warranty code Cowies Ford used to put that claim through! Bizarre takeaway issues aside, the Mondeo was a huge success for Ford from day one, with sales in 1994 hitting 127,000 in the UK.
It was the first time I encountered a run-of-the-mill car demanding the use of special oil. Failure to use the correct oil would result in gummed-up valves. Otherwise it was all good. I was told by an ‘industry insider’ that the warranty figures for these cars matched Honda’s best. That was a figure I found hard to believe, but given warranty in this instance was measured by problems in the first three years, it’s entirely plausible in my experience.
We’ve run a few petrol Mondeos in the family; we even put one on as a dis-courtesy car. All were exceptionally comfortable, cheap to run and a joy to drive. Sadly, I’m in the minority in thinking this. In 2016, non-fleet Mondeos accounted for just 1900 units – that’s a paltry figure and makes you wonder if any dealer sold more than just a few each.
I bought mine retail. I needed a car on a Saturday morning to get to Monaco for the weekend and I knew a Mondeo could carry everything I needed and be comfortable for the dash south. It came from Ford Direct, which meant that the bonnet had automatically been resprayed before dispatch, it would have received an RAC inspection and the oil and filter would have been changed.
For retail, however, I bought Mondeos direct from a fleet. Even though they were diesels (always 2.0-litres) and even though some ended up as minicabs, I never got any comeback from them. These days, such is the scarcity of Mondeos, they are snapped up in the auctions straight away. Even car supermarket emporiums struggle to hold stock of them.
The only problem with the current Mondeo is its physical size. They are huge and barely fit into a parking space. For some, that’s a massive, practical bonus, but for others it’s a pain.
Finally, a word about the Powershift gearbox and threecylinder engines. While on paper they may be technically astonishing, and while the first owner may never have encountered any problems, the trade are massively sceptical about them. You may be prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt – they drive fine and are good value – but be aware that when you come to part-ex or sell the car, you may struggle.
‘With the heater on, the blowers were emitting a strong smell of curry’