You're right to be nervous with all the tales of woe you hear. I've owned both a diesel and petrol (2.0) Mk3 and they are both good in different ways. I reckon my current 2.0 tdci on a 55 plate with 110000 miles will start to cost me money soon, 1 DMF or a set of injectors and its almost more than the cars worth. You'd get more car for your money with a petrol, and probably a lower risk of a BIG bill. Difficult one.

 

Hi Tupimed,

Welcome to the forum.

I wouldn't swap my Diesel for a Petrol MkIII but I can understand your apprehension. DMFs are common to most cars petrol and Diesel. Probably the most common item to cause (costly) running issues on the Diesels are the injectors. Whilst early cars were prone to injection pump failure this is not so common 2003 onwards.

Difficult to advise but if you are not inclined to do your own maintenance and repairs then Petrol is probably the safer choice.

Peter

 

I bought my TDCi when I was doing about 12k a year. I worked out it would be £600 per year cheaper to run. Hence over the 4 years I normaly keep a car it would be £2400 cheaper to run. Subtract form this approx £500 (the difference between the cost pf a diesel and petrol of similar age/spec/condition).
I am now doing about 4K per year, if I was buying now I would probably get a petrol, mainly because they ar emuch better to drive on short journeys.
I paid £2200 for my hatchback Tdci 2004 facelift 96,000 miles 2 years ago. Done 22,000 miles so far. Reliability has been good, the only repairs would have been the same as for a petrol car, i.e. handbrake cables, washer pump, exhaust, tyres, oil filters etc.
The worry with a diesel of course is the pump (£4-500)and injectors (£125 each recon) injectors.

Its a case of working out the costs and making a decision.
I would say my Tdci is very good at motoroway speeds (where you ntend to use yours most), very smooth and quiet,round town its a bit noisy and rough.

 

1.8 can have oil issues. Possibly sticky piston rings. The 2L is the best option.

I wouldnt be looking at a 2004 car with £2000 in my pocket. More like a 2007 car.

I paid £2300 for my 2004 car in 2009. Althoug doing 10,000 a year would probably want
something with less miles than i normally buy.

Petrols also have a DMF. But they tend to last longer. But do you change the clutch and risk leaving the
DMF?? What it the DMF fails soon after?

Injectors etc. You need to avoid cars that have been sold because they have issues. One owner ex lease
cars are best. If you can find one.

 

Hi Kevin & Peter, thanks for the advice.

I plan to do maintenance myself (oil change,filters etc) but not really equipped or confident about bigger jobs. Its a fine balance - I estimate the petrol vsn will cost about £400 more pa in fuel, plus £60 more pa road tax - so around £450 more pa, ignoring repairs.

If I run the car for 4 years, thats an excess of nearly £2000 - enough to cover a DMF failure (£800 ish) and replacement injectors (£800 ish) for a diesel engine, but of course these may not occur. What does worry me is a fuel pump failure, which I gather can write off the entire common rail system.

 

Hi Purple, cross-posted with you, so missed this first time - sorry.

Around here (Cambridge) I'm struggling to find local mondeo's at all, most are 30+ miles away. And £2000 is getting 03 plate TDCIs with average mileage (100 - 120k), or 14/05 plate with high mileage (150k+). Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places (AutoTrader, Gumtree, EBay)? I'm struggling to find much in the way of private sellers - any tips?

I'm shying away from 150k cars unless they have already had the DMF done, and ideally injectors as well - not sure what the general view on lifetime mileage is?

 

Around here (Cambridge) I'm struggling to find local mondeo's at all, most are 30+ miles away. And £2000 is getting 03 plate TDCIs with average mileage (100 - 120k), or 14/05 plate with high mileage (150k+). Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places (AutoTrader, Gumtree, EBay)? I'm struggling to find much in the way of private sellers - any tips?

I'm shying away from 150k cars unless they have already had the DMF done, and ideally injectors as well - not sure what the general view on lifetime mileage is?

Good second hand cars are a bit thin o n the ground at he moment. New car sales have been down for he last few years wit many owners keeping cars longer. This also means that many of the cars for sale are being sold because they have problems that the current owner dosn't wan't to fix.

 

The petrols also have problems with the inlet manifolds failing particularly on earlier models, this is a relatively easy fix at around £10.00 and done your self on a Sunday afternoon (2 hours ish work, there are 2 very good giueds and info on this in the mk3 section.

However, its not just fuel pump, DMF and Injectors to look out for on the tdci, also turbo and EGR problems, the fuel filter needs to be changed a lot more often, also split turbo pipes occure. The 2 cars spec for spec and like for like: the tdci is always more expensive too, it often takes years to re coup the extra cost of purchase, and then something goes wrong so often the money is never really recouped with the MPG and tax savings.

In a perfect world I would of bought the tdci in a heart beat but its good to see you are asking the questions Before purchase as many just buy one and a lack of research is costly.

If its the petrol you go for the 2.0 is the one to go for, as the MPG / reliability and performance is a safe bet, the v6's are nice but expensive to own.

I recommend the 2.0 petrol with a good history and get those inlet flaps whipped out and you have a very reliable motor.

 

Hi 4x4, thanks for your advice. I've trawled through the forum a lot in the last week, scoping out the mondeo, and there is a lot of good stuff here, so it seemed well worth asking the question.

wrt the prchase price, this is a good point - but in my kind of price range (verging on banger territory), there seems to be very little price difference between petrols and diesels, although petrols almost always have lower mileage for any given registration year. However I see far fewer petrol estates for sale compared to diesels.

I'd clocked the inlet flaps issue on petrols, and filed that away for early attention - am I right in thinking that it only applies to pre-facelift cars (ie pre-2003?). Interesting that you think the 2.0 petrol is the way to go rather than the 1.8 - the latter has better fuel economy I believe, but presumably is a bit gutless?

Looks like a consensus is building for petrol, given my meagre mechanical abilities and fear-based car ownership attitude

 

Hi, No even facelifted inlet flaps are at risk and have been known to break, however the tendency is less compared to a pre facelift petrol, you are right though the 1.8 is a bit more frugal but yes its not as good to drive (its not bad but harder work) and its less robust as mentioned previously.

It's always worth asking prior to purchase and its refreshing to see.

 

Hi 4x4, thanks for your advice. I've trawled through the forum a lot in the last week, scoping out the mondeo, and there is a lot of good stuff here, so it seemed well worth asking the question.

wrt the prchase price, this is a good point - but in my kind of price range (verging on banger territory), there seems to be very little price difference between petrols and diesels, although petrols almost always have lower mileage for any given registration year. However I see far fewer petrol estates for sale compared to diesels.

I'd clocked the inlet flaps issue on petrols, and filed that away for early attention - am I right in thinking that it only applies to pre-facelift cars (ie pre-2003?). Interesting that you think the 2.0 petrol is the way to go rather than the 1.8 - the latter has better fuel economy I believe, but presumably is a bit gutless?

Looks like a consensus is building for petrol, given my meagre mechanical abilities and fear-based car ownership attitude

The flaps were redesigned in newer ones but still had problems eventually, and about the 2.0 vs 1.8 in terms of performance the 2.0 is abit better but the 1.8 isn't a gutless engine at all

the only time it does get gutless is if you are going to be towing stuff, also road tax is exactly the same for both engines too hope this helps

 

Fuel economy is 1 or 2mpg difference at best.

Figures in the facelift manual, estate

urban non urban
1.8 25.5 48.7 average 36.7mpg

2.0 25.0 47.1 average 35.3mpg

Diesel, 6 speed manual, estate.

2.0 35.8 58.9 average 48.7mpg.

70mph in 6th gear mine does 60+mpg. 39mpg towing a caravan to the lake
district.

I had the same issue, Sold my 2001 2L petrol car with 150,000 miles on the clock but it ran well
and needed nothing except tyres and brakes. Sticky calipers.

Wanted a 2L petrol estate but came home with a diesel.

 

Thanks 4x4 - of course, any car of this kind of vintage can turn out to be a money pit, but its worth canvassing experience to try to lessen the odds
Edited to add - thanks for the fuel consumption figures, very helpful. Oh how I hanker for the diesel economy!

@ Docterozlo - thanks also, I thought the road tax was different diesel vs petrol - my mistake. I had been considering the 1.8 petrol as an alternative to the 2.0 TDCI, so was interested in 4x4's views on the 2.0 petrol.

I guess in the final analysis, its best to buy on condition - a good 1.8 is likely a better bet than a bad 2.0.

What is the view on the older TD diesel engine (pre TDCI - I think in some '99 to '02 mondeo diesels). Its not a common rail diesel engine, so should be more reliable? How is the fuel consumption and performance?

 

Tax is cheaper on a diesel. But 2006 onwards it changed again.

Petrol £200 + Diesel £170 well mine was..

 

TDDI's are more reliable than the tdci, but apparently are a little rougher (less smooth) in the engine dept, economy is good but I dont think quite as good as the TDCI. You will still have to contend with many Diesel Mk3 problems though.

 

Thanks 4x4 - of course, any car of this kind of vintage can turn out to be a money pit, but its worth canvassing experience to try to lessen the odds
Edited to add - thanks for the fuel consumption figures, very helpful. Oh how I hanker for the diesel economy!

@ Docterozlo - thanks also, I thought the road tax was different diesel vs petrol - my mistake. I had been considering the 1.8 petrol as an alternative to the 2.0 TDCI, so was interested in 4x4's views on the 2.0 petrol.

I guess in the final analysis, its best to buy on condition - a good 1.8 is likely a better bet than a bad 2.0.

What is the view on the older TD diesel engine (pre TDCI - I think in some '99 to '02 mondeo diesels). Its not a common rail diesel engine, so should be more reliable? How is the fuel consumption and performance?

I meant for both 1.8 and 2.0 petrol on tax, i should have made it clearer

 

Loads of advice coming in so that's good! One final point from me, and that's on driving style and enjoyment. I used to think that petrol made for the better drive being faster and quieter, but I'm now a diesel convert! I love being able to waft along at a couple of thousand revs, knowing you can gently squeeze the throttle and have close to maximum torque without changing gear. Each to their own of course, but I find the diesel a more relaxing and enjoyable drive. There's more to think about than pure finances.....

 

Yeah, I am a petrol man.. But the diesel does shift quite well.

In standard trim the petrol has it overall, But the midrange on the diesel would win there.

Get a remap and your looking at an extra 30bhp or so. + a fair bit of extra torque.

I wouldnt mind a nice V6 though, But i would struggle to get more than 10 - 12mpg.

 

i drive a tddi got at 114k now just shy of 149k only bother i have had is the altenator packing in buts its a 01 motor was bound to happen. you get about 500+ a tank, i think its smooth but saying that ive never drove a tdci, i think its pot luck buying a car new or used you could have a lot of problems or get a minter problem free

 

I had a 2 litre petrol 2001 mk3 before my 2004 tdci and I have been up to Scotland on holiday in both. I got about 42mpg on the motorway in the petrol and about 55mpg in the diesel. The main difference I found was city driving, the petrol one drank like a fish (about 20-25mpg at best) whereas the diesel averages mid to late 30s. Also the tax is quite different, £137.50 for 6 months on the petrol versus £93.50 on the diesel. However you're right about the maintenance costs on the diesel, owning one of these is like owning a vintage motor. You always seem to be doing something, or listening for little rattles and knocks and after a few months of DIY you could probably build one from scratch in your sleep if you had all the bits. But I will say that at 138,000 miles my petrol one failed its mot on hydrocarbon emissions and it turned out that it was a piston ring failed and it was burning oil, so I had to buy a duratec engine from a breaker for £500 to get it going again. Apparently they're like rocking horse s**t. Personally I'm still in two minds whether I'd buy a diesel again, I do love driving it when I can put my foot down because it goes like a rocket when you get the turbo spinning. It's not just the Mondeo all diesel cars nowadays are so overboosted and fine tuned with computer controlled precision parts that even the slightest problem turns into a limp mode engine light fiasco costing hundreds. Read any of the other make forums VW, Vauxhall etc and they'll all be bitching about £2000 for new injectors or DMF failures after 30,000 miles. I'm afraid it's a lottery more than ever with a used car now, some people would say its the best car have ever owned and some wouldn't touch another with a barge pole. Just try and get one with service history and as many old bills and as much paperwork as possible, and if you have any doubt walk away. There's plenty to choose from, butlower mileage ones are getting harder to come by now.

Martin

 

My 51 plate mk3 2.0 petrol ghia cost me £400 it is the best car I have ever had and it was only a put me on car 6 months later I have spent about £150 on basic bits ie oil filter fuel filter thermostat drop links anti role bar bushes just general service bits

I have done 7000 miles in it now and it has not skipped a beet

driving like its nicked

 

Also regarding road tax I would go 2.0 why get a 1.8 and pay the same as a 2.0 I would feel ripped off lol

driving like its nicked

 

I have a 2004 TDDI which I understand wasn't an engine sold in the Mondeo in the UK that year, but still carried on in the Mondeo on the Continent.

I purchased the car in 2007 with about 77,000 miles on it and I currently have 175,000 miles on it. I've taken relatively poor care of the car and driven it all around on bad Eastern European roads for the last 6 years.

The engine (much louder than an TDCI) has been stellar and needed nothing other than new glowplugs and the 5 speed has been flawless.

Currently, electrics are failing with sensors going bad, but that's to be expected with a car of this age.

My car is one of the those will get junked not because of the engine or tranny, but the rest eventually falls apart.

 

If looked after a 2004 car should be as reliable as a 3 year old one.

Plenty of life left in it.. I hope so anyway as mines a 2004 car.