High mileage Mondeo

babaUK

I have seen a few post 2001 automatic Ford Mondeos within my budget (up to 1200 pounds) . However most of them have high miles over 100 000 miles. As I am not an expert on cars I was wondering whether it would be worthwhile going for one.
Any views on the 2002 Citroen C5 Automatic? Its French I know, but its a wildcard with a strong appeal!
i will appreciate your views guys. Thanks.

Wayne3765

Not sure of the autos but high milage isn't usually a problem on the manuals.

I would make sure to check the oil level ( first check isn't always accurate so wipe and dip again ) and get someone to stand behind the car while you give it a bit of throttle as they sometimes have problems with the oil control rings and can burn quite a bit of oil , if it has this problem it is unlikely that it would pass an mot and could cost a LOT of money to fix.

Any signs of blue / grey smoke out of the exhaust at 2500 revs + and I'd walk away , same if the dipstick shows a low oil level.

babaUK

Thanks, I appreciate your points.

Notmyrealname

babaUK wrote: »

I have seen a few post 2001 automatic Ford Mondeos within my budget (up to 1200 pounds) . However most of them have high miles over 100 000 miles. As I am not an expert on cars I was wondering whether it would be worthwhile going for one.

I bought my 2004 Mondeo TDCi 130 at three years old with 90,000 on the clock. One owner ex-fleet with full dealer service history.

It is now on 164,000 miles at 7 years old. In that time the rear subframe bushes have needed doing which is a common problem on the hatch/saloon (£200), an alternator (£180 inc fitting) and a turbo pipe (£80 inc fitting) as well as usual wear and tear items such as brake pads/discs and tyres. Other than that its just had normal servicing.

forgotmyname

I had a 2L petrol mondeo with 150,000 miles on it when i sold it and it still ran sweetly.

Currently a diesel with over 150,000 miles.

I always buy with over 100,000 miles, because people still assume under 100,000 is OK but over is ready for the scrappers. And prices reflect that. £2000 for a car thats under 5 years old.

vax2002

French Auto's have a very renowned problem of the gearbox jumping in to safe mode (3rd gear) its a wiring problem and nobody has ever managed a reliable fix.
I would avoid them like the plague if I were you.
Just type in Citroen auto gearbox problem in google !
they all use the same box and 90% of old ones have the problem and if someone sitting smugly does not, dont worry it wont be long before it starts.

Nearly_Old

I bought a 3 year old (Jan 03 reg) Citroen 2.2 HDI SX Automatic with 21k on the clock 6 years ago and it's now just over 109k. It's been serviced regularly (every 12.5k), had the cambelt changed at 80k, 1 set of discs and just had new pads. Just passed it's MoT with no advisories so (fingers crossed) good for a few more years as the annual mileage has dropped considerably since I retired. The auto box has been fine and the "snow" setting was very useful last winter. I don't tend to use the Sport setting on the auto box but I do ocassionaly use the Sport setting on the suspension on twisty roads.

If you go to look at one from around 2002/03 make sure that the cambelt has been changed (ideally the water pump should have been done at the same time) and that the particulate filter has been serviced/replaced - mine went at 70k and I had a reconditioned one fitted. Other than that it's all the usual things to look for.

I had Citroens as company vehicles for over 12 years (record 176k in one 4 year lease) and the auto boxes were fine although one colleague had some problems that were fixed under warranty. At this age it's a bit of a gamble with any make of auto box - just Google any make (e.g. Ford, BMW, etc) and there will always be someone reporting problems.

waynedance

I have a 2003 C5 manual and had it for 15 months, Very comfy car.

If it is the Diesel version then they are great much better reliability then the Mondeo diesel, I know this as I work at a garage and the amount of Fords both cars and vans with the diesel engines suffer from injector and pump problems. The ford Diesels are noisy compared to the C5's, never see Peugeot or Citroen diesels with problems, this is based on 6 years of working on reception at the garage and seeing what job's come and go.

Road_Hog

Mondeos are good with high mileage, not sure about auto boxes, but manuals are great.

KierNet

Buy on condition, not on mileage.

N9eav

Most of our 'government' cars have gone well over 100k, but regularly serviced, they work just fine