The Dark Wob

John F wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2020 10:58 am I had to drive a 1993 ("K") Mondeo 1.8 from Yorkshire to Aviemore & back about 15 years ago. It was fucking dismal... ride quality was poor, fuel economy was poor, seats were uncomfortable, etc. etc.

I'd done the same trip before in a 1988 ("F") Mk 4 Escort 1.3 Bonus, it was far more pleasant.

I found the early Mondeo to be a fine car. A K plate one has interest points but as a species - no. A nineties Ford interior is as inviting as a Belgian truckers armpit.

The Reverend Bluejeans wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2020 12:06 pm

John F wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2020 10:58 am I had to drive a 1993 ("K") Mondeo 1.8 from Yorkshire to Aviemore & back about 15 years ago. It was fucking dismal... ride quality was poor, fuel economy was poor, seats were uncomfortable, etc. etc.

I'd done the same trip before in a 1988 ("F") Mk 4 Escort 1.3 Bonus, it was far more pleasant.

I found the early Mondeo to be a fine car. A K plate one has interest points but as a species - no. A nineties Ford interior is as inviting as a Belgian truckers armpit.

I remember being very disappointed with that K-reg. Mondeo. The motoring press and those fucking Top Gear clowns had praised it as a "driver's car", so I made the mistake of looking forward to driving it.

It wasn't a driver's car IMO, it was a lard-arsed lump with hugely-wide seat bases that provided zero lateral support during the very few times I risked spirited cornering with its wooden handling & steering.

In fact, there wasn't a single thing I actually liked about that car. It looked shit, its name was shit, it handled like shit, it was shit.

Having driven both when they were new. The Mondeo wasn't shit compared to the Vectra B. Perhaps we could arrange for you to do that trip in a Vectra B.

Or a 1993 Passat, Carina........

I used to hire Mondeos around 1993/4 and always enjoyed the drive. That was 25 years ago alas.

Kyles second car (at age 18) was a 1.8 Mondeo that I bought him from a mate in the trade. It was cheap 'cos it needed suspension work for the MOT. We did the work together (great fun working with the kid) and it was a great car. Kyle loved it! We did buy it some nice wheels and it had a decent stereo but other than that it was standard. It was an excellent car (and, so I'm informed, great for shaggin!) and he did many miles in it reliably.

I bought a 'K' reg Sierra off a neighbour just because, and I drove it and Kyle's back to back and the Mondeo was a far better car I'm sad to say, it was faster, handled better, the brakes were better the gearchange was less rubbery and it was dead reliable and a lot less rusty. It wasn't just a bad Sierra either, I drove quite a few and they get old really quickly.
However, my personal vote for best car is..... Renault Scenic (Megane version, is there another?) as I had one when I got the boot from home and it was excellent. Naturally, I hated it but everything worked apart from the rear wiper was a bit 'French' and would do what had been requested about three days later (seriously!) but even the air con worked, both sunroofs all the windows and it drove great. 1.6 petrol, 5-speed manual. Perfect.

When I tried to sell it, I couldn't GIVE it away (literally) and ended up trading it in for an MX5 (mk3) and got £250 for it.

Eddie Honda wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2020 3:21 pm Having driven both when they were new. The Mondeo wasn't shit compared to the Vectra B. Perhaps we could arrange for you to do that trip in a Vectra B.

Nope, the only modern* Vauxhalls I like are Cavaliers and Calibras. Although I wouldn't mind a go in a Monaro, I suppose.

It doesn't matter that you like it or not.

I'm no Ford fanboy, but the Mondeo I (at least when new and not shagged out) was a reasonable steer.

Eddie Honda wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2020 12:15 am It doesn't matter that you like it or not.

I'm no Ford fanboy, but the Mondeo I (at least when new and not shagged out) was a reasonable steer.

Yeah, I get that. But around the same time I drove from south of Geneva to Yorkshire in a similar-mileage 1994 2.0 Cavalier, the Cav was light years ahead of the Mondeo in pretty much all respects. In the spirit of fairness it was SRi spec though, which meant it had the excellent Recaro seats.

The Cavalier Mark 3 was an engine looking for a car. Fucking horrible.

The Reverend Bluejeans wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2020 11:01 am The Cavalier Mark 3 was an engine looking for a car. Fucking horrible.

I found mine to be comfortable, rapid, cheap to run & and easy to maintain. And I think the styling still looks good today, unlike the contemporary Mondeo.

We'll have to agree to disagree,