Ford Mondeo Automatic Fuel Consumption

[Mondeo TDCi]

I'm interested on the views and experiences of any owners of Ford Mondeo 130 TDCi Mk3 cars with the automatic transmission.

How is the drieability and reliability? With so many Mondeo's produced, there's bound to be the odd horror story but none of us want to own it. I've read about auto boxes needing to be placed at 60k and even clutches on the manual but is that likely to be due to bad driving/ maintenance or an inherent engineering flaw?

I have a manual car which returns an average of 46mpg with a best of 53.4mpg on a long, steady journey. What mpg is likely with the automatic?

How does the automatic cope with towing?

Any others thoughts, ideas and opinions would be welcome as I'm thinking of buying an auto when I change my present car?

Thanks.

[jeebowhite]

I'm interested on the views and experiences of any owners of Ford Mondeo 130 TDCi Mk3 cars with the automatic transmission.

How is the drieability and reliability?

I have a manual car which returns an average of 46mpg with a best of 53.4mpg on a long, steady journey. What mpg is likely with the automatic?

How does the automatic cope with towing?

Any others thoughts, ideas and opinions would be welcome as I'm thinking of buying an auto when I change my present car?

Thanks.

Generally on auto's:

Overall Auto's are worse for MPG than manual, so I wouldnt expect a better fuel return if I were you. average on reviews I heard where top MPG on long drives of around 45-48.

Auto's are always slower at towing than manuals, because they still try to change at the same gear shift point, but carrying more weight means it takes it longer to get there, meaning you will lose power and speed once you hitch the tow weight. this is where manuals are better because you can push into higher rev ranges, making the change a little less hard work for the car, so you can keep up the pace!

However, as a car they are fantastic to drive. I havent personally had one, but I know of people who have, and overall, even with the minor loss of MPG, they still loved the car through and through, I cant say about their experiences towing as they never did tow.

[simpledan]

i would entirely agree with the above post.so not much to add as its been covered.

i own a mondeo auto myself, it is by far a nice car to drive by miles. the easy of driving an auto is unbelievable and you feel so much more relaxed. it is one of those things that you have to get used to over a few weeks but once you do its hard to go back to a manual especially in town driving.

the car itself being a auto is clearly less on the mpg, as is every other auto so no way out of that really. however i would recommend geting it.

[simpledan]

o forgot to mention, when i start the car from cold the revs are in the 2000 range and it takes a long while to go to 1000 or below. before the revs at cold were usually 1000 or lower. any ideas, some sensor problem?

[jeebowhite]

o forgot to mention, when i start the car from cold the revs are in the 2000 range and it takes a long while to go to 1000 or below. before the revs at cold were usually 1000 or lower. any ideas, some sensor problem?

Probably Idle Control Valve needs replacing!

[2011fiesta]

Hi, just thought I'd add my tuppence worth - I can't really comment on the mondeo's automatic box, or towing, however if you are hesitant about choosing at automatic over a manual in general then don't be.

I had so many people trying to talk me out of it saying ohhhh the MPG will be worse, and cost of a replacement transmission is into the thousands, it'll be harder to sell on etc etc. But I didn't listen and I'm so pleased with my choice. Driving is even more enjoyable now and so relaxing. This was my first auto and I won't be going back now.

I think I'd be more hesitant buying a second hand auto if it had alot of miles on the clock but as I was buying new I didn't think twice. Totally worth the slight loss in MPG for me. Although my best average reading after a motorway drive was 58mpg which isn't bad for the fiesta having an old 4-speed box - (granted the fiesta is much lighter than a mondeo).

What speed box will the Mondeo have, and does it have a manual overide for helping with towing???

(I agree with whoever once said to me - having an auto is like having electric windows, once you've had it you won't want to do without).