Ford Mondeo or C-Max

[Lisa_5041267]

I have just purchased a new Bailey Ranger and will take delivery of it in March (I am so excited). The problem now is that I have to change my car, I have been looking at a Mondeo TDCI and the C-Max TDCI has anyone got any good or bad experiances with these cars for towing.

 

[Carlton1]

Hi Lisa.

We have just taken delivery of our new Bailey Pagent Champagne, and we tow with a Mondeo 2L Zetec 130BHP it tows very well, good fuel economy, would recommend the Mondeo

 

[Albert_5039897]

I have had a TDCi estate for nearly a year done about 30000 miles including a trip to the south of france,it hasn't let me down, does about 450 - 550 miles solo depending on the right foot and about 300 - 350 miles towing on a full tank. I have a ford detachable towbar which is very good except for lead and safety cable connections are fiddly, aptart from this it's a great car

Hope this helps

 

[Gary_5039903]

I have owned a TDCi (130bhp) Mondeo LX estate since September 2002, covering 55,000 miles. Reliability has been good except for problems with the engine management system (this does seem to affect quite a few TDCi Fords, but don't let it put you off). I do tend to find the seats a bit unforgiving on long trips (4 hours & over), but apart from that they are good value, heavy and powerful cars, with a rear load area that can swallow all of our rubbish!!

 

[graham_5040474]

Lisa - Can't help with the C-Max, I'm afraid. We tow with an 04 Mondeo 2.0Lx TDCi 5-door 130bhp 6-speed(this is standard on all the 130 models). As everyone says above it's an outstanding towcar - powerful, heavy, stable, reliable and economical. The engine management thing is sorted out now; it was the EGR valve, which has been re-designed. 6th gear is really an overdrive for solo fast cruising and gives you 64+ mpg; for towing you use 5th, which is the same ratio as top gear is in the old 5-speed box. We got 33mpg towing 3500 miles round Europe in the summer. I agree with Gary about the hard seats, but most people seem to find them fine. Graham

 

[STEVE_5041381]

I always had Fords and in particular Mondeos but the seat problem was something I couldnt put up with anymore. I know Mondeos are great cars but as you get older your priorities change and comfort became my no.1. I looked around with comfort being the main criteria in my choice of new car and chose the Citroen Picasso the HDI 2.0 is not as powerful 90bhp as the Ford but the comfort and space is far far superior and tows my Baily Ranger just as well. I was and always had been a Ford man but unless Ford do something about their seats and comfort I cant see me going back.

 

[grahamr_5041507]

I had a choice of cars from the firm of which the mondeo zetec tdci and c-max were included. I tested the c-max and didnt like it - it wollowed in corners and is lighter than the mondeo - so can tow less. I went for the mondeo an its awesome - corners on rails for solo driving pleaseure and the engine is brillinat for towing.

 

[Daventura]

Hi Lisa, I have the Cmax 2.0 TDCI model and its a great drive. I'm soon to pick up my caravan and will be towing it with the Cmax for the first time. However, I have just read that it came joint first with the Seat Altea as the winner of the tow car of the year in its class, although after a retest it lost out to the Seat because of personal tastes from some of the judges. Having said that I now feel confident that as a tow car it will be excellent.

 

[James_5040650]

Buy the heaviest car you can afford the C Max has very low max tow 1200-1300 KG. Also go for self levelling suspension in the Modeo

 

[Daventura]

Hi again Lisa,afraid James is not correct with this info. The 2.0 ltr TDCI has a max. tow of 1500kg. You can check this in the mags. or on Fords own website. Cheers, Dave

 

[Daventura]

Sorry Lisa, forgot to add that the kerb weights for this engine size are 1506kg for the Zetec and 1523kg for the Ghia model. Again this can be checked with caravan mags/Ford website. Dave