Freelander or Mondeo

Mar 14, 2005
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I tow my Bailey Bordeaux 1366kg with a Freelander TD4. I see there's quite a debate about the merits of the Freelander at the moment, I've done 50000 trouble free miles (Touch wood). Keep thinking about a change to a Mondeo estate. I've always worked on the assumption that bigger is better, and 4 wheel drive is better than 2. But in this age of ever increasing fuel prices I am looking for something a bit more economical, but still a competant tow car for my caravan. Would be interested to hear coments form anyone that has made the change from a 4x4, and what the Mondeo is like compared to a Freelander.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Julian, I made a similar change to what you are thinking of doing. I ran a Freelander as a company vehicle but we had a change of car policy in the business so I was forced to change to an estate and I choose the Accord Tourer. Even though I was very pleased with the Freelander I must admit I would not swap back after driving the accord for a year, the extra space especially when using a roof box means that I can virtually keep the van empty and solo the Accord is a far comfier ride than the Freelander. Economy wise the Honda can nearly get 600miles from 55ltrs where the Freelander was nearer 480. Traction wise again I have had no problems and this included trips to the Scottish Highlands last year and down to Cornwall, I do tend to use hardstandings when on site though.
 
Dec 30, 2009
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Julian, I had a mondeo estate 2.0 tdi company car. It was very good on fuel and reliability and pulled my caravan very well Abbey Aventura 319.

I now have a Freelander td4 and love it, however if I wanted a car which saved me money on fuel but still towed my van a mondeo it would be.

hope this helps
 
Mar 27, 2005
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we tow 1150kg with a 2litre tdi Mondeo hatch (02) and it is superb. pulls like a train ,very assured , biggest problem is keeping to legal towing speeds on m/way. average about 30mpg towing and 44-50 mpg solo.very nice drive as well , good handling,comfy and lots of room. much much nicer to be in than previous towcar , Terrano.

one thing i would say , maybe your van is a tad heavy for a Mondeo ??
 

LMH

Mar 14, 2005
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Before Monday, I would have said mondeo. However, my 52 plate 2L Zetec 130 tdci has developed a serious and incredibly expensive fault.

That apart, the above vehicle (before fault) was an excellent work horse, pulled up the steepest of hills over long distances no problem at all torque superb, fuel consumption solo and towing excellent.

Lisa.
 
Aug 28, 2005
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Hi Tina what was the fault on your Mondeo ,because my 2004 TDCI 130 estate has just started to hesitate when i accelerate ,and tomorrow it goe's in for its 24000 mile service ,the reason i am dreading it is the last time we had some thing like this happen was on our Nissan 2.7 Terrano ,and we were told we needed a new fuel pump and because it was part of the engine management system it was
 
Mar 27, 2005
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the tdci mondeos are prone to injector , EGR and fuel pump problems. also have software issues that can be corrected after a spell on fords diagnostics machine.hesitation, misfires, cut-outs are very common on these. i did my homework before buying one and instead of the common rail tdci, i bought the older tddi direct engine model which is far more reliable if a tad rougher and nosier than the latest model.
 
Aug 28, 2005
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Hi Tina what was the fault on your Mondeo ,because my 2004 TDCI 130 estate has just started to hesitate when i accelerate ,and tomorrow it goe's in for its 24000 mile service ,the reason i am dreading it is the last time we had some thing like this happen was on our Nissan 2.7 Terrano ,and we were told we needed a new fuel pump and because it was part of the engine management system it was
 
Aug 28, 2005
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i bought the Ford Mondeo 130 TDCI 6 forward gears Estate from new july 2004 and i tow a Bailey Senator Indiana .the car produces 130 BHP and a max torque 243 Lb ft at only 1800 revs ,a top speed of 127 miles per hour and average fuel consumption of 47 MPG and about 29 MPG towing ,allthough the other week in the strong winds that we had i only averaged 24 MPG towing from Swansea down to chichester in west Sussex ,any body who knows Dunvant in Swansea Wales will know its quite hilly some very steep ,we have no trouble going up them ,most of the time faster than cars not towing ,since Christmas we have been away 3 times once in the snow in west sussex just after xmas ,and then in march in the snow at Hereford ,also in march we crossed the severn bridge in high winds on our way to west sussex again , we had no wheel spinning problems in the snow ,or any stability problems in the winds .our old car was a Nissan Terrano 2.7 SE touring 1998 model which we had for 3 years, the 2.7 only puts out 125 BHP and a max torque of 205 Lb ft plus a kerbweight of 1880 kg ,allthough it pulled well its allways a gear or 2 lower than the mondeo ,but i must admit i do miss driving the Nissan, its very stable easy to get in and out of plus you have better view from up there
 

LMH

Mar 14, 2005
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Hi Tina what was the fault on your Mondeo ,because my 2004 TDCI 130 estate has just started to hesitate when i accelerate ,and tomorrow it goe's in for its 24000 mile service ,the reason i am dreading it is the last time we had some thing like this happen was on our Nissan 2.7 Terrano ,and we were told we needed a new fuel pump and because it was part of the engine management system it was
 

LMH

Mar 14, 2005
5,684
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Hi Tina what was the fault on your Mondeo ,because my 2004 TDCI 130 estate has just started to hesitate when i accelerate ,and tomorrow it goe's in for its 24000 mile service ,the reason i am dreading it is the last time we had some thing like this happen was on our Nissan 2.7 Terrano ,and we were told we needed a new fuel pump and because it was part of the engine management system it was
 
Mar 27, 2005
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i bought the Ford Mondeo 130 TDCI 6 forward gears Estate from new july 2004 and i tow a Bailey Senator Indiana .the car produces 130 BHP and a max torque 243 Lb ft at only 1800 revs ,a top speed of 127 miles per hour and average fuel consumption of 47 MPG and about 29 MPG towing ,allthough the other week in the strong winds that we had i only averaged 24 MPG towing from Swansea down to chichester in west Sussex ,any body who knows Dunvant in Swansea Wales will know its quite hilly some very steep ,we have no trouble going up them ,most of the time faster than cars not towing ,since Christmas we have been away 3 times once in the snow in west sussex just after xmas ,and then in march in the snow at Hereford ,also in march we crossed the severn bridge in high winds on our way to west sussex again , we had no wheel spinning problems in the snow ,or any stability problems in the winds .our old car was a Nissan Terrano 2.7 SE touring 1998 model which we had for 3 years, the 2.7 only puts out 125 BHP and a max torque of 205 Lb ft plus a kerbweight of 1880 kg ,allthough it pulled well its allways a gear or 2 lower than the mondeo ,but i must admit i do miss driving the Nissan, its very stable easy to get in and out of plus you have better view from up there
you were lucky having that much power from you terrano. mine was a 94 with a massive 100 bhp from 2.7td.

underpowered = understatement.
 
Dec 14, 2005
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we are thinking of changing to a mondeo from a laguna to tow our sprite 5 berth not sure of weights on this caravan just bought it second hand no details with it. does anyone know is this would be a good choice of a tow car.
 
Oct 13, 2005
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I have a 1995 sprite major super which I tow with a 2001 2.0 petrol ghia x mondeo saloon. Touch wood I have had no problems, I took it to derbyshire (100 mile each way) a couple of weeks ago and we had strong winds and heavy rain and I still had no stability issues, even when I hit a foot deep flood at 40mph the whole combo stayed stable. As a newbie vanner I would happily recommend the mondeo. I may swap for a diesel soon but the petrol gives around 25 mpg when towing and 35 when solo on the motorway and its capable of 130+ so definately a good alround car. As for the van I believe its around 1050kg unloaded with a max allowable load of 235kg so about 1285kg all in, can be sure as I'm at work
 

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