honest john slags Mondeo TDCi 130 & X Trail diesel

[DavidW1]

In todays Telegraph (Saturday 15 07) honest john has a go at the Mondeo as a towcar - "they don't tow as well as a BMW 525d because they are frontwheel drive and therefore useless on wet grass" He also infers that 1500KG is the max weight they should pull and states that 6th gear is too high for towing!

On the same page he recommends a used Nissan X trail Auto 2.5 petrol as a towcar and is desparaging at the diesel version's reliability problems with turbo and timing chain.

This guy - or is it a committee? - is very opinionated on all things motoring, some would even say arrogant but is he right?

What do all you Mondeo 130 and X Trail diesel owners think about him being rude about your towtugs?

 

[joeby]

is that his only gripe it wont tow on wet grass ,should tell him to come and visit me and i will give him some lessons on pulling away ,and driving in 6th gear , i have the mondeo estate TDCI 130 BHP top speed 127 mph 0.60 in just over 10 secs ,and i tow a Senator Indiana towing at over 93% and i caravan all year,stayed on a CL site just after Christmas in west Sussex the entrance was covered in snow and so was the pitch never had one wheel spin,allthough i did use the mover to pitch the caravan ,also had a puncture at over 60 MPH on the M4 went onto the hard shoulder as straight as a dye ,allthough the tyre was shredded ,and as for using 6th gear ,on the motorway i use it all the time ,just keep the revs over 1800 RPM and it just fine even going up slight inclines ,we did own a Nissan Terrano for 3 years and i used the 4 wheel drive once ,but i must say this guy is right on the BMW 525 it is a nice Machine ,but the Mondeo does me fine

 

[RichardS1]

Several years ago I used an early model of the current Mondeo for towing. It was a first class towcar pulling around 1400kg. I would imagine the TDCi 130 is a significant improvement on the model I used. How can this guy also recommend the petrol Xtrail over the diesel. I don't think I have ever seen anyone using a petrol model on site surely all you diesel Xtrail owners can't have got it wrong?

 

[henry_5123973]

I think he's very strange. I have a diesel X Trail and I swear by it, done 21000 miles without a hiccup and it's an excellent tut. There was a re-call for a problem with a sensor for the engine management system but it was a free quick fix. I wonder if he realises it now has the Renault engine. Petrol? No thanks, I'm not that rich.

 

[Stephen_5077753]

Having looked at the Telegraph web site and doing a search for X-trail I found the following quote:

"2002-2004 Nissan X-Trail 2.5 auto

Price:

 

[emmerson2]

He seems to think that all of us who use LPG are a bit strange too. I used to read him regularly, but now find his column to self opinionated.He's in danger of becoming the paper Clarkson.

 

[sparkes]

When you read these things remember one thing. They are an opinion only.

Name almost any car and you will find people who like them and people who do not. My opinion on the 2 models are that they are both good for all round use including towing. Like almost any car, used within their limits and they will do just fine.

The only car I think is a complete looser is the IS200 Lexus, 3 yrs of ownership and I will never go near a lexus dealer again. But thats my opinion.

I saw an xtrail towing a twin axle last weekend, it handled it well and all it realy needed was a way to stop the rear sagging a little.

At the end of the day, select a car that you are happy with both solo and towing. The modeo is a good family car with decent towing capabilities, so why not?

 

[gary]

Drove a brand new Shogun a few months ago after an accident, sure it tows superbly and off road I am equally sure there is nothing to touch it. However that's only a small percentage of their actual use and overall I hated the b****ly thing.

So whatever it's horses for courses and I have a very nice comfortable Mondeo again, does everything I want and my backs now fine.