Mondeo TDCi

[Julian_5078728]

Looks like a good towcar,Im interested.The Mondeo has a max tow weight of 1800kg. Can any owners confirm from their handbook what this includes? ie is it the usual tow weight to allow the car to pull away on 1 in 8 gradient. Does it take into account the driver and/or a passennger and/or a full tank of diesel?

I currently have an Avondale Perle-fully laden 1000kg so no problem with a Mondeo but may consider updating to lightweight Dart in the future,about 1250kg fully laden.No problem on its own but their is also three other passengers (two of them young children)and items in the boot to add into the equation. Does anybody tow with a Mondeo TDCi 130 with a similar van,passengers and their luggage? Any problems? Cheers

 

[George_374224949]

Julien,

I towed a Abbey 320 MTPLM of 1352 with a Mondeo 2.0TDCI LX five speed. It was a brilliant car both solo and towing. My only concern for you would be the nose weight which in my view is more of a problem for caravan owners than they will admit.

The Mondeo from memory is a max nose weight of 75 kilos as indeed are most saloon cars (Rover 75 diesel is 100kgs). In fairness it worked well for me before I changed to a RAV 4 2.2 diesel. I hear the experts say that you should expect your nose weight to 7 percent of the loaded weight. Your current van weight would equate to 70 kilos (ie 1000 kilos x 7 percent).

It is amazing how your weight can get out of order. I recently weighed my nose weight with a gauge and with all the rubbish I had in the front locker it was in excess of 100 kilos. I have now had a spring clean and fitted a spare wheel carrier to reduce it further - Good Luck

George Mc

 

[George_374224949]

Julien,

Forgot to mention I got 33 miles per gallon towing from Ayrshire to York. which I thought was not bad. Previous petrol motors never returned much above 22 mpg.

Cheers

George Mc

 

[busman1]

Julian,

I tow a new dart with my mondeo 130 (not yet a year old)and it tows like a dream after a lot of juggling about to get the noseweight down. I regularly tow from central scotlad down to the south coast and return an average 30 mpg albeit only two of us on board but lots of equipment, I don't think you will have any problems

Will

 

[milliemop]

Good towcar, plenty of power, but not a patch on the ww Passat 130 or the audi A4 for quality of build---they are much more robust, particularly the running gear, also Mondeos are VERY expensive when things start need renewing.