Mondeo vs Freelander

[Gary_5075845]

Good morning to you all. All of last caravan season I towed my caravan with my 1.8 freelander. Unfortunately, last month the the car suffered the dreaded 'K' series head gasket failure, much to my discused as it had only covered 55K. I have also had to fork out £2000 for the work to be done on it. Anyway, that is past now because the week after it was fixed I took every pre-freelander owners advice and got rid. I now have a 53 Mondeo 2.0 TDCI 115 with only 18K on the clock. My question is this:- How would it compare with towing compared to my Freelander. My caravan is a 93 sprite Finesse and only weighs in at around 850 fully loaded. I must admit, when the wife and I talked about getting a caravan last year everyone said "Get a 4x4 and you won't go wrong" Well, I was quite dissapointed at the capability of the Freelander to tow even this small van. I was constantly droping to 3rd up hills and the caravan pushed it about quite a bit. I now know that the 'K' series 1.8 engine stuggled to move the car let alone tow a caravan. Before I bought the Mondeo I also looked at the Citroen C5 and the Renault Laguna but all the reviews said the Mondeo is best car for the money. I am extremly pleased with the car so far and the power compared to the Freelander is unbelievable. I think the 130 would have been a bit much for me to handle. Anyway, I have priced up tow bar and electrics but I was just wondering how you guys would think it would handle with the towing compared to the Freelander. Also, we are thinking of getting a bigger van next year so I need to think about my weights and capabilities of this car.

Thank you in advance

Gary

 

[rob_jax]

Gary,

A few of my Eriba friends have the Mondeo TDCi Estate, can't remember if they have self-levelling suspension or not, and they all seem to really like the car - good to great solo, and more than enough power / torque to pull the largest Eriba Triton or Troll (MPTLM 1000 to 1200kg).

And you can never have too much power.

Robert

 

[giovanni_5060838]

not a 4x4 lover so this will be a littlebit of a shock to the

system, but you had a 1.8 petrol engined freelander, and compared to diesel engined vehicles this would suffer on its

relaxed ability to tow.had you got the diesel version this would

not have been a issue.you now have a diesel mondeo, which is far

better than had you bought a petrol mondeo.

 

[RichardH]

I have the 2001 2.0 ghia x Mondeo saloon. It is petrol engined (coming up on 100k miles) and I tow a 1995 sprite major super which is a fair weight (cant remember exactly and I'm at work so cant look it up). Suffice to say its a 20 odd foot 5 berth with all the normal kit inside. The Mondeo tows it quite happliy and although you can feel it on the rear end it nevr gave me any issues going to derbyshire from near milton keynes. As the saying goes it towed it uphill and down dale. If you have the diesel version I would think it would tow your van easily. Bear in mind the manufacturers max tow weight is 1800kg and the car only weighs around 1400kg (depending on variant). So even if you get a bigger van the car will easily tow up to 100% and still be 300 or 400kg under its maximum tow weight.

For a 2.0 petrol engine I was impressed that I get 36mpg solo and around 28mpg towing so I think its excellent.

 

[scottironsbtinternet.com]

Hi

I have had a 1.8 freelander and thought it was good until i bought a td4 freelander(had both from new).The TD4 blows the 1.8 out of the water.1.8 nothing but trouble and no guts,td4 no faults after 4 yrs and could pull a house down(ok a wee house)

 

[andrew_5083682]

hi gary

i have a mondeo 2.0lt auto glx hatch, towing a sprite super major, not a small van. and have had no problem great tow car.

andrew

 

[DUNCAN_5062690]

your car will be fine i had a freelander td4 what a load of cr*p had a clutch change and sold it quickly when it developed a bad rattle turbo on its way out the ford has got a good tow weight and engine

 

[Viking1]

Gary

So of the bits of this myth help you.

We got a Ford Fouse C-MAX (2.0TDCI)

The engine is the same as the one in the Mondeo

It been the fist diesel we had we fort it would be a bit slow but we were wrong it can rely shift.

I do not now if it the same with the Mondeo but with the C-MAX if you have the ford tow bar it can only pull 1290kg. I think it so thing to do with the pin.

So if I was you I would check it out if your having a ford tow bar. We had a witer on fitted to owners which lest use pull 1500kg..

Mark