Yesterday, we all found out how good the Kia Rio from Nic still was, which really surprised us all.
We all thought it would come up with a couple of failures. Really remarkable that Kia didn't offer seven years warranty back in 2002.
I'm not worried about my Mondeo from december 2003 though. It's from after the facelift, so there's probably not a lot wrong with it.
It has done 280.000 km and I'm not worried at all. The only thing Joep could criticize is the dry rear tires.
It has some small cracks, but they're from Michelin. At the front, I've got Nexen-tires, which Joep isn't going to like either.
And my right side-view mirror isn't adjusting very well, but other than that, there's nothing wrong with it.
You should prepare yourself, Stéphan. - You can't get that much car for only €500. Mark my words.
There's something wrong with it, I'm sure of it. - Me too, and Joep is going to know it before he's at the end of the street.
Sure, he might say something about the shocky automatic gearbox, but what do you expect after almost 300.000 km? Just watch.
Right, Ford. I really like that brand. A lot of options for not too much money and a pretty good drive as well. Quality was always decent, but even they...
have been hit by the downsizing. Small turbocharged engines which don't always work very well.
But none of that today, because we're driving a 17-year old Mondeo today. It's a huge machine, powered by a small 4-cylinder petrol engine.
I think it's the 1.8-litre, because it's very slow. It has an automatic gearbox with four gears. That's not a problem, but you should make the gears...
very long. Otherwise, you'll be doing a lot of revs on the motorway. Right now we're doing 120 km/h at 3.000 RPM, which is acceptable.
But if you want to accelerate, nothing happens when you put your foot down. Unless you put your foot so far down, the car changes back first.
It changes back from fourth the third, the gearbox slips a little, and then... Boom. It's down again.
It's the same with changing up, so the gearbox isn't very fresh anymore. And that's logical after 279.000 km or so.
Maybe it has been mended once, so I'm not surprised that it's not perfect anymore. But it can get very old with that.
It does make the car very relaxed to drive. I'm getting relaxed by it as well. When I first saw it, I thought it really looked. Like a junker.
But the drive is actually alright.
It's so incredibly slow man, really. The Kia is faster.
So you can't tell it produced 145 at one time? - It's the 2.0-litre? Really. Uh-oh.
It's the alternator that's screaming so much. Didn't take long to find it.
Have you checked the oil already? These guzzle oil, you know. - I haven't yet.
It's filled to the brim. And it's clean as well. - Would you look at that.
Coolant is filled as well, but there's a small leak in the tank there, because there's all kinds of cabbage growing there.
Maybe someone anticipated on that, and filled it up. I didn't smell it though, and you usually smell coolant.
So yeah. A screaming alternator, a small leak in the coolant, timing belt looks a tad old but it works.
For almost 300.000 km it's all alright, right? - Well, it's a good start, but I'm sure this isn't reaching its full potential.
You won't convince me this produced so little power coming from the factory.
The specs have never been groundbreaking though. It did 0-100 km/h in around eleven seconds. Back in the day, automatic gearbox were slower...
than manual gearboxes.
The radiator is completely finished. It's blown-up even. Look at those cooling channels, they're expanded to bits.
New bolts, relatively fresh brake pads, someone has been taking care of their Ford. Even the oil filter is new.
It hasn't even become dirty yet.
The only thing that scares me is this rusty hole, at the spring.
This is pretty good news man. It barely leaks. That has only one disadvantage, that the body isn't protected...
from rust by oil. The engine looks very good as well. I did see some damage on the protective plate.
It has quite a long nose and some weight to the nose, so the springs might have been weakened a little.
The radiator is broken if you ask me. It's completely rotten. Also, they've kitted a protective sleeve shut for a bearing ball.
Not a very good solution. When I touched it, it fell out and the grease poured out again. What stood out to me as well, is that it has relatively...
new brake pads and discs. We already saw that with the brake fluid, which was new of course. But until not too long ago,
someone did invest in maintenance for this car. - And at a Ford-dealer, right?
I don't know about that, but they've forgotten something. Let's move over here.
This bearing arm, which acts as a spring seat as well, has a huge hole in it.
So it's bound to go through? - Not in the near future, but this is a big problem. This is an MOT-failure.
And it recently got an MOT, so that's pretty problematic.
The most common tire size from back in the day, 255/16's. Not a lease car without them.
Does it have the original dampers? - Well, I think they've been replaced at one time.
There's no way that those rubbers look like that after 300.000 km.
This won't be the problem here. Nice Nexen's. - I knew it.
There's still some rust here, mister. And it looks like it's been fixed one time. It still was under warranty probably.
I never thought that cars after 2003 weren't eligible for such warranties to be honest.
And that thread is going to let go anytime soon right? - That's the problem with Michelin-tires which don't get driven down...
fast enough. After six years, just change your tires. Who takes six years to do that?
If I fold this open, you can see the canvas. This would be another MOT-failure.
We were just talking about the fact that it looks incredibly bad when you first approach it. But, when you drive it, it's not that bad really.
It kind of reminded me of Carnaval. We've all woken up next to somebody who looked incredibly bad in hindsight, but we still had a lot of fun right?
I kind of got the same realization with this car.
Despite everything, I'm still convinced that I've got the best car. - Dude, you're down fifty horsepower.
It's all about the way it feels, all about the chassis. - The chassis with holes in it?
You can't feel them yet. You can in the future, but not yet. - You won't be able to get a proper MOT.
You've got two MOT-failures! - I knew about the tires.
The MOT-officer who recently gave one should be ashamed. - I still have the most car for €500.
Right. Stéphan's Mondeo is kind of run-down, but it can always get worse. Like tomorrow, when Frank's Laguna is up.