Faint hissing noise from engine and terrible economy

[Number Six 10]

It's also a Mondeo - perhaps that has something to do with it?

 

My wife's car is an automatic with a 6-speed box. It's quick, responsive and efficient. - You can also select the gearshift to the 'tiptronic' side of the box to 'lock up' the transmission or if you don't want to drive in full auto.

 

It's not a Mondeo.

 

Perhaps I should have been more clear - don't get an automatic Mondeo if you have the choice of a manual unless you regularly get stuck in traffic, in which case don't get a car at all.

 

As the car is 11 years old it has what I believe is called a 'slushbox' - 3 speed and overdrive and never in the right gear.

[Number Six 10]

Nothing wrong with Mondeo's. Know lots of people who have them, including me. They are a poor mans everything car - ... Okay they are not jags but they aren't intended to be...

 

Well, the one I have is basically a base model X-type Jag in Ford overalls :-)

[DragonofAna 10]

Well, the one I have is basically a base model X-type Jag in Ford overalls :-)

 

My old mondeo (petrol) thought it was a formula one on speed; lorry on boot space; and push bike on petrol usage.

 

My current mondeo (deisel) is a pile of absolute - sounds like a type of fish; four letters (also an anagram of carp)

[Rupert_Baehr 10]

 

...If automatics were so superior then how come my licence - taken in a manual, allows me to drive and automatic, but the reverse is not true.

 

My licence allows me to drive a Challenger tank ... but it probably wouldn't be that easy to find a parking space in Sheffield for one ... Though I suppose I could always 'make' a space. - If I could drive the tank.

 

People who've only ever driven automatics may (probably will) have some difficulty at first in coping with a clutch and gearbox. I learnt to drive on a car that didn't have syncromesh - but I didn't insist on non-syncromesh gearboxes on all future cars.

 

Autos are too easy to drive. You do not have to make judgements of when to change gear and which gear is the best to be in. Just stick it in drive and forget about it. Boring.

 

It's easy to make an automatic car go, but it's not easy to drive one properly.

- Try an advanced driving course in an automatic and you'll soon learn what you can do with the gearbox.

 

The tiptronic box is a 6-gear manual box (when you want it to be) but the rest of the time (and particularly in heavy traffic) it's way easier than pumping the clutch every 5 seconds - and more economical, too.

 

Nothing wrong with Mondeo's. Know lots of people who have them, including me. They are a poor mans everything car - quick; nice to look at; cheap to buy; easy to learn to fix; cheap parts; plenty of leg and head room; and so on. Okay they are not fararris or lambourginis or jags but they aren't intended to be, and they far outclass blooming vauxhall astras.

 

Each to his own. The first Ford I drove was a Mk ll Cortina with a 1600 Crossflow engine. - A nice car. Somebody who worked for Ford told me that the company hoped the Mondeo would pick up the torch which had been carried by the Cortina. Unfortunately, the Mondeo wasn't a patch on the Cortina.

 

The last Ford I drove was a Ford Ranger truck with a 3 Litre petrol engine. - A fuel-guzzling piece of junk which could carry a whole 9 Kg more than my Skoda Fabia and couldn't tow more than 2000lb.

 

Some years ago Volvo bought out Daf. I understand that one of the reasons for the purchase was to obtain Daf's gearbox technology (not the technology in the rubber-band driven 'Daf fodil'; Daf had designed some impressive gearboxes.)

 

Ford bought out Volvo, Jaguar, a ⅓ interest in Mazda, Aston-Martin and Range Rover. The have (or had, they've sold off a lot) no shortage of access to technology, but for some reason the technology didn't seem to cross the barriers between the various divisions which made up the Ford Empire.

 

When I need to drive a car (or when my wife wants me to drive so she can go to sleep) I drive her car.

 

I prefer not to drive a car. Cars have far too much unnecessary equipment. 2 road wheels too many for a start. They also get stuck in traffic.

[DragonofAna 10]

The MkII was a box. How the hell anyone thinks that was an improvement on the mark 1 with the lotus engine I'll never know. and then there is the classic Mk3 - talking about tanks (which it was at the time). And then the cortina range just lost the plot altogether.

But the Mondeo is an amazing car. Seen them driven into houses with hardly any noticable damage to the car. Also won the top gear car award several years running. And came off top in a safety test against a volvo - though I dare say I will not be able to find the reference to that (which I know some trolls on here will ask for).

 

I love Mondeos

[exCrossLad 10]

 

You prefer automatics because you didn't have the intellect to pass a manual test? Just joking before you get your nickers in a twist.

 

If automatics were so superior then how come my licence - taken in a manual, allows me to drive and automatic, but the reverse is not true.

 

I really dont know the answer to that. Probably because historically the UK motor industry has never used automatic transmissions in its products. The overwhelming majority of British cars had small engines which didn't lend themselves well to auto transmissions, but that was years ago. Modern engines are very efficient, even small engines are compatible with automatic transmissions today.

I know you're only kidding about passing a manual test. I've held a British HGV Class 1 driving licence since 1970, and I got an equivalent American Class A Commercial driver license when I moved here to the USA six years ago. I passed the test and the truck had an 18 gear manual transmission, and believe me if you drove it for an 11 hour shift you would be begging for an automatic transmission! The company I worked for also had automatic transmission trucks which were much less tiring to drive, returned equal fuel economy, and needed far less replacements of the drive train components.

If you're happy with your manual transmission, thats fine with me, but please dont think that everyone who prefers automatic is somehow a lesser driver.

Edited March 25, 2010 by exCrossLad

[alex3659 11]

Have you got a thirsty snake in your petrol tank?

[exCrossLad 10]

Have you got a thirsty snake in your petrol tank?

 

I'm not quite sure what you mean, or even if you mean me, but my Chevy pick up returns 20mpg overall, and thats with an automatic trans too!

[alex3659 11]

I'm not quite sure what you mean, or even if you mean me, but my Chevy pick up returns 20mpg overall, and thats with an automatic trans too!

 

Hissing noise, losing fuel.

 

Over your head that one.

 

Never mind it was crap anyway.

[exCrossLad 10]

Oh yeah! I'll be in the General Forum until the comedian comes on....