Hello Jake
As guys said, don't be put off by one bad example. This cars are really worth money spend, very good runners, and lots of you can do to make it even better performer and better looking.
Go to any 'Big Boys' dealer, carcraft or cargiant, there should be no reason why you could not have a test drive, you are on the market for new car, you have the money and thats it, but you should be able to test drive it any way, if not ask for manager and ask him to employ better sale people and then ask him to serve you in more professional manner them guy who said no as it is not a good reputation for his business
Chain Driven ????? Check that mate, because it sounds a bit not right. My second car is Mondeo 2.5 V6 and yes it is a chain not belt, but from what I remember only big ford engines such as V6 2.5 and 3.0 were equipped with chain.
Checks, you can do many, ramp would be beneficial if you want to get it completely right.
Check the color of the engine oil.
Check if the power steering pump liquid is clear, if is black the power steering pump need changing, common thing with fords I've been told, but never done research about that my self, just had this problem on mondeo.
Check for any knocks on wheel bearings.
Take car somewhere where you can reach 60-70 mph (JUST MAKE SURE NO ONE DRIVES BEHIND YOU) and press the break as hard as you can, if you get any vibrations on the steering wheel then there is obviously something wrong, wheels out of balance or break discs need changing or some other stuff.
Common things with ford's are as well steering racks together with power steering wheels, so check for any knocks.
Check if tyres are worn out equally, if not then again that needs to be looked.
Rev the engine, look for any grey/white smoke.
Jake, guys, don't take this advice as a professional advice as it is not
this is just my common sense base on my little knowledge which I always use when going with someone to buy a used car.
Also service books are very easy to make up, so check if all the stamps are not on the same ink, exactly same tone/color, like stamped one by one.
ALSO
For remap, check the banner on the top of the page on the right,
www.jfautomotive.co.uk , great guy, great prices, very good Viezu remap files, had it done on my Audi and it works straight away and you can feel the difference, also quickly checked the website and you can get 30more BHP and 60Nm of torque as well.
All the best mate