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4
Handling
Performance
Usability
Feelgood factor
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3.5
By Tim Pollard
First Drives
24 April 2007 06:28
Definitely not. The very mention of Mondeo might not raise the heartbeat, but this is an important car for Ford. Not only does it sell in huge numbers (easily top 10 fodder in the UK, despite declining sales), but it defines the middle market. If Ford gets the Mondeo right, the Blue Oval is in good shape. It's the bedrock of its range. The Mondeo has even entered the national lexicon here in the UK. Although apparently misquoted (he was pointing at a Sierra, according to some reports), prime minister Tony Blair coined the phrase Mondeo Man when on the political campaign trail; the Mondeo is the very essence of transport for the masses. It's Everyman's favourite wheels and therefore A Very Important Car.
Car companies love a good design label. BMW invented flame surfacing, Lexus came up with the crazily titled L-Finesse and Ford has been guilty of its own grandiose-sounding design catchphrases. New Edge was the brand's 1990s philosophy and heralded landmark models such as the Ka and Focus Mk1. But tastes have changed and Ford now talks of Kinetic Design, ushered in by its latest design overlord Martin Smith. Out go the bold, geometric shapes of the '90s, replaced by a more sober, classier lines. It works, too. In the metal, the new Mondeo looks slick, sophisticated, quite German even. And who'd have thought we'd ever write that about a humble Mondeo? There's wedge aplenty in the side profile, and the kicked-up rear window line helps provide a sporty stance. It ain't beautiful and it ain't head-turning, but it might be enough to persuade Jo Public out of their Passats and 3-series.
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Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi (2007) CAR review
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bertandnairobi says
RE: Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi (2007) CAR review
It would be nice if I didn´t have to take out a subscription to Fleet Manager Monthly to read all about it. We´re talking about Britain´s Mr Average car here, not the Ford Transit versus Renault Master tussle. Of course for the time being there will be a 4 door Ford somewhere; its absence from the Queen´s highway is more my concern. In engineering terms, the 5 door is precisely the same thing. In sociological terms the withdrawal of the 4 door is an earthquake of 6 on the Richter scale. It knocks cups off shelves, loosens teeth and rips off socks. Yet this happened without us being told. I wonder what else I have to go hunting around for to find and so I go looking for the untold story. In a funny way I´m becoming my own car journalist. If Ford want to design the Mondeo around the diverse requirements of the US, Europe, China and wherever else, they can kiss goodbye to the car´s USP, which is European driving dynamics. Without this there really is no point in choosing one unless you set great store by the options lists, colour/trim choices and the location of your nearest dealer. They´ll have a car as well suited to Europe as the Camry. And they´ll sell as many. Fleet Manager Monthly isn´t going to write like CAR, alas. "Gavin Spade assesses the BIC status of the new Sat-Nav feature on Ford´s evergreen, the Mondeo" or "How the accountants view the CO2 charges accruing to the new turbodiesels from Vauxhall, Renault and Ford."
It would be nice if I didn´t have to take out a subscription to Fleet Manager Monthly to read all about it. We´re talking about Britain´s Mr Average car here, not the Ford Transit versus Renault Master tussle.
Of course for the time being there will be a 4 door Ford somewhere; its absence from the Queen´s highway is more my concern. In engineering terms, the 5 door is precisely the same thing. In sociological terms the withdrawal of the 4 door is an earthquake of 6 on the Richter scale. It knocks cups off shelves, loosens teeth and rips off socks. Yet this happened without us being told. I wonder what else I have to go hunting around for to find and so I go looking for the untold story. In a funny way I´m becoming my own car journalist.
If Ford want to design the Mondeo around the diverse requirements of the US, Europe, China and wherever else, they can kiss goodbye to the car´s USP, which is European driving dynamics. Without this there really is no point in choosing one unless you set great store by the options lists, colour/trim choices and the location of your nearest dealer. They´ll have a car as well suited to Europe as the Camry. And they´ll sell as many.
Fleet Manager Monthly isn´t going to write like CAR, alas. "Gavin Spade assesses the BIC status of the new Sat-Nav feature on Ford´s evergreen, the Mondeo" or "How the accountants view the CO2 charges accruing to the new turbodiesels from Vauxhall, Renault and Ford."
12 October 2011 11:14
car4mh says
Bertandnairobi, I think your mourning the demise of the Mondeo saloon may be a touch premature. Although we can't buy a Mondeo saloon in Australasia either, following the last facelift. But America holds the key to the four-door Mondeo's continuation, as it has for the Focus and Fiesta. Isn't the next generation Mondeo going to be another 'One Ford' global model, replacing the US market Ford Fusion? If that is the case you can be assured there will be a Ford family sedan with a trunk - even if a saloon with a boot does not find its way on to UK dealer forecourts. Perhaps Ford should call the Mondeo a 4-dour coupe now, or a Sportback, in an attempt to woo 'aspirational premium lifestyle' buyers? Given that the Ford Mondeo was grudgingly deemed the winner of CAR's last mainstream saloon test (with the proviso that the Munich Mondeo/E90 3-series was about to be replaced), perhaps we have to wait 'til BMW issues the new F30 for a rematch? You may need to retreat to the collar-and-tie fleet management publications to find aMondeo/Insignia/Optima/508/Mazda6/Legacy/Laguna/C5/Superb/Passat/Avensis/Accord/Exeo etc battle royale in the meantime.
Bertandnairobi, I think your mourning the demise of the Mondeo saloon may be a touch premature. Although we can't buy a Mondeo saloon in Australasia either, following the last facelift.
But America holds the key to the four-door Mondeo's continuation, as it has for the Focus and Fiesta. Isn't the next generation Mondeo going to be another 'One Ford' global model, replacing the US market Ford Fusion? If that is the case you can be assured there will be a Ford family sedan with a trunk - even if a saloon with a boot does not find its way on to UK dealer forecourts. Perhaps Ford should call the Mondeo a 4-dour coupe now, or a Sportback, in an attempt to woo 'aspirational premium lifestyle' buyers?
Given that the Ford Mondeo was grudgingly deemed the winner of CAR's last mainstream saloon test (with the proviso that the Munich Mondeo/E90 3-series was about to be replaced), perhaps we have to wait 'til BMW issues the new F30 for a rematch? You may need to retreat to the collar-and-tie fleet management publications to find aMondeo/Insignia/Optima/508/Mazda6/Legacy/Laguna/C5/Superb/Passat/Avensis/Accord/Exeo etc battle royale in the meantime.
12 October 2011 10:53
I wonder should we start a book of condolences for the Ford Mondeo saloon. Think about its forbears: fifty years of straightforward motoring incarnates as Consuls, Cortinas and Sierras. That line has ended and with a small faint squeak rather than a tumultuous detonation. The Mondeo´s predecessor saloons were landmarks. They were benchmarks and rivals for other makers and as such formed the frame of reference for a suite of similar products. Yes, there was a brief period when the Sierra was sold only as a hatchback but it did not last long. This looks suspiciously like the game is up for the Mondeo saloon. Is Ford being clever, as it was when yielding the Granada/Scorpio class to focus on Galaxies? Or is this a sign of something more serious? Ór is it just that the Mondeo saloon is going to be sold only outside Germany and the UK? Will there be a replacement saloon? Or is this the beginning of the end?
12 October 2011 09:44
Interestingly, the Peugeot 508 comes as a four door and as an estate. Are Peugeot being canny by offering a car in a niche Ford have left? Vauxhall still offer the car in 4 door form. So why is it that Ford can´t or won´t sell a four door Mondeo while Vauxhall can? I wonder if we could have a giant test of the mainstream executives? Isn´t this overdue and now that Peugeot have a new entrant in the market it ought to be about time to find out about how these cars stack up.
Interestingly, the Peugeot 508 comes as a four door and as an estate. Are Peugeot being canny by offering a car in a niche Ford have left? Vauxhall still offer the car in 4 door form. So why is it that Ford can´t or won´t sell a four door Mondeo while Vauxhall can?
I wonder if we could have a giant test of the mainstream executives? Isn´t this overdue and now that Peugeot have a new entrant in the market it ought to be about time to find out about how these cars stack up.
10 October 2011 13:49
I `phoned Ford UK who told me the saloon was discontinued "two or three years ago." I must add that the person I spoke to was incredibly helpful. Were I actually in the Essex area I would have found it very, very hard to resist their solicitations to purchase the next best thing, a Ford Mondeo 5-door. The staff in Ford UK really are determined to makes sale. Impressive. A quick check shows the Mondeo 4 door still lives on in Spain and France. And Belgium and Italy. But not the UK, Ford´s biggest European market.... CAR, why didn´t you tell us?
I `phoned Ford UK who told me the saloon was discontinued "two or three years ago." I must add that the person I spoke to was incredibly helpful. Were I actually in the Essex area I would have found it very, very hard to resist their solicitations to purchase the next best thing, a Ford Mondeo 5-door. The staff in Ford UK really are determined to makes sale. Impressive.
A quick check shows the Mondeo 4 door still lives on in Spain and France. And Belgium and Italy. But not the UK, Ford´s biggest European market....
CAR, why didn´t you tell us?
10 October 2011 12:07
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