8 June 2015
New Mondeo is worth the wait
If you thought Ford was a carmaker that made ordinary cars for ordinary people, the new 2015 Mondeo is about to give you something of a wake-up call. And the Mondeo Titanium that we drove recently is anything but ordinary, having quite extra-ordinary equipment, comfort and performance levels.
Safety equipment for our petrol powered 177kW Ford Titanium is class-leading, with systems such as City Safe pre-collision and pedestrian detection, a system designed to apply the brakes in the event a driver fails to do so in the event of a pending impact with a vehicle or pedestrian, and a vast array of electronic safety aids such as Lane Keeping System, Blind Spot Warning, Adaptive Cruise Control and Active Park Assist, to name a few.
Standard across the Mondeo range, are inflatable rear seat belts. These are airbags in the seat belts which in the event of an accident, deploy in 40 milliseconds, spreading the load to five times the area of the belt over the torso of rear seat passengers, significantly reducing the severity of injury to the occupants.
In addition to the 177kW/345Nm EcoBoost petrol engine fitted to our Mondeo Titanium, there is also a 149kW/345Nm EcoBoost petrol engine and a 132kW/400Nm diesel available in Ambiente and Trend models. All engines are of 2.0 litre capacity. Body configurations of Hatch and Wagon are offered.
No two ways about it - it's a big car
While the medium/large car sector is only limping along at present, Ford perhaps has the edge over some of the competitors in this sector, being known in our part of the world for producing large cars for several decades with the Falcon. And while the Mondeo has traditionally been considered a medium sized car, dimensions have grown to large car proportions.
At 4,871mm in length, the Mondeo is only 78mm shorter than the current Falcon and 16mm narrower at 1,852mm, so dyed in the wool blue oval fans who lament the forthcoming passing of the Falcon nameplate, won’t have to compromise much on size.
Interior luggage space for the Mondeo Hatch of 1,356 litres with the seats folded down and 557 with them up, beats the Falcon’s 535 litres hands down, although it must be said that Ford calculate the Mondeo’s luggage area loaded to the roof line. The Mondeo Wagon is even more cavernous, with 1,605 litres and 730 litres with the seats down and up respectively. And given the ease of access of a hatchback over a sedan, the Mondeo is arguably more practical.
However, the one area where the Mondeo will disappoint those traditional Falcon buyers is that the Mondeo’s maximum braked towing weight, which at 1,200kg is only a little over half the Falcon’s 2,300kg max.
Some new and truly advanced features
The new Mondeo boasts a number of firsts. It’s the first model we’ve seen on the new, refined platform; the first Mondeo with electric power steering and the first with Ford’s latest MyKey technology, which is a system that can be programmed to manage a number of features for safety’s sake.
MyKey can manage systems such as incoming phone calls, maximum speed restriction, maximum audio system volume, preventing deactivation of features such as traction and stability control, or preventing the vehicle from being driven if seatbelts are not buckled up.
Ford’s new SYNC2 system offers improved connectivity features. An 8 inch colour screen, two USB inputs and three RCAs, SD card slot, satellite navigation, Wi-fi feature and Bluetooth are featured across the range.
Trend and Titanium models have heated seats, rain sensing wipers, heated windscreen, ambient lighting and leather trim, with the Titanium having luxury grade leather. The Titanium is fitted with 18 inch alloys, while all other models have 17 inch alloy wheels. All have a 16 inch full size steel spare wheel.
Well and truly a large car with an abundance of luxury features, traditional drivers of big Aussie cars won’t feel let down by all that the Mondeo has to offer. In fact, there are some significant benefits. Fuel economy for diesel models is claimed to be 5.1L/100km, while petrol economy is quoted at 8.2L/100km for the Ambiente and Trend petrol models with the 149kW powerplant and 8.5L/100km for the 177kW Titanium.
Pricing starts at $43,990 for the entry-level Ambiente EcoBoost Hatch, $48,990 for the Trend EcoBoost Hatch, through to $53,390 for the Titanium EcoBoost Hatch. Wagons have a $1,500 premium over sedans and diesels a $1,500 premium over EcoBoost models. So, with no diesel Titanium on offer, pricing tops out at $54,890 for the Titanium EcoBoost Wagon.
It’s not often that we believe the top of the range model offers the best value, but in this case, the all-singing, dancing Titanium models at under $55k offer one heck of a lot of bang for the buck.