Test drive Ford mondeo sedan 2000 - 2003 sedan

Mondeo changed his appearance

A new version, especially if this is the next generation of a widely known and perfectly proven model, will always attract special attention. After all, if the predecessor was very good, then the new model a priori should be much better in everything, surpass it in all respects. And I must say that from this point of view, the new Mondeo can really be called new - created, as they say, from scratch, this car embodied all the achievements and developments of the company's engineers.

A successful, unlucking and at the same time fashion design is already half the case, and it is doubly pleasant if the car has a low frontal resistance coefficient. I don’t know which SC has a new Mondeo, but it is felt that they worked in this direction thoroughly. Even at a speed of 150 km/h in the cabin there is such silence that it is just right to think about whether you have a rumor. Unless the sound of the engine’s operation, which the engineers tried to give out for the sports, is constantly present in the cabin, and it becomes especially noticeable with acceleration and acceleration. In principle, such an option will be pleasant for some active drivers, but I personally did not like it soprano - this sound seemed too synthetic, unnatural to me. In addition, his tonality is also a little strange: it does not bite, like a large -volume engine, but at the same time, there is also no howling of a highly phoned motor - neither fish nor meat.

Although Focus and Mondeo have a design in the Foreign Forewoman New Edge style, they are not very similar to the profile. It seems to be the same sharp lines, but Mondeo, as expected by the older model, looks a little stricter and more solid, although it is impossible to call its appearance heavy. You can even say that he is more sports than his predecessor. Sixteen-inch wheels on cast discs and a low front spoiler make the appearance of the new Mondeo assertive, even despite the soft contours of the body. If desired, this aggressiveness can be made even more noticeable - for the first time, for the first time in this class, the R18 discs of various design are offered for the first time in this class.

During the creation of the new Mondeo, a lot of time was devoted to the ergonomics of the internal space, and this is immediately felt. Not only in the reserve of space, but in general, in the structure of the salon. With external dimensions of the middle class model in the salon, the new Mondeo has a much larger reserve of space in all respects, which, according to this criterion, allows him to compete with some models of one or two classes higher, and even with minivans. When you are inside, it seems that the car was designed around the cabin - the widest doorways, convenient landing and at the same time the visibility of the driver's place is simply magnificent. And this is not surprising, because when creating a new Mondeo, ergonomics experts were looking for the most optimal layout options. In order to find options for the most convenient planting, a special suit was even invented, which largely constrains movements, imitating the limited mobility of the elderly. Thus, engineers could take into account all the nuances, which made it possible to raise the ergonomics of the car to a qualitatively new level.

Also, great attention was paid to the quality of the materials used in the decoration - the front panel is made of soft and expensive in the form of plastic, which does not crack and does not rattle with time. It is gratifying that despite all the originality of the design of the panel in it, you can easily find the features of the former Ford models-the round-off, heads of the modes of the ventilation deflectors exactly the same as on Sierra. But everything else is done very unusual: the air conditioner is controlled by two convenient dials, between which there is an on -board computer, also made in the shape of a circle. The branded radio is made in the 2Din standard, so if desired it can be replaced with a regular radio or, for example, by a car television receiver. And if such a desire does not arise, then a capacious and convenient pocket remains under a conventional radio for storing various small things.

The last trend - to denote versions and configuration with their own names instead of alphabetic indices, did not bypass the Ford. Instead of those who have packed LX and GLX, the basic versions of the new Mondeo are now named, in an increase in the order of increasing, Core, Trend and, of course, Ghia. But even the basic version of the new Mondeo, which, by the way, costs a very inexpensive car class, includes much of what was previously offered only for an additional payment: airbags for the driver and front passenger, the central castle with a remote control, a hydraulic boom. Hail, immobilizer, air conditioning, ABS and even a system for distribution of brake force. You have not forgotten that we are talking about an inexpensive, basic version? But the most interesting thing is that the difference in the price between the basic and the most sophisticated version of Ghia, which includes even an automatic transmission, is only a little more than two and a half thousand dollars. But if the list of options is less interesting for you than power indicators, then you will probably be interested in a version with a 2.5-liter 170-horsepower engine, which in the far from poor Trend set costs less than fifteen thousand dollars.

In a rigid competition, the novelty always has more chances for success than simply updated and modernized models. Still, whatever one may say, life does not stand still - the new model always has much higher quality and the best indicators in terms of active and passive safety. Competitors, however, are also not asleep, but, in addition to all the purely constructive advantages, the new Mondeo has another trump card in the sleeve. We are talking about a fundamentally new Ford car shopping system on credit. For the first time you can buy a car by installments, bypassing various banks and insurance companies, which ultimately inevitably increased the price of the car. Now, even if you choose the maximum installment period - 2.5 years, the margin will be only 15% of the cost of the car. And this means that the amount of the monthly payment will be in the range of 600 cu, and this amount already includes all payments, including insurance. In general, an excellent offer for those who can count money.

Pavel Kozlovsky
 
 

A source: Auto -Gazeta / N 16 (319) dated 30.05.01