Test drive Ford mondeo sedan 2000 - 2003 sedan

Ford diet

In my deep conviction, food can be either tasty or useful. The third is not given, and exceptions are not taken into account. And there is nothing surprising in the fact that the worldview of people, who are ardent supporters of a gastronomically correct lifestyle, is significantly different from those for whom the taste of food consumed is of paramount importance. If you try to transfer my slender theory to the world of cars, then the gourmets will be those vehicles, the motors of which with appetite eat high -octane gasoline. In turn, diesel cars act as advocates of a healthy lifestyle, ready for the sake of high efficiency and increased engine resource to eat tasteless diesel fuel.
 
When we received an offer to take for the Ford Mondeo 2.0DI test, we gladly responded to it. In the end, not so often diesel cars come to our tests. Moreover, as practice has shown, modern diesel engines can enjoy not only saving fuel, but also acceleration dynamics.
 
The Ford Duratorq DI family with direct injection and sixteen -valve heads of the block appeared a little more than three years ago, by the way, almost the same motor stood in a transit, the story of which was published in the December issue over the past year. Mondeo is available in two versions: with a 90-horsepower engine, as in our car, and with a more powerful, developing 115 hp.
 
Outside, the diesel is determined by the characteristic, well distinguishable by ear chattering. Inside, the sound of the motor is almost completely eaten by sound insulation, and therefore there is a diesel engine under the hood of a diesel engine only by vibration, which manifests itself on the gearbox lever, but after a while disappears without a trace. Another sign of the unusualness of the machine dashboard: the price of dividing the tachometer is much lower than on Mondeo with gasoline power units; In addition, an icon was added to the main set of control lamps, notifying the operation of candles of incandescent.

  

Despite the low power in absolute values, the moment characteristics of the motor are such that they allow the car to move even from the third gear at almost idle speeds. But if everything is done according to the mind, then at the first step in the box, Mondeo begins to vigorously accelerate, while the tachometer shooter is very actively flashing along its entire scale, freezing in the red zone and insisting on further manipulations with the transmission control lever. Subjectively, the machine accelerates no worse than the injection nine, which is quite confirmed by technical data: a little less than thirteen seconds go to acceleration from zero to 100 km/h! At the same time, the engine turned out to be expectedly elastic.
 
Acceleration at high speeds does not require a lower gearing: the car simply follows the accelerator pedal is not too brisk, but very confident. And, as it seemed to us, even with active driving, fuel consumption will not make you a regulars of the gas station: Mondeo has no more gate stomach.
But what really did not like was a long -term clutch pedal, even provoking the habit of errors. Firstly, the clutch turns on at the very bottom, and secondly, when moving, the left leg clearly feels the presence of a certain step that makes it difficult to surgery with the pedal. A heavier motor slightly adjusted the behavior of the machine, which, however, is felt only at the level of the nuances. Mondeo’s almost neutral rotation has shifted to the side of insufficient: in comparison with gasoline brothers, a diesel rod in a bend is more inclined to demolish the front axis a little earlier begins to straighten the trajectory.
 
However, Ford Mondeo in a 90-horsepower version is primarily a car for balanced drivers, and you should not expect excessive ardor from it. He just has another worldview. Otherwise, would he have this nasty useful diesel fuel, even if in such small portions?
 

The car is provided by Euro Motors.
 
Text: Kirill Brevdo
Photo: Roman Ostanin
 
 
 
 
 
 

Source: Wheel magazine [No. 65/2003]