Test drive Ford mondeo sedan since 2010 sedan

Word and deed

In the beginning there was a word. So recorded in the Gospel of John. At first, it was a matter in our history. People created a new Ford car, and then came up with his name - mondeo.
  
Planting in Marseille was terrible - our plane broke through the thunderstorm front and it dangled like the first airplane of the Wright brothers. We entered the airport building white from the worried unrest - to put it mildly, it is unpleasant to sit in an iron box and understand that it does not depend on you. Judging by the terrifying chatter, not very much depended on the pilot.
Having evaluated our condition, the meeting suggested a good rehabilitation course-to grab 150 kilometers to the South Tropez, splashing out the accumulated adrenaline.
From words to deed. Life is perceived in a completely different way when your fate is in your hands. Even at maximum speed on the mountain serpentine.
But still, by its nature, Mondeo is a city family car. Despite the passport maximum speed of 215 km/h, the threshold of comfortable driving on the highway, according to my observations, lies slightly lower, somewhere around 180 km/h. By comfortable, I understand such a speed when the car can be relaxed, as they say, with two fingers, and nothing distracts from the road. When the speedometer hand at Mondeo approaches 200, the driver is forced to concentrate and control the behavior of the car in not the coolest turns and with minimal maneuvers. Although design changes in the rear suspension have almost nullified the car’s attempt to break in a critical situation.
Ford changed the shape of the lower rear lever-from the V-shaped to the L-shaped. The suspension, the perpendicular case, was significantly reduced - the action of the forces acting on it in steep turns is distributed evenly, and the wheels retain maximum adhesion to the road.
In the urban cycle of movement, at speeds of about 40-50 km/h, Mondeo behaves amazingly. It accelerates sharply from the traffic light, and when touched from the place on the first gear it is almost impossible to drown it out, without giving pressure on the gas pedal. It is confidently accelerating and from 50 to 100 km/h from high gears - in the fourth it takes, according to our approximate estimates, a little more than 10 seconds. A very decent result, indicating the high elasticity of the engine.
Business approach. With the advent of the new Mondeo, Ford expects to significantly strengthen its position in the European market. The medium -class car sector is developing there very violently. It contains the most stringent struggle for a buyer who wants to have a car not just a well -known, but a prestigious brand. But such cars have, as a rule, a rich standard equipment. This is reflected in the price, and the middle class of customers is not always ready to pay a couple of thousand dollars more. With the new Mondeo, Ford successfully broke into the highest middle class on configuration, preserving the previous price order.
On the first day at the airport, I got a car in the top version of Chia. A leather salon, climatic installation, an audio system with a CD player for 6 discs, an on-board computer, servo, electrical adjustment of the driver's seat and heating the front seats-only the hatch in the roof was not enough. In addition to purely image bells and whistles on the front console, the ESP-shutdown key-the electronic stabilization system for stabilization of the course stability. Subsequently, it turned out that a new emergency braking system was installed on the machine (Emergency Brake Assist - EBA). It was on the second day that it seemed to me that the usual Mondeo brakes were wearing. But the fact is that the new system that allows you to reduce the braking distance by 21 (!) M when braking from 200 to 0 km/h is regularly installed only on Chia. The rest - to order, like ESP. In simpler models, leather seats and windows in the rear doors are also not provided, and the adjustment of the driver's seat is mixed-the electric drive only moves it up and down. Everything else must be done with your hands.
Not in words, but in practice. Ford Mondeo has every chance of becoming a leader in his security class. And recently in Europe they pay more and more attention to this.
Double -sized airbags for the driver and front passenger, side pillows and inflatable curtains are regularly installed on it. A special electronic system controls not only the force of impact, but also how the driver sits close to the steering wheel. And if the front passenger is absent, then his pillow will not work at all.
In all doors, a system of protection from the impact developed in Sweden is installed in the front seats - the WIPS wireless strike system. A special design of the front bumper, more precisely, its foundations, painlessly for body parts, extinguishes a blow at speeds up to 15 km/h. Engine and parts of the front suspension are fixed on a special subframe, which also takes on the energy of a stronger blow and develops in such a way that it eliminates serious damage to the cabin.
In addition, all cars are regularly equipped with an ISOFIX children's seats mounting systems.
Mix, but do not shake. Outwardly, Mondeo stylistically repeats Focus - just look at the front wings and front headlights. Something has also been preserved from the previous version-for example, the lines and style of the radiator grille. But visually new Mondeo looks much more solid than its predecessor, although it is only 150 mm longer and the wheelbase has increased only by 50 mm.
But inside it is clearly finished in the style of Ford Galaxy. The same steering wheel with four aluminum knitting needles, the general style and materials of the front panel and most importantly - analog oval watches on the beard - all indicates that Mondeo is higher than Focus. The feeling that you are sitting in a minivan is enhanced by a deep panel - it is impossible to get to the windshield with a hand. The high ceiling and a wide range of adjusting the chair in height allow you to even achieve almost bus landing.
I happened to see two Mondeo - sedan and hatchback. They promise that the wagon is on the way. For him, they even developed a special suspension that differs from the standard - the barn will be much higher. And I wound my most last kilometers in France in a car with a turbocharged diesel engine with a capacity of 90 hp. They say that there was still more powerful, 115 hp, but not fate ...
After a powerful 2-liter gasoline engine, diesel seemed a little weaker. We rode in a conjunction, and I had to constantly twist the motor up to 4 thousand revolutions to hold on to colleagues at a close distance. At starting from a traffic light, I even had to drive the arrow into the red zone a couple of times. But be that as it may, I did not lag behind, it was only a little scary to go to overtake.
The first sales Mondeo will begin to leave the German conveyor in November, but only for sale in Europe. Cars for our market will begin to be done in January 2001, and they will get to dealers in February-March. It is also early to talk about prices - they are not determined even for Europe.
Text Nikolay Kachurin, photo of the author and Ford Motor Co

 

Source: "Autopilot"