Test drive Ford Mondeo sedan since 2007 sedan

Threat from below

Perhaps this test was the most massive of all ever held in Russia. Almost 40 journalists from all over the country in the parking lot at Pulkovo Airport sat down for 20 cars. The reason is clear to the new Mondeo Ford, a serious bet.

 
At a press conference, everything was laid out on the shelves. If earlier, Ford mass cars were perceived by the consumer as high -quality, reliable vehicles endowed with good handling, which was enough for good sales, now the market requirements are different. Today it is not enough to be just good and high -quality, you still need to be able to cause emotions, like, cling. Therefore, Ford decided to change the branded image. And he began with a new generation of Mondeo.
 
There was a very handy kinetic design, which made it debuted on the iOSIS concept frame and in a somewhat simplified version migrated to Mondeo. The company is convinced that now Ford cars will be more attractive in appearance, and therefore the issue with emotionality is considered resolved. Hence the new slogan feel the difference. At the end of the press conference showed the Mondeo advertising video, where the old Ford models (Sierra, Escort and others) fly away from the owners to the sky on balloons, and in return an impeccable Mondeo appears. So is the difference great?
 
I got a car in the GHIA configuration with a 2.5-liter turbo engine and a mechanical 6-speed checkpoint. Ghia salon finish Hello from the past. Plastic trying to imitate the tree is completed (may representatives of the company will forgive me). A colleague who became my partner in a car even had an association with the products of the Chinese auto industry. This solution does not fit in at all with a kinetic design and, most likely, the tree decoration was used for marketing reasons, it is still very in demand by the consumer. Much nicer than the cabinet of Titanium. Here is the unity of the style of interior and exterior. Inserts imitating polished metal generate the right mood. In addition, in the GHIA version there were ordinary tachometer and speedometer devices, and in the Titanium there was a large color display between them (because of this, the tachometer lost a little in size), which also added the interior the technocracy necessary within the framework of Kinetic Design. In general, the Mondeo salon is well worked out. It makes no sense to compare it with the previous model. The front panel is made of excellent elastic plastic, decoration materials are more diverse and more expensive, attention increased to the details for example, air ducts for the rear passengers appeared in the middle racks. It is convenient in the driver’s place, all controls at hand. True, slippery leather seats with weak lateral support and the pushing profile of the back were upset. In the break between the stages, I sat in the already mentioned version of Titanium with combined tissue upholstery of the seats and more pronounced side support is a completely different matter! I would choose just such chairs.
 
When it was time to give in to the steering wheel for a colleague, I, without hesitation, sat down from behind. The fact is that the new Mondeo in the back sedan is a real degree. Its length is 4844 mm. According to this indicator, it surpasses even the senior in rank of the representative of the available business class Toyota Camry (4815 mm). And along the length of the wheelbase, the car furnished longer classmates Camry Hyundai Grandeur and Nissan Teana. As a result, we have an inexhaustible supply of space behind and a very roomy trunk. This class D sedan may well be used as a car with a driver. Under the hood, a well-known 2.5-liter five-cylinder turbo engine, which Volvo was developed at one time, and now adopted for its Ford models (unification, however). The engine is aggregated only with six -speed mechanics, which, I admit, was somewhat surprised. I think many potential Mondeo buyers would like to get this power unit paired with automatic transmission. In general, cars participating in the test were equipped exclusively with mechanics. The automatic machine will appear later and will be available with two motors with a four-cylinder volume of 2.3 liters (it was borrowed from Mazda) and a 2-liter turbodiesel.
 
However, I have a union of manual transmission and a powerful engine very much. The dynamics, as expected, is at a high level. A low -pressure turbine engine provides a decent patch on any gear already from the medium -speed zone. Upon reaching high speeds, the motor is expected to wither, it requires switching to twist it to the limiter. Acceleration is smooth and very energetic. On one of the well -visible straight lines, I easily managed to reach a 190 km/h mark. The organizers are separate for the fact that they did not lay the test route exclusively along the highways with good coating. We met a very different road sections in quality, including a segment, which, it seems, was not repaired since the time of the USSR. Therefore, the running qualities of the sedan were checked in full.
 
Evaluation of movement on even coatings is excellent. Courage stability, responsiveness and information of the steering wheel, equipped with a hydraulic wiper, comfort, controllability, there is nothing to complain about. It was surprised first of all how Mondeo rides along a broken road with a rut. Perhaps, no other front -wheel drive car demonstrates such a disregard for the quality of the track with excellent controllability today. The suspension in an incomprehensible way combines the smoothness of work, comfort, a rare energy intensity, while the driver feels perfectly the car. I note that the test sedan had a 16-inch alloy drives with tires 205/55 relatively undemanding to the quality of the coating. I would venture to assume that with 17 discs the situation is unlikely to change dramatically.
 
An excellent autobahn ended with a broken two -year -old. The road looped, giving the opportunity to check the car in the turns of a wide different steepness. At first, I was careful, because the suspension seemed comfortable, and such cars do not like when they are forced to play sports. But it gradually turned out that the possibilities of Mondeo are much more diverse than it might seem.
 
In a straight sedan rushes, completely not noticing the holes. Only on very large ones can a sampling of the shock absorber happen, and this happened for all the test only once. At speed, the road is smoothed under the wheels of Mondeo. But it is much more pleasant that the turns with a broken asphalt car passes at high speed with amazing confidence! A minimum of blows is transferred to the steering wheel, and the parasitic moments of a powerful engine, and the suspension always manages to work out the clumsy profile of the track. As a result, the car at the limit confidently holds onto the surface with all the wheels, without losing the trajectory. It’s good that no changes to the Russian market were made to the suspension!
 
When the road became better, I added speed on the turns, boldly disconnecting the stabilization system. She simply does not need it on such an exemplary front-wheel drive chassis. The work of all adhesion controls, accelerator, brakes, steering wheel is impeccable. Even without optional sports packages or active shock absorbers with a dynamically changing degree of stiffness, the car goes very well. Definitely, according to chassis, the new Mondeo can be safely put on a par with the front -wheel drive standards of the Alfa Romeo 159 and VW Passat segment. However, they are not capable of driving along a bad road just as quickly and painlessly for suspension.
 
It seems that I guess why the test drive was so fleeting to him only one day. The organizers were sure that this was enough to feel the difference. The new Mondeo has gone far ahead of his predecessor and today is one of the most tempting offers in his class. And it can even take part of the buyers from models with a rank above.
 

Prices and configuration

Ford Mondeo will be sold in sedan, hatchback and station wagon in bodies. Gamma of gasoline engines 1.6 liters (125 hp), 2.0 l (145 hp), 2.3 l (161 hp), 2.5 l (220 hp) . The diesel part is represented by two engines: 2.0 l (130 hp) and 2.0 l (140 hp). Depending on the engine, the transmission can be either a mechanical 5- or 6-speed or 6-speed automatic. Six basic configurations: Ambiente (from $ 23,850), Trend (from $ 27,700), GHIA (from $ 29,290), GHIA X (from $ 31,400), Titanium (from $ 29,250), Titanium X (from $ 31,600). Of course, they can be supplemented with options. The most budget version of the Mondeo sedan with a 1.6 l and ICPP-5 engine in the Ambiente configuration, which includes 7 airbags, ABS, air conditioning, on-board computer, CD resaver, side mirrors with electric drives and heating, front electric windows, Center.
 
Leonty Tyutelev
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Source: Motor magazine [July 2007]