Test drive Ford Mondeo sedan since 2007 sedan

Russian order

The first was tested by the new Mondeo Mr. Bond. James Bond. The blond with glass eyes, of course, did not change classic English cars, but still could not resist and grabbed with a breeze on Ford. In the footsteps of the British spy, Igor Traponov followed.
 
I liked the old Mondeo. He was a simple, honest guy, a hard worker, without snobbery and newfangled troubles. I loved his flexible character, I was ready to forgive rustic manners, the price allowed me to excuse a lot. Especially when you choose a car for everyday life, and not for the notorious image. About this I expected to see the new Mondeo. However
Imagine a picture: there is a peasant in a modest worn suit, and a lanky offspring walks next to him, which has pants, that sneakers, that a mobile phone is most expensive than his father’s wardrobe. Well, children are our future, nothing sorry for them, let them live better than us.
So the new Mondeo decided to stand higher than the parent in the automobile hierarchy. If the ancestor was a firm middle peasant of the D-class, then the young marks the younger, to the border with the class E. Yes, and he sees competitors for himself, and sets the goals of the appropriate. Hefty, spacious, with a very impressive appearance and rich equipment, the new Mondeo was seriously aiming ... to the Russian market. Compatriots, unlike jail Europeans, want the next car to be larger and more solid than the previous one. Here the owner of the focus will be collected to change the car, and he will be immediately offered rich and purvaty Mondeo. There are special competitors here: in Europe, after all, large Japanese are not particularly popular. And our rival Ford number one was called a beloved people, a very successful Toyota-Kamri.
Apparently, in order to finally convince journalists of serious intentions, cars were offered to the test: any type of body (sedan, hatchback, station wagon), but only in the rich trim levels of the GIA and Titanium and only with maximum motors. If you want to choose a 2.5-liter 220-horsepower gasoline, and you want a 2.0-liter 140-horsepower diesel. In life there will be easier configurations and more dead motors: 1.6 gasoline with a volume of 1.6; 2.0 and 2.3 liters and 1.8-liter diesel. But now we need to show the goods by face.
How huge he is! I habitually pushed the seat back to the stop, and now I move back in small dashes so as not to put pressure on the clutch with an outstretched leg. A good third of the length of the slide traveled, hid the buttons of adjusting the chair in height, set up the steering column ... Okay! Very well!!! I have the right to judge convenience and capacity: almost two meters and one hundred and thirty kilograms allow you to consider themselves a serious controller for any car.
He is enormous outside. For some time you have to get used to a five -meter, without fifteen centimeters length and almost two -meter width. On the narrow mountain paths of Italy, at first, you are scared of oncoming trucks and envy the natives on the nimble panda.
A gasoline 220-horsepower motor forces itself to respect. Why are there as many as six programs? Just get confused. The engine with such a moment characteristic for the eyes would be enough for three: the first to move, the third for a calm driving and the sixth for high -speed highways. A long ride in the mountain Vilyushki lulls: there is no need to switch every now and then, there is silence in the cabin. Acceleration-renewal, and so many, many times. The speed set is very confident, the brakes are effective, maybe the steering wheel is a little acute ...
But there is no need to relax! After a long series of not very cool turns, the road prepared a surprise. The next right was much cooler than I expected, almost 180 degrees. I pull Mondeo with a steering wheel, drop the gas, the car is steeper into an insidious turn. No, I don’t get it anyway, I went very quickly ... I will have to hooligate in the bend! The reaction is expected to break the front wheels, but barely noticeable. Further, slowly slipping in all four, the car performs a given exercise. Everything worked more than safely, even on the oncoming lane fell slightly. Wait, there is also a stabilization system. Didn't she work? It seems that I didn’t turn it off ... So that's why the breakdown of the front was so short, that’s who helped correct the mistake. And it was done unobtrusively, almost unnoticed. Finally, electronics learned to help the driver. I remember that the devices of the first generations were more scared ...
 
He devoted the next day to diesel. To these engines, I honestly are not indifferent: burdened, and recently, also fast and quiet. Only now it is difficult to move on a modern diesel engine very carefully should include clutch.
As a result, I received almost what I expected. Even a little more problem with touching did not arise. The motor confidently pulled, cheerfully accelerated the heavy station wagon and generally liked it, especially if not to build himself Gronholma (or Hirvonena?). If you want to go on a diesel engine, actively get ready to pull the boxes more often. Quick acceleration quickly and the narrow range of the motor affects. I decided to move slowly, enjoy comfort and landscapes. At the same time, I played enough of the shock absorber stiff control buttons. I tried both sport and comfort: in the first, the suspension is harder to work out small irregularities, in the second, the car begins to swing on asphalt waves. No, perhaps, the middle position is normal to be what is needed.
I liked the diesel Mondeo very much. Its capabilities, of course, are not as great as that of a powerful gasoline brother. But for a comfortable and pretty fast movement in space what you need!
The new product prices start at $ 23,850 for a modest equipment and an equally modest 1.6-liter engine. For a well -equipped powerful machine, you can lay out $ 15,000 more, plus the options for a choice. Prices for a car of this class are not at all transcendent.
So, Ford set out if he did not jump above his head, then at least overcome another step in the automotive hierarchy. The new Mondeo no longer wants to be just a large and relatively inexpensive car, he claims to be a certain status. Its owner, of course, is not a face from the list of the rich Forbes, but the personality is quite consistent ... And yet the novelty has features of an image car: great, not very equipped with itself. There was a little that the buyer believes that Ford is not only profitable, but also solid.

Five of the casket
 
 


... the same from the face. Well, if not the same, they are very similar. And not three at all, namely five. On the platform of the new Mondeo, they release: Mondeo-Sedan, hatchback and station wagon, five-seater mini-ven S-Max and seven-seater Galaxy. Moreover, the last couple saw the light much earlier than the founder itself. All cars are produced at the same factory in Belgium, in the city of Genk.
Mondeo, not the same. The new is much more modern, more solid and richer. They say that the requests of Russians played a significant role in this.
 

 

Source: The magazine "Driving"