What is it?
The estate version of the new Mondeo. It’s launching alongside the hatchback, with the same engine lineup and starting at £22,045 for the entry-level Style model - a £1250 walkup from the five-door car that’s reflected across the board.
That buys you around 20kg more bodywork, and all the usual advantages that come with it. The hatchback is hardly short on boot space, but load the wagon to the ceiling without moving the seats and there’s close to 100 litres more on offer if you forgo a spare wheel, at 755 litres.
Flatten the back row (which is child’s play) and the advantage is closer to 200 litres, to 1630 litres. Total load capacity is less than that which Volkswagens quote for the new Passat - and up to the parcel shelf, a Mondeo hatch will actually offer marginally more space if you opt to keep just a tyre repair kit under the boot floor.
Peering in from the rear end, though, it’s hard to imagine anyone complaining at the carpeted cavern on offer.
Certainly not rear passengers, anyway. The increased headroom afforded by the estate’s more generous roofline is obvious from the inside; Ford itself measuring the gap at a useful 31mm, without a sunroof to accommodate.
In the Mondeo, that’s the difference between hosting a six-foot teenager comfortably in the back, and not just tolerably.
There is a price to pay at the business end, of course - but it’s fractional. In the 1.5-litre EcoBoost petrol we tested, the estate emitted 3g/km more CO2 than the five-door, was less than 1mpg thirstier and 0.1 second slower to 62mph. So, in the real world, effectively the same. In Titanium spec, with a substantial amount of toys, the starting price creeps up to £23,495.
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Curious pricing
I do apologise for my
I never said my idea of a nice car was a Ford Mondeo estate or that I lust after one. I Just said the new Mondeo was a good lucking car and you gt to admit it is certainly a lot better looking than the new VW Passat. I like a nice fast Renault myself.
Dear Ford
Remember the Escort? Remember how you decided that having okay handling was good enough? Remember how saving a few pennies was a great financial idea, and people wouldn't notice? Remember also, how people left Ford in their droves.
Now remember how you brought the Focus and Mondeo to market (and later the Fiesta) and people bought them because they were sharp, great handling cars which were designed to be driven?
Now fast forward nearly 20 years. The market in which the Focus and Mondeo both compete is full of competent, worthy, and dull machinery. From reading reviews of the current and "new" Focus and Mondeo, the mediocrity seems to be returning to Ford. Without the driver appeal, what compelling reason is their to buy your cars? 0.1mpg and 0.05g/km saved with electric steering (something which even Porsche cannot get right) is turning your product into another average box.
The Fiesta ST is a superb example of what you can do when you do it right. Shame your other products are increasingly wide of the mark. The "new" Mondeo is supposedly delayed because it was re-engineered for European buyers. From the faint praise being issued by reviewers, it seems this re-engineering didn't go far enough.