MONDEO 4X4 V6

While the Mondeo Mkl was offered with a 4x4 transmission, Ford never coupled that to the mighty V6 engine from the sportiest models. Had they done so, could Ford have created a genuine Quattro-beater, or even a Mondeo RS...?

Did Ford have all the ingredients to build a real Quattro-beater?

When the Sierra was retired in 1992, it was replaced by the original Mondeo; an all-can-do medium-sized family car which dealers all around the globe expected to sell in huge quantities. They were right, of course – one reason being that the car was eventually sold in a bewildering number of derivatives.

For driving enthusiasts, the good news was that the Mondeo was all-new – from stem to stern – as apart from the diesel engine option there were few carry-over parts from the old Sierra. The Mondeo, therefore, not only had a raft of modern

engines, but all-independent suspension, and front-wheel-drive. Not that these arrived all at once, for it was more than a year before the powerful V6-engined versions came on stream – and four-wheeldrive was rather belatedly added in 1995.

Originally the transverse engine/fourwheel-drive package had been developed for the Mk5 Escort, but only in 2.0-litre 4-cylinder form. The top-of-the-range 2,544cc 168bhp V6 power unit, complete with twin overhead camshafts, on the other hand, was available in the Mondeo, but never linked with four-wheel-drive.

Here in the UK, the Mondeo 4x4 that went on sale was only available with the 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, and the Ghia trim package. Somehow, though, it was an embarrassing sales flop, for although sales had begun in 1995, by the time the Mondeo was extensively face-lifted and technically re-worked in the autumn of 1996 for the Mk2 model, the 4x4 transmission option was nowhere to be seen…

The only Mondeo 4x4 which got any attention by the public was one which took part in a crazy TV-orientated stunt where a specially-equipped 2.0-litre 4x4 version, allied to a Maverick SUV, set out from London to reach New York, all of this by

‘road’ except for a passage across the 55-mile wide Bering Straits which separate Siberia from Alaska. In the depths of the 1994-1995 winter, with every possible support vehicle tagging along (including what doubled as mobile caravan/trucks) that was finally achieved, but was never again attempted.

Now, hang-on for a moment. If AVO had still existed in those days, we can be sure that the V6 engine would have been mated to the four-wheel-drive system, and they could have turned the Mondeo into a Quattro-beater – but it never happened. Not officially, at least, but new readers start here…

Ford engineers (those working on the Mondeo were mainly based in FordGermany) certainly had time (and some development funds) to play mix-and-match with the available hardware, so we know that for a time all manner of combinations were tried out – some of them only in the ‘why don’t we…?’ category.

Even so, it was not as easy as it sounds. Naturally there were ‘know-nothing’ pundits who suggested that as a V6-engined frontwheel-drive Mondeo already existed, and that a 2-litre 4x4 Mondeo was already on sale, then surely it would be easy to mate the two? Well yes … and no… For serious changes were needed to ensure that the complex transfer gearbox which was needed to steal some of the engine’s torque before feeding it down a propeller shaft to the rear suspension, had to be re-worked to make it robust enough.

Then, of course, there was the marketing aspect, for Ford’s top sales bosses were not at all convinced that the public would buy such a car, which would have to be the most costly of all Mondeos. Audi’s Quattro was an obvious market rival they would have to match, preferably beat, but the fact is that neither GM-Europe (Opel and Vauxhall) nor VW had any intention of entering this rather slim market.

Unhappily – for us, that is – they were right, and except for the odd development car, no V6-powered 4x4 Mondeo was ever put on the road. The pessimists, it seems, were quite right to be cautious about this installation, for (although Ford never confirmed the figures) it seems that only about 300 4x4 Mondeos were ever delivered.

And yet, if technical bravery and high hopes had been rewarded, Ford could eventually have employed an ST200 version of the V6 engine, mated it to a further developed version of that four-wheel-drive system, and put a Quattro-beater on the market with a 145mph top speed. What a great car that would have been. A Mondeo RS, perhaps…?