FORD MONDEO TITANIUM

$49,465 DRIVE-AWAY 18.5 POINTS Roomy and ready for family and fleet duty, these liftbacks will fill gaps left by the Commodore and Falcon

VALUE

The top-spec Titanium wants for very little, except a five-year warranty to match the Skoda. Standard are an eight-inch touchscreen with Android/Apple smartphone mirroring, dualzone aircon, heated seats front and rear and auto lights/wipers. Servicing is at 12 months/15,000km intervals and the first three trips will cost $1095.

DESIGN/TECH

A chameleon that blends into the urban environment, the Mondeo looks good on the outside and has an airy cabin. The centre stack is dominated by the touchscreen but the aircon buttons under it look a bit mundane for a car of this calibre. Cargo space is 557L but the boot isn’t particularly deep, meaning bags must be packed flat rather than on their sides. Towing capacity for petrol Mondeos is 1200kg.

ENGINE

The 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo (177kW/345Nm) turns a sixspeed auto and has enough poke to chirp the front wheels on take-off and give a solid mid-range shove when overtaking. Claimed thirst is 8.5L/100km — expect to see 11L in real world driving, largely as a result of the Mondeo’s hefty 1690kg.

SAFETY

Nine airbags (the outboard rear seats have inflatable belts), autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, blind spot and lane departure warnings and semi-automated parking are included. ANCAP rated the car 36.07/37 after it also performed strongly in the physical crash tests.

DRIVING

The Mondeo is a match for most cars on the road in terms of how it drives, let down only by its mass. Adaptive suspension keeps it flat in the corners without creating a bouncy ride over bumps. Road noise is well suppressed, even on the low-profile 19-inch rubber, and the brakes have reassuring bite and progressive pedal travel