I'M A MONDEO MAN
The snobs in the motoring press routinely slate Mondeo on principle, but Ford’s new hybrid estate was an eye-opener for our astonished
The Ford Mondeo Hybrid proves a very pleasant surprise for petrolhead Neil Lyndon
Ford Mondeos almost always get a terrible press from motoring writers. One of them recently compared owning the new Mondeo Hybrid estate with ‘living on nothing but sliced white bread with generic own brand margarine: just horrible’.
This slur puzzled me deeply throughout my test week with the Mondeo Hybrid. By almost every one of the qualities I look for in a car, this one ticks the boxes so strongly that the tip could snap off the pencil. In no particular order, those criteria would be reasonable value for money (including fuel economy), good looks, sound engineering, comfort, reliability, performance (entertaining to drive), and keeping the family happy.
I would have loved this Mondeo even more if our test car had come with the 4×4 option that is available, but alas, it was front-wheel drive only. Even so…
The basic price of £29,450 for this very large, luxurious estate car took me by surprise. Given the level of equipment on our test car – including sunroof, Sony DAB sound system, rear-view camera and active parking assist – I would have expected the all-in price to be close to £40,000 (and, therefore, in the same ballpark as the VW Passat hybrid estate), rather than the £33,845 which is actually being asked. On the other hand, fuel economy is poor at 39.8mpg. On the VW, you can expect 60+ mpg.
As for the looks, it’s entirely a subjective matter but, to my eye, there’s a touch of classic hauteur in the estate car outline of this Mondeo. It’s unfussy and unshowy but it holds its own in any contemporary company – including BMW and Mercedes. The
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Everyone who lives in my house – ranging in age from 14 to 89 – admired the Mondeo’s looks
gorgeous Ruby Red paint job on our test car certainly added to its allure. I wasn’t alone in this response. Everyone who lives in my house – ranging in age from 14 to 89 – admired the Mondeo’s looks and said so, unprompted.
Engineering? Everything worked perfectly with the Mondeo. Nothing fell off or went wonky (which is not always true of press test cars); nothing felt flimsy or shoddy. From the powertrain to the suspension, from the steering to the brakes, every single part emanated that predictable certainty that only comes from long, intensive engineering research.
Comfort? You’d have to step up to Volvo, Range Rover or Bentley to find more supportive seats and deeper luxury in the leather seats. Five full-size adults could travel 300 miles in a day in this car and never feel cramped for space or short of cossetting.
Reliability? A week’s test tells is not conclusive, but Mondeos usually rank high in reliability surveys.
Performance? Not exactly sharp. The heavy battery pack bulks large in the boot and makes progress on the road stately rather than exhilarating. The combined total power from petrol engine and electric motor is only 187bhp so acceleration from 0-60mph takes over nine seconds and top speed is a mere 116mph. Moreover, if you are pressing on along empty country roads, the racket through the six-speed automatic gearbox is borderline unacceptable. If, however, you drive steadily and within legal limits, the place behind the Mondeo Hybrid’s steering wheel is a pleasantly restful, almost soporific, place to be. Keeping the family happy? No complaints at all. So, in view of all these good marks, what exactly could anybody find not to like about the Ford Mondeo Hybrid estate?
It’s all there in the name, I would suggest. No self-admiring motoring writer is going to admit to liking a Ford Mondeo. It would be the equivalent of declaring a fondness for sliced white bread and ownbrand margarine. It would place you among the tasteless, ignorant, hoi-polloi of the world.
Declaring the Mondeo Hybrid the worst car of the year was not, therefore, a consideration of the car itself: it was a social turning up of the nose towards the misbegotten saps who might like it. A class which happens to include me.