Review of the new Ford Mondeo - Long Term Test

Crikey, there it is. The new Ford Mondeo had just surfaced in the incessant traffic stream that darts past all day every day on the road outside the office and swept into the car park. At this early stage in its lifecycle, Ford's medium range stalwart was still a rare sight and that's an important time for a mainstream car's visual impact to be assessed, before the fog of ubiquity descends and eyes grow accustomed to its form. It looked good.

To be honest, it still does. Our Ford Mondeo has bedded in nicely to its long term test, the 2.5-litre turbocharged engine begging you to let it off the leash at every opportunity, the bling Titanium X trim level pandering to the wow factor of the seductive shape. This is a Ford Mondeo, the trusty steed of crusading photocopier salesmen everywhere, the progenitor of Mondeo Man, which makes the achievement of injecting so much excitement and verve into its latest incarnation all the more commendable.

There's nothing that's likely to upset anyone about the Mondeo's basic shape and that's crucial for a car that has to sell in the kind of volumes that this one does. It's chunky and solid looking with the thick door panels that step out from their windows but sporty with the wide, low stance and the tapering roofline that's drawn out at the rear. The detailing also emphasises the car's dynamism with the huge frowning intake in the bumper, the bonnet indents and chrome cutaways in front of the side repeaters.

"From the driver's seat, the car exudes a premium feel.."

Climb aboard and you'll soon stop sniggering at Ford's claim that it benchmarked BMW's 3-Series and Audi's A4 when establishing the Mondeo's quality standards rather than more humdrum medium range rivals. The string of less prestigious brands that have claimed 'compact executive' levels of build quality for their medium range saloons and hatchbacks grows every year but the Mondeo comes closer than any before it to the reality. From the driver's seat, the car exudes a premium feel. The dashboard materials, the controls, the layout - it's quality throughout. If you had to split hairs, you could say that the Mondeo's design lacks the assurance of the top German products. The abundant aluminium-effect trim on our Titanium X model looks good but it is slightly over the top when compared to the clinical simplicity that characterises the best Germanic interiors. If you try hard, you can also root out some less than luxurious plastics hidden away around the cabin. The very fact that the Mondeo stands comparison with a 3-Series or an A4, however, is a clear 'mission accomplished' signal for Ford. Remember that our fully loaded 217bhp 2.5T Titanium Mondeo costs just under £24,000. You'd need over £30,000 for an equivalently specified 3-Series.

The boot is enormous. Press the release and the tailgate of our hatchback model yawns open to leave you teetering on the precipice of a veritable pit of practicality. Family holidays, house moves or the weekend DIY blitz - the Mondeo will accommodate more stuff than you'd credit in any number of domestic situations. When it is time to load up and run for the sun, there should be little complaint from back seat passengers either, with exemplary head and legroom right across the rear bench.

The downside of all this space on the inside is that the Mondeo is a seriously big car outside, bigger than the old Ford Scorpio executive saloon. It feels substantial and extremely solid on the road but the sheer size becomes a real issue in tight situations and when parking. Get the Mondeo out in the open and all this is forgotten. It shines brighter than any other medium range offering whether you're attacking a set of sweeping bends or a marathon motorway trip. The suspension is extremely well judged, giving the firmness and control you want for spirited driving but without crossing over into the harshness that makes mundane trips a chore. The car is a pleasure to use on longer journeys where wind and road noise are never intrusive and the engine idles away meekly in the background until called upon to deliver the goods.

When you do prod the 2.5-litre turbocharged powerplant into life, it piles on the speed in dramatic fashion. It's the same unit used in the Focus ST hot hatchback and as you home in on the redline, the five-cylinder unit breaks into a gruff burble that only adds to the sporty experience. There's 217bhp on tap but it arrives in a measured fashion making it much more usable in everyday situations than is the case in less advanced turbocharged cars. It's a performance engine, so there's always going to be a penalty in terms of fuel economy and we've been keeping a close eye on the gauge during our long term test. To date, the costs haven't been too exorbitant. We've averaged a some way below the official combined cycle economy figure of 30mpg but the novelty of the Mondeo's sparkling chassis and engine combo has yet to wear off. We're not particularly confident that it ever will.

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