2014 Ford Mondeo hybrid first drive <b>Review</b> | Autocar |
| 2014 Ford Mondeo hybrid first drive <b>Review</b> | Autocar Posted: 09 Oct 2014 04:01 PM PDT What is it?This is the all-new Ford Mondeo hybrid. It's the first time that Ford has sold a petrol-electric car this side of the Atlantic and like the rest of the range it's closely related to its American sister, the Fusion. Like the rest of the 2014 line up, plenty of work has gone in to make it more appealing to European buyers. However, because of the anticipated low take up of the hybrid – it's expected to take just three per cent of sales - Ford hasn't gone the whole hog. Which is why the hybrid version will only be available as a saloon and only with a CVT gearbox when it goes on sale in January. That 'box is allied to a 2.0-litre petrol engine and a 35 kilowatt electric motor, adding up to 184bhp. It produces just 99g/km of CO2 and returns a claimed 67.2mpg, giving it an advantage over the nearly identically priced 178bhp 2.0-litre diesel option in both cases. What is it like?Terrifically refined. Like every new Mondeo it's an extremely quiet cruiser. There's barely a murmur from the engine when you're up to speed and other outside irritations such as wind and road noise are kept well in check. It's just as hushed at urban speeds, too. You'll detect a mildly firmer ride than the diesel or conventional petrol cars but this is still a supple car, far more so, in fact, than almost any rival you care to name. It embarrasses an Audi A4, let alone a Toyota Prius. The downsides are that it doesn't feel quite as nimble as, say the Mondeo 2.0-litre turbodiesel and isn't as sprightly off the mark or when you're trying to build up pace. It also suffers from the customary blight of accelerating in hybrids fitted with CVTs: the feeling of engine speeds rising faster than road speeds, simulating a slipping clutch. Elsewhere, though, it's got the same virtues as the rest of the Mondeo line-up. So it's spacious, even as a saloon, and the cabin and equipment levels are far plusher than anything we've seen from Ford before. Should I buy one?Whether this is a viable purchase really comes down to the numbers. There's no doubt that Ford is offering this at an impressive price and the prospect of lowering company car tax bills will be tempting to some. However, there are downsides - the main one being that any diesel Mondeo is a better all-round car. Also remember that it's only available as a saloon which, although spacious, is also the least useful format. So, whilst the Mondeo hybrid has many of the virtues of the rest of the range it's the one that will make the least sense for most of us. Ford Mondeo hybrid Price £24,995; 0-62mph 9.2sec; Top speed 116mph; Economy 67.2mpg; CO2 99 g/km; Kerb weight 1579kg; Engine 1999cc, 4 cyls, petrol with 35kw electric motor and lithium-ion battery; Power 184bhp at 6000rpm; Torque 128 lb ft at 4000rpm; Gearbox CVT  |
| 2014 Ford Mondeo Estate 1.5T EcoBoost first drive <b>review</b> - Autocar Posted: 09 Oct 2014 01:47 AM PDT 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. What is it like?Rather like the hatch we drove earlier in the week, unsurprisingly. Which is to say very good in many ways and entirely satisfactory everywhere else. Comfort and refinement are undeniably and impressively enhanced; Ford's chassis engineer privately conceding that the Mondeo's dynamic compromise is now as much about driver contentment as it is about obliging their enthusiasm. That approach will have some in mourning, but, frankly, the trade-off feels about right. The estate we drove swapped out the adaptive damper system for the standard passive setup, and still rode on 18-inch wheels as though it had twice the suspension travel of its predecessor. The new rear axle, with quieter subframe mounts and superior stiffness throughout, has clearly delivered the better bump absorption and NVH improvements intended. A quieter, more considered, possibly more ponderous Mondeo estate is the result. It's more detached, certainly - chiefly as a result of the electric power steering, which inevitably falls short of the previous hydraulic rack's crisp feedback and responsiveness. But there's accuracy enough in the new system to keep the almost identical MacPherson front struts aimed at the right piece of road - and sufficient resistance to convey stability at high speed. The chief difference here then is the 1.5-litre EcoBoost, a petrol unit very much in the modern template: responsive without being fast, industrious without being shrill and not quite frugal enough to suggest itself as a serious alternative to Ford's diesel engines. It develops 158bhp at 6000rpm, but truthfully you'll have lost interest by the time 177lb ft of torque starts trailing off beyond 4500rpm. That's sufficient for covering 0-62mph in 9.3 seconds, with some flexibility in a long sixth gear and otherwise decent progress without the need for an endless flogging of the throttle - but only just. Which doesn't necessarily bode well for the cheaper, more familiar 1.0-litre EcoBoost due next spring. That'll be a touch lighter over the nose, although almost certainly not enough to make up for the significant shortfall in power. Should I buy one?The combined petrol engines will likely comprise less than 10 per cent of Mondeo sales in the UK, and if you're using the new model as intended (i.e. racking up painless miles) the 1.5-litre EcoBoost doesn't offer any compelling reasons to buck the trend. The estate, meanwhile, ought to make up around 35 per cent of the volume - and that seems like being a minority which merits membership. Not only are the dividends in interior space and (arguably) looks well worth the premium, the roomier body probably better suits the unflappable, unashamedly big-boned identity of the chassis tune. Alternatively, if you prefer your estates to come with a bit more vim at turn-in, the as yet untested passive sports suspension ushers the Mondeo 10mm closer to the road and swaps out the shocks and springs for firmer alternatives. Potentially, in a car striving to completely fill out the middle ground, that may yet prove to be the happy medium. Ford Mondeo Estate 1.5T EcoBoost Titanium Price £23,495; 0-62mph 9.3 seconds; Top speed 135mph; Economy 47.9mpg; CO2 137g/km; Kerb weight 1504kg; Engine 4 cyls, 1498cc, petrol, turbocharged; Power 158bhp at 6000rpm; Torque 177lb ft at 1500-4000rpm; Gearbox 6-spd manual |
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