Not that fast, not that refined... (Ford Mondeo 2.5i V6 Ghia X Est)

Member Name: squiffy

Product:	Ford Mondeo 2.5i V6 Ghia X Est
Date:	04/12/01 (2169 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well equipped, Spacious

Disadvantages: Poor performance, Poor trim, 'Dodgy' Euro NCAP safety result

The Mondeo certainly isn't a bad car, but in the V6 Ghia X Estate guise it certainly isn't what you might expect from the top of the range model.

The Equipment
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No complaints here. The car has almost every gadget you could want. Electric sunroof, heated leather seats, in-dash 6 CD changer, cruise control, footwell lights, a steering column stalk to control the stero, electric windows all round, trip computer, auto-dimming rear view mirror, airbags galore, etc.

About the only thing missing from the standard equipment that you might want is satellite navigation.

The sound system in particular is very good with strong, clear sound and you will come to love the in-dash CD changer. No more loading up a boot mounted CD changer and then leaving it for six months because it's so much hassle to change!

The Interior
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The trim seems very nice at first glance, but intimate experience with the car starts to show a few less than quality items.

The boot is poorly trimmed throughout with a boot floor that bends with heavy weights (i.e. Me when I kneel in there to take shopping bags off the awkwardly placed shopping hooks). There are also loose threads galore, and the rubber trim on the carpet round the floor hooks comes away far too easily.

The main cabin is a bit better, but is woefully short of oddment space. The leather seats and blackwood trim looks nice, and nothing squeaks or groans. Look closely though and some items are less than great. In particular I'm thinking of the badly placed electric seat controls, and poorly trimmed seals around the sunroof.

Three things Ford should sort are 1) Sort out the location of the electric seat adjustment, 2) Get a cupholder that can actually hold a cup and 3) Put more oddment storage in there!

Rear passengers have plenty of space, plus an armrest. Unfortunately they have no cup holders, and onl
y shallow door bins and nets from the seats in front in which to stoor stuff.

On the plus side, the car is comfortable, quiet, spacious and the ergonomics generally are sound.

The ride and handling
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I expected fine handling - it's reasonable, but the big tyres can tramline alarmingly. Torque steer is also a big, big problem.

On the motorways things are great and the car cruises well and is pleasingly quiet & refined.

Over bumpy roads though the car lets you feel every single bump and pothole. This is not helped by the tramlining the car displays. On roads where a Ford Focus would be entertaining, the Mondeo is just plain worrying. On a road you know it has a bit of chuckability, but on unfamiliar roads the fear of being almost literally thrown off your line by a pothole stifles your enjoyment.

Performance and fuel consumption
============================

This is probably the biggest disappointment. At first I thought the car just needed to run in. Well, now it has and things have improved, but not anything like I expected from a 2.5 V6.

Torque is noticeable by its absence. Go up an incline in fifth gear and although you won't slow down, you won't be able to accelerate much either. Part of the problem is that peak torque isn't generated till about 4200 revs. Between 3000 and 4000 revs there seems to be a big flat spot in performance. In fifth, 70 is just about 3000 revs, so the result is that if you want to overtake or are on a hill on a motorway the surge you might expect isn't there. You will time and again find yourself dropping a gear to overtake. On the flat you will be fine, but up even moderate inclines you'll have your foot on the floor and just be maintaining your current speed.

This lack of flexibility and sheer grunt is hard to take.

It isn't even as if this odd power curve is compensated for by good
economy. Even on steady motorway runs I struggle to achieve 29 mpg - and I'm not a speed demon by any means. The trip computer and short 340 miles between fill ups concentrate your mind on economy greatly.

Safety
=====

The car is sold as 'one of the safest places you can be' and great stock is made by Ford of the Intelligent Protection System (IPS). Sure enough there are airbags galore with driver, passenger, side and curtain airbags all in evidence.

The car also has traction control and ABS.

Part of the IPS features are that the airbags are two stage and will analyse the size/weight of drivers / passengers in an accident and then deploy accordingly. It all sounds great in practice.

And then I've just read a review in Auto Express where Ford had to make big adjustments to the car just to scrape a 4 star Euro NCAP rating. Sounds good you might think. And so it is if you are buying a new Mondeo as Ford has changed the production process to incorporate these changes. However, they aren't going to recall existing cars to make the same modifications. This is a disgrace - if the car needed changes to get the Euro NCAP result, they should give existing owners cars the same modification. Euro NCAP should withdraw the rating or make it clear it only exists to cars built from November 2001 onwards.

Overall
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Some of my comments here have been harsh, but that has to be taken in light of the fact that the V6 Ghia X Estare is currently the most expensive Mondeo you can buy. Your £21000 or so gets you a well equipped car, but one that lacks in performance, trim quality, handling and safety.

Summary: