ONCE upon a time, when it came to purchasing a D-segment car, Malaysians had limited options as there was only a pool of Japanese cars to choose from.
Gone are those days. Today, the D-segment offers many more choices, such as the Volkswagen Passat, Kia Optima, Hyundai Sonata, Mazda 6, Peugeot 508 and the Ford Mondeo in the market.
While most may not be selling as well as Japanese cars in most countries, some do sell like hot cakes in others. For example, Ford’s vehicles such as the Mondeo sell very well in European countries.
We took the Ford Mondeo 2.0-litre Ecoboost for a test drive and were amazed by its performance.
The Ford Mondeo 2.0 Ecoboost uses the same fourth-generation Mondeo engine that produces 237hp at 5,300 rpm and 345 Nm of torque at 2,300 to 4,900 rpm. It is paired to a new six-speed Select-Shift with Paddle Shifters, replacing the old six-speed Power-Shift transmission.
Ford claims that the combination of turbocharging, direct fuel injection and twin independent variable camshaft timing (Ti-VCT) system in the EcoBoost engine delivers an exceptional fuel economy of eight litres per 100km, with a top speed of 240kph.
The Mondeo measures 4,871mm in length, 1,852mm in width, 1,486mm in height with a wheelbase of 2,850mm. It weighs in at about 1.5 tonnes with a fuel tank capacity of 62.5 litres and a boot space of 557 litres.
It comes with 17-inch double five-spoke alloy wheels, auto headlamps and wipers, an electronic parking brake, leather steering wheel and gear shift knob, rear air-conditioning vents, adaptive LED headlamps, daytime running lights, dual exhausts, SYNC 2 infotainment system, eight-inch colour touch screen, nine speakers sound system and auto-fold wing mirrors, complete with puddle lamps.
The MyKey system is also available with the new Mondeo. It allows the programming of various features, such as setting the maximum speed limit, seatbelt reminder and the maximum volume of the audio system.
Front and rear parking aid sensors, anti-lock braking system, electronic brake distribution, electronic stability control, traction control, hill launch assist and Isofix mount points, seven airbags, capless fuel filler and lane keeping aid are the core safety features available in the Ford Mondeo.
The Ford Mondeo EcoBoost, which has a five-star ANCAP safety rating, is priced at RM200,388 on the roads without insurance. It comes with a 100,000km or three-year warranty.
THE DRIVE
We drove the Ford Mondeo 2.0 Ecoboost for about 950km through cities, highways, urban, rough and damaged road conditions. The Mondeo’s ride quality is flawless.
Ford’s engineers did a great job on the Mondeo’s razor-sharp handling. On windy roads, the response was very accurate. On high-speed corners, the handling was agile and responsive. The Mondeo sits solidly on the tarmac with no body roll felt.
The six-speed transmission shift gears smoothly at gentle speeds and responds rapidly to heavy-footed driving.
The absorbers tackle rough and damaged road conditions with comfort. During the low- and high-speed driving, the wind and engine sound are muted with only moderate tyre noise.
The driving position is good and gives the driver excellent vision. The Mondeo also has a very sharp 4.2-inch instrument cluster in the centre, providing the driver a huge range of functions. Most importantly, it is very straight forward and easy to use.
There are big door pockets and one of the biggest glove compartments around. It is cleverly separated in two tiers, and there is also a net to hold envelopes or other important documents.
The Ford Mondeo has no issues with space. It has a lot of head and legroom on the front, as well as for the back passengers. It also comes with enormous boot space that can probably fit two to three adults.
Ford’s Sync2 is pretty easy to work with. Tuning and setting the infotainment system is very straight forward and easy. Best of all, you can also do it on the steering controls.
We drove nearly 800km in the Ford Mondeo and used slightly more than a full tank of petrol. We were impressed with the capless fuel filler when filling up the car, it certainly saved some time.
The average petrol consumed when we were cruising on the highway within speed limits was 7 to 7.8 litres per 100km. On a mixture of city and highway driving, it recorded 8.3 to 10.1 litres per 100km. After heavy-footed driving, it used about 11.3 to 14 litres per 100km.
Although the Ford Mondeo has many benefits, it still has room for improvements. We felt that the Mondeo should come with blind spot detection warning system to enhance the safety of the car, as well as a powered boot as it is quite heavy to open.