Test Ford Mondeo EcoBoost 160 CV automatic, resounding step forward (with video)

After his presentation to the media in 2012, the new ford mondeo It has been a long time coming, delaying its arrival on the European market until the end of last year. Two long years in which their rivals have not wasted time. Citing some examples, we have the Peugeot 508 or the attractive Opel Insignia, recently revamped models, as well as the Mazda 6, updated this year and which represents an important step forward by the Japanese manufacturer.

But in the end, as has been happening for years, everyone focuses their goals on reach the usual, the Volkswagen Passat, which recently presented its new generation. How will the Mondeo come out of the “combat”? Will it have been worth the wait? This week in Actualidad Motor We tested the new Ford Mondeo in Titanium finish, equipped with the interesting petrol 1.5 EcoBoost 160 hp and automatic change.

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Starting with its design, it must be said that the Mondeo now offers a more attractive and sporty aesthetic, in which mainly highlights its front. Its sharp headlights and its new trapezoidal grille, which irremediably reminds us of Aston Martin models, offer us an aggressive front end that attracts many glances. It is also very similar to the new Ford Mustang, which will arrive on the old continent this year.

Its profile follows these premises, with a pronounced drop in the roof that gives it an appealing coupé appearance. Thanks to its elaborate shapes, it hides its growth of almost 9 cm, now reaching the 4,87m of length. The optional 19” wheels enhance its sportiness. Finally moving to the rear, this is the area that is most consistent with the outgoing generation; draws less attention, but perfectly rounds off the set of marked sporty character offered by the oval brand.

We get inside and see a completely new interior, more sober than its imposing exterior figure, but pleasant and well resolved. Again, we see that the Ford Mondeo climbs another step, with a quality of materials and improved fits. The central part of the dashboard stands out, in which we now have a 8 ”touch screen (Titanium versions) in which many of the buttons of the multimedia system disappear, leaving only the air conditioning controls, as well as the main ones for handling the radio. The Trend finish has equipment with more buttons.

Below we find a new and practical storage compartment. The system of the tested unit, with a browser and Sony audio equipment, is very complete and intuitive to use, also having good sound quality. It detracts a bit from the operation of the browser, both for graphics and when it comes to interpreting it.

Remarkable Equipment

Already in the driver's seat, another of the big changes focuses on the new and attractive digital dashboard, in which its ability to reflect a large amount of information, depending on the user's choice, stands out. On-board computer, activated driving assistants, browser... Many of these systems can be configured from the steering wheel, which has two joystick and several buttons distributed in the lower area. There may be many buttons to use, but after a short period of use they are easy to use, having at hand the handling of the many options that the car offers us. An improvable detail may be that to access various options (for example adaptive suspension) we have to go through several submenus, which makes the selection of some elements a bit long.

The Ford Mondeo has the Titanium finish with the SYNC2 voice control system, with which we can vocally control the entire multimedia system, make calls... very complete and well-functioning. At this point, it should be noted that Ford has equipped this new Mondeo with a lot of technological equipment (a large part optional) in terms of safety, as well as various comfort elements: heated front and rear seats, heated steering wheel, electric adjustment of the steering column, etc. Later on, the front seats with ventilation and massage function will appear, more than covering the demands of the most demanding users in the Vignale versions. Particularly, I liked less the design of the levers behind the steering wheel; very similar to those of the Focus, for example, and that visually do not match the concept of the brand's flagship.

Spacious cabin and trunk

The seats that welcome us in front are really comfortable, they gather the body well and will make us very pleasant as the kilometers go by. The habitability in this area is very good and is completed with a large glove box with two floors and an armrest also with two heights with two USB sockets, one for SD cards and even audio/video inputs. Back we still have a lot of space for the occupants. As always, two will travel at ease, with the third passenger being the worst off, mainly affected by the transmission tunnel; although this is not very intrusive, or the termination of the central console, which has air vents in all versions of the saloon.

Even so, three will be able to travel acceptably in the rear seats of the Mondeo. The most compromised dimension in the 5-door version is in the free height of the roof, somewhat fair for people taller than 1,85 m. It has a correct height but not remarkable; the price to pay for its elegant exterior line. As a novelty, Ford introduces as an option for passengers in the rear side seats some inflatable belts. After detecting a side or frontal impact, the belts break by deploying a tubular bag, managing to distribute the forces of the blow in an area 5 times larger than in a conventional belt, mitigating the risk of injury.

We finally go to your trunk, where the Mondeo sticks out its chest with its 550 liters capacity. Interestingly, cubic 25 liters more than the family version. It has a wide loading mouth, and its shapes are very usable. Under the floor we can count on a wheel of conventional size, with which the displacement remains at 541 liters, which is still a good figure. Our Mondeo equipped the electric gate, which works quickly, although it exerts a lot of pressure before stopping when it detects an obstacle.

On going

Without further ado, it's time to drive it and see how it behaves. Our model equips the new 1.5 hp 160 EcoBoost petrol engine, which is currently exclusively associated with an automatic torque converter gearbox and 6-speed epicyclic trains. On paper, this engine is not bad at all, with a 0 to 100 km / h in 9,1 seconds, 6,3 l of combined consumption and 214 km / h top speed.

We start and one of the benefits of the engine is already evident: it is too quiet and at idle it is hardly heard in the passenger compartment, also the result of its good soundproofing; something that you really enjoy. We start to travel the city and we appreciate that it reaches its optimal operating temperature quickly; nothing to do with diesel engines. In this environment we will also enjoy the use of the automatic gearbox.

This is very comfortable, providing us with a quick response if we ask for it when leaving the traffic lights and making the changes smoothly and without slowness, working satisfactorily with the Start & Stop system, in good working order. Our model had adaptive suspension. It is equipped with three positions (comfort, normal and sport) and varies the hardness of the shock absorbers and the direction. With the comfort mode, a greater smoothness is evident, perfect for traveling around the city.

It's time to park and, literally, we no longer have an excuse to do it wrong. In addition to having better handling than its predecessor, the Mondeo may have the active parking system, which has been updated to offer us the possibility of parking in line, in battery, and even leaving the parking lot. The icing on the cake is the rear view camera, a great ally that will allow us to speed up our maneuvers even if the proximity sensors tell us that we are very close.

Good performance

We take the road and we are ready to do kilometers. You immediately realize that it is a very comfortable car, ideal for long journeys. On the motorway, it boasts a great ride comfort, also showing excellent stability and poise that make trips very pleasant. On two-way roads it shows remarkable performance, overtaking very safely, and the fact is that the supercharged 1.5 EcoBoost small block is very willful, accelerating strongly and without ups and downs until almost 6.500 laps, when the red zone of the rev counter arrives . It's about a very elastic engine without "dead" zones that distort its response, fulfilling both in quiet driving with long gears at low revolutions and moving through the upper area of ​​the rev counter when required.

It should be noted that the engine does not withstand high gears on steep slopes as its diesel namesake (TDCI 150 CV) would, mainly due to the difference in torque (240 Nm compared to 350 Nm for the diesel) but this is solved by putting one gear less. In our case, the automatic gearbox will do the same, so it stays in a characteristic data that marks the driving of both engines.

La automatic box It makes a good tandem with the engine and helps a lot to achieve that outstanding elasticity. This is a torque converter gearbox with 6 speeds and paddles behind the wheel. Its operation is very satisfactory, carrying out the shifts smoothly and quickly enough, adapting well to our demands with the throttle. It is a bit slow when performing the maneuver kick down (pedal fully), but after that short space of time it reduces to the ideal gear, providing us with the maximum possible acceleration with rapid changes of speed.

We also have the position S (Sport), with which the engine is more reactive to the accelerator, changing faster and at higher revolutions, also providing us with greater engine braking during deceleration. A detail that could be improved in this mode is that once we have used the paddles to change, it will keep us in the chosen gear uninterruptedly, having to pass the lever through D and return to S so that it is he who makes the changes. Other manufacturers (for example, Volkswagen with its DSG box) only require a slight movement of the lever backwards to do this action.

excellent behavior

And now we are going to a more twisty section, to see how this sedan moves. We put the sport mode of the suspension, the change in S, and we start linking curves. After several km of driving "on the attack", I have to say that the result is fully satisfactory. Although this is not its natural habitat, the Mondeo more than complies in this area, showing a amazing stability and poise and improving the good dynamic capabilities of its predecessor.

Behind its excellent dynamics are its new, more rigid chassis, the new independent rear suspension design, as well as the new electromechanical power steering, which although it does not stand out for offering a lot of information about the flat, it does act quickly and directly at our command. In addition, the brakes are up to the task, leaving us satisfied with both their feel and their effectiveness. And it is that the new Mondeo is, in short, a model with a behavior agile and noble in all kinds of situations which also conveys a lot of confidence to the driver.

In the field of active safety, the sedan has a large number of driving assistants: city braking assistant, adaptive speed control, blind spot information, driver alert or lane maintenance Among them stands out the new pre-collision assistant with pedestrian detection, capable of detecting if there are pedestrians on the road that may cross the path of the vehicle and apply brakes automatically if the driver does not respond to warnings.

Ford also wanted to highlight the arrival of the new dynamic LED headlights, which adjusts the intensity and direction of the light beam to the environment. In my opinion, and at least in the tested unit, they did not stand out for offering a better field of vision than other types of headlights. They lit up well, but not remarkably.

Correct consumption

And finally we come to the issue of consumption. After a test in which the Mondeo has been standing out positively in most of its aspects, I have to comment that one of its biggest defects is found here. It really has some correct records and nothing crazy; We must not forget that we are dealing with a 4,87 m sedan and that we have 160 CV, but in this tough matter the combination of the EcoBoost engine with the automatic transmission does not stand out.

Let's go with the data. In city we will go around figures around 10 liters average consumption, depending on our sweetness with the right foot and the number of times the Start & Stop system comes into operation, which is smooth and effective. On the highway, traveling at the marked speed and with some overtaking, we have obtained 6,9 liters, while on the highway at 125 km/h cruise control the figure has remained at 7,8 liters.

In short, after making these measurements and taking into account their use in mixed routes the Ford Mondeo 1.5 EcoBoost of 160 horses with automatic transmission will show an average consumption that will walk between the 8-9 liters. It will depend a lot on the driving we do and the use we give to the right pedal; and it is that this Ecoboost engine is sensitive to use.

Part of the blame for these consumptions are due to the automatic gearbox. If we compare them with the manual shift version the approved engine 0,5 liters less combined consumption: 5,8 compared to 6,3 liters in our unit. Fortunately, Ford will later offer this engine also with the 6-speed manual gearbox, with which consumption can be adjusted more safely.

Our veredicto

We can say without fear of being wrong that the new Ford Mondeo represents an important step forward in all aspects. Its exterior design is now more attractive and sporty, and inside we are welcomed by a spacious cabin with a generous trunk, which is accompanied by a substantial improvement in quality and adjustments. Highlight your plenty of comfort and safety equipment available, which allow you to get dangerously close to the premium models in the segment.

Has a first-order dynamic behavior and complies with note on all types of roads, giving confidence to the driver. The small EcoBoost engine moves the Mondeo perfectly and gives it good performance. In addition, it works very well combined with the automatic transmission, although this combination receives only a pass if we talk about consumption. If we add to this that it has complete equipment and prices with good promotional discounts, we are undoubtedly facing one of the most desirable sedans in the segment.

Equipment Ford Mondeo

The Mondeo range is currently offered in the Trend and Titanium finishes and is made up of the 5-door and family bodies. The exception is in the case of new hybrid version (Titanium HEV), which has a 4-door body as well as some specific equipment items. From the front step trend We already have a complete equipment, which can be successful if it matches the engine we are looking for (1.0 gasoline 125 CV or 1.6 and 2.0 TDCI, 115 and 150 CV respectively). On the other hand, the finish Titanium It is also satisfactory and includes interesting technological innovations, with the plus of allowing us to access more engines and equipment elements. The list of options, both in the form of packages and individually, is very extensive.

trend

• Dual zone air conditioning
• Radio with SYNC (voice control)
• 16 "alloy wheels
• Cruise control and speed limiter
• Heated and electrically folding exterior mirrors
• Rain and light sensor
• Automatic high/low beam control
• Electric parking brake
• Front fog lights cornering
• hill start assistant
• My Key (parental control)
• Emergency call
• Passenger airbag disconnection
• tire pressure sensor
• Front and rear parking sensor

Titanium (add to Trend)

• Radio with SYNC2 and 8” touch screen
• Driver's seat with electrical adjustment and memory
• lane keeping system
• Recognition of traffic signs
• keyless start button
• Folding exterior mirrors with memory
• 17 "alloy wheels
• Dynamic LED headlights

Ford Mondeo Prices

The table reflects the non-discounted prices for the 5-door body. The family versions or Sportbreak represent an increase in prices of 1.000 euros, and have the same configurations. Taking into account the configurator data, prices with promotional discount are remarkable of the brand (PIVE and financing), since in most cases they represent 5.850 euros less, staying at 4.850 euros with the 240 hp Ecoboost engine and the 180 hp TDCI block with PowerShift dual-clutch box. Notable discounts that leave the Mondeo with quite competitive prices.

Editor's opinion

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