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Mondeo man turns lean and green
publication date: May 21, 2011
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author/source: Robin Roberts
Mondeo man is going leaner and greener.
Ford
has added new 115ps 1.6 TDCi diesel and 160ps 1.6 Ecoboost petrol
engines to the established line-up of three petrol and two diesel
engines in the huge range of hatchback and estate Mondeo models.
|  | They
come with auto stop-start as standard so the latest engines mean the
Mondeo 1.6 TDCi diesel 6sp is the most economical Mondeo so far with a
calculated combined average of 65.6mpg and emits 114gkm CO2 and the
Ecoboost petrol is good for 44mpg at 149gkm.
The Dagenham-made diesel
is 30pc cleaner than the 2.0 140ps stablemate and the P11D BIK is
nearly halved while the Bridgend-built160ps Ecoboost is 20pc better than
the 2.0 145ps, so it produces more power but is less
polluting.
Their
arrival means 16 models in the new Mondeo range are below the important
160g CO2/km capital allowance threshold and eight new Mondeo models
boast CO2 under
115g/km.
At the launch of the new updated Mondeo
models this week, Ford fleet director Kevin Griffin made the point that
the newest petrol engine is also strategically priced at £1,215 below
the 140ps diesel.
"The introduction of the new engines has cut the
BIK from £155 to £116 for the petrol 2.0 145ps compared with the 1.6
160ps engine and slashed the diesel 2.0 140ps from £130 to £89 with the
1.6 115ps diesel.
"The other benefit of the new engines is that
residual values predicted by CAP have improved 3pc, or over £500, over
three years and 60,000 miles which gives it an rv of 32pc, which is
excellent news for fleets."
Griffin acknowledged that is has been a
very tough year and the industry faced challenging times but Mondeo took
over 16pc of its segment and nearly 9,000 sales were made in four
months this year.
He added that petrol percentage was rising and
expected it to grow share with the introduction of the newest low
emissions Ecoboost which also delivered good power as well as low
consumption.
It is also becoming apparent that estate car sales are
improving as users recognise they are often more practical in everyday
driving situations than MPVs, hatchbacks or saloons.
| Estate models take
28pc of registrations of the Mondeo range and buyers are gravitating
towards higher specified models for comfort and resale reasons. The
new Econetic diesel accelerates from rest to 62mph in 11.9sec and onto a
maximum 118mph while the Ecoboost petrol has a maximum of 134mph and
takes 9.3sec to reach 62mph from standstill.
Prices for the new engines in the Mondeo range begin at £18,700 for the Ecoboost petrol and £19,795 for the Econetic diesel. |  |
First impressions:
The new Ecoboost petrol engine is surprisingly good in the Mondeo after its launch in the smaller Focus.
The
sophisticated inlet controls and turbo give it a seamless character,
pulling eagerly and strongly from low revs, through mid-range demands
and permit very composed cruising at the motorway limit.
On a brief
test around west London I managed to average 34.7mpg in an estate
version with high trim level, which is some way off the claimed combined
consumption, but still reasonable for such a large car.
The new
diesel is also quiet and pulls well and you should see average fuel
consumption in a real world situation of close to or above 50mpg
depending on how hard you drive.
The point about both of these new
engines is that they demand no alteration in driving style and there are
few compromises over performance and refinement.
|  | Ford believe the
new Econetic diesel could emerge as the best seller in the series based
on fleet demands, but for private users the Ecoboost is possibly a
better choice with its livelier acceleration and top end performance.
Both new engines should markedly improve Mondeo future sales across the sector.
©Robin Roberts |
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