This is slightly odd. Ford is just about to relaunch the Mondeo in heavily revised form, but it recently sent CARkeys one of the current models - a car, therefore, which is just about to go out of production. There is therefore almost nothing to write about here, with one important exception. That exception is the engine. It's the two-litre four-cylinder member of Ford's EcoBoost petrol family, designed to offer substantial performance with relatively high fuel economy and low CO2 emissions, and it's going to be around for a lot longer than the rest of the car reviewed here is. In this particular form, it produces a maximum of 200bhp, giving the Mondeo key performance figures of 144mph flat-out and 0-62mph in 7.9 seconds (that's with the Powershift twin-clutch semi-automatic gearbox, a fine piece of work which is also the only transmission Ford offers with the engine - there is no conventional manual alternative). This makes it by far the most powerful engine in the current Mondeo range, second place being held by the 161bhp 2.0 TDCi diesel. A more apt comparison, though, would be with the other two-litre petrol in the range, which has a maximum output of 143bhp and is, not surprisingly, nearly two seconds slower from 0-62mph. The value of the new technology is shown by the fact that, according to the official figures, EcoBoost is nevertheless more economical (36.6mpg rather than 35.8mpg) and emits less CO2 (179g/km versus 184g/km), the latter statistic meaning that it costs the same in annual VED payments (£200 under the current system) rather than being a lot more expensive as the difference in performance would suggest. If you actually use that performance to any great extent, of course, the EcoBoost engine is going to use a lot more fuel, but since none of today's Mondeos is especially sporty, and this one no more so than average, it's unlikely that you would do this very often. The only time this might happen is when a rapid overtaking manoeuvre is required, and here the EcoBoost car is very impressive. It doesn't quite have the midrange grunt of a good turbo diesel, but it comes close. (How close? Well, to go all technical for a moment, EcoBoost produces 221lb/ft of torque from 1750-4500rpm. The 161bhp diesel manages 251lb/ft, but over a smaller range from 2000-3250rpm.) To sum up, then, the EcoBoost Mondeo is much faster than both the conventional two-litre petrol model and the most powerful diesel, though you probably won't use the extra performance very often, and it will cost about the same to run as the former but a lot more than the latter. At current pricing, with the one-up-from-entry-level Titanium trim, it costs £22,095 to buy, which is £900 more than the diesel and £2350 more than the petrol. Engine 1999 cc, 4 cylinders Power 203 bhp @rpm Torque ib/ft @rpm Transmission 6 speed semi-auto Fuel/CO2 36.7 mpg / 179 g/km Acceleration - Top speed - Price - Release date -
