Ford Mondeo 2016 Review

Ford Mondeo Trend EcoBoost
Road Test

In October 2016 Ford will shut-down its local car-building operations for good, when the longest-running nameplate in Australian automotive history, Falcon, is put to rest. There's a sense of melancholic inevitability as 'Straya begins closing the doors to the family garage. But there are alternatives. Is the Mondeo a worthy replacement? We took the turbocharged $37,290 Trend on a journey through West Australia to find out.

It's pouring rain near Mandurah, about an hour south of Perth, West Australia.

I'm embarking on a family drive to Yallingup, roughly 300km southbound from the west Oz capital, to enjoy the pristine surf of the region, the forests (possibly the grapes) and to relax for a week.

The wipers work well, exceptionally well, clearing a huge area of water from the windscreen. The Spanish-made car is confident in the lashing rain that has flooded Bunbury; the steering is responsive but casual and conveys control – a bit like an SAS operative in civilian garb.

The 2.0-litre turbocharged engine may sound a bit wussy compared to the muscular 4.0-litre in-line sixes and larger V8s that have typically been the beating hearts of large Aussie cars. But it pulls well, which makes overtaking erratic drivers on the 110km/h highways a breeze.

Indeed, 177kW/345Nm is almost as much mumbo as the locally-built six that's twice its size. Some say that only milk and juice should come in 2.0-litre capacities but there's an efficiency benefit to this donk that I really appreciated.

I covered around 700km in this press car and used just under a full tank of fuel. Granted, roughly 600km was pure freeway, where economy dropped as low as 6.7L/100km, but with an average consumption of 7.8L and a total of nine hours spent behind the wheel, I came away impressed.

Another positive when filling-up is the capless fuel filler – got to love time saving features.

The transmission is also a diligent unit, the six-speed unit shifting smoothly at gentle speeds and rapidly responding to heavy-footed antics.

Comfort levels aren't bad – not attaining the same standard as Falcon’s – but better than a firm BMW, for example. It's a quiet, easy going cruiser thanks to a somewhat compliant suspension tune that has a strong focus on handling dynamics. Interestingly, the Mondeo does all right on dirt roads, too.

Working up to decent speeds on loose gravel the European import is predictable and stable for the most part. Barrelling down half a dozen dirt roads near Margaret River looking for an empty beach break the Mondeo does well. The front wheels bite into the red dirt without jarring too much over pot holes and offer decent cornering control.

Ford fitted a temporary spare wheel under the boot of this test car, but unlike space savers its dimensions are the same so you're not limited to 80km/h.

The trip computer is another winner, with detailed info on everything from instant to average consumption and it marries well with the excellent SYNC 2 infotainment system. The large central touchscreen is neatly divided into four colour-coded quadrants that make operation a breeze, switching easily between navigation, climate, entertainment (music) and phone.

And if you want to keep both hands on the wheel at all times, as my four-year-old daughter correctly points out, the voice control is a pretty good alternative to the touchscreen.

Although it might not be from a prestige brand, the Mondeo has some neat features that make driving more relaxing, such as the radar cruise control. Adept at maintaining distance behind other vehicles it helps greatly when you're taking a Bluetooth phone call and attention is not optimal.

That said, I found the advanced cruise control automatically accelerated too fast when left to its own devices, particularly as I attempted to keep fuel consumption averages as low as possible.

Other techno-doodads, including active steering, where the wheel rumbles and attempts to steer back into a lane if you cross into another, proved less convincing. The steering wheel's weak servo-motors struggle to push even a couple of degrees. It's almost a waste of technology when the execution is so flawed.

Redeeming features include big cup holders, and the touch-lock proximity doors on this mid-spec model are a godsend, especially if you've got arms full with a toddler.

The big comfy seats make long distance cruising an ache-free affair – at least for the six-foot author. After three continuous hours in the captain's chair I felt alert and comfortable thanks to the supportive cushioning.

A sticky-beak in the back seats reveals similarly impressive comfort levels, with room for two big bums or three medium ones. There's also the standard fitment of inflatable seatbelt airbags for rear-seat passengers, designed to reduce sternum injuries in the event of a crash. It's a great idea but the extra thickness makes it slightly trickier if fitting a child seat.

The boot is absolutely massive! At 557 litres it eclipses even the Falcon's 535-litre boot and two shopping bag hooks come in handy after a supermarket run.

For mine, the go-to vehicle for journeys such as this has long been an Aussie car, a Falcon, Commodore, sometimes a ute or a Monaro. And for many drivers they’ve been the weapon of choice for more than half a century.

But times have changed. Governments, globalisation, the Internet, culture, science and a great many factors – Capitalism – have conspired to terminate the Aussie car.

This whole review is a somewhat nostalgic, largely self-indulgent piece that's one-part therapeutic and (with any luck) two-parts informative. The Aussie-built car will soon be dead and that's humiliating in many ways. But life, culture, business and pleasure will continue.

Nothing will ever replace the Ford Falcon, a car wrought for local conditions by local engineers and designers. Memories of my first Falcon, built in 1979, still glow brightly in my mind but I've had some great times in this car too, and as a safe (and hopefully reliable) family car, I could see a future with it.

As a substitute for the Falcon, the Mondeo works. It's not perfect – it doesn't have the dynamics, the comfort levels of the Falcon, nor its dirt road confidence – but if it's time to move on, this isn't a bad way to do it.

2016 Ford Mondeo Trend EcoBoost pricing and specifications:
Price: $37,290 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 177kW/345Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: TBA
CO2: 143g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP