[ajmat]

First of a trio of Ford's that i drove courtesy of Hertz. I drove this for a mere 100 miles.

I had actually hoped to give you all a review of a VW jetta which I had reserved but i arrived early and being a gold customer returning a car in a day, they did not want to keep me waiting and gave me the Mondy.

As mentioned in an earlier report, I was not all that turned on by the previous mondy. Recent reports say this is a near 3 series beater. Having actually driven a 3, I was quite interested to see.

Loaded her up with my "soon to disappear" suitcase and got behind the wheel. sorry folks, it was a wet dank day so interior pics would not come out. I left my Nikon behind since i wanted to carry more hand baggage on my way back.

The interior though well designed is not all that great finish wise. ifelt the silver console over done in cheap shiny silver. My old vtec was better in this respect. Radio had plenty of buttons. You knew what was what.

Started her up. typical Zetec growl, easy to engage and drive - "it is a Ford" they all are meant to be like that.

Gears - slick and slotted in well. Slightly rubbery but no worries to me
Performance - This mondy is heavy - the acceleration was ok as good as the 1.6 Focus that i hired later.
Handling - competent - it ain't no BMW but it went around corners well and steering was somewhat communicative. The original focus sets the benchmark but this one was a relatively inert feeling.
Stability - It was farly rock solid up speeds up to 70 mph

summary - competent cruiser but no bruiser. it is better than the previous mondy but no major strides - don't understand the journalist gaga factor over this car

[jkdas]

Hei,its got the old Laguna's boot and the front of our City!

[maven]

probably the pic of the front isnt very clear. its nowehere like the city in terms of the front looks.

[Wolffe]

It looks notjing like the Honda CityThe front grille looks the same as on the Fiesta,except the design of the mesh. Rear looks different with those triangular lights.

[Rotorhead]

Looks good to me. But the grille could have been a little different. The rear looks pretty neat. Much better than the earlier mondeo

[GTO]

So how is the new Mondeo any different from the old? They seem to be identical in more than just a handful of ways.

[theMAG]

Originally Posted by jkdas

Hei,its got the old Laguna's boot and the front of our City!

Words of a great man. My thoughts as well.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by GTO

So how is the new Mondeo any different from the old? They seem to be identical in more than just a handful of ways.

Bigger and heavier is all I can say. Never felt fun

[dhaval]

Looks solid. Infact i found the front to be better looking than the present Mondeo. The rear is good too. IMO Mondeos do have good rears even the present one with those large tail lights looks good.

[speedzak]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Bigger and heavier is all I can say. Never felt fun

That sums it up!

And words from an experienced, old (a bit) man can be taken as worth of gold.

Thanks Ajmat for that excellently written driving impression.

[SirAlec]

All of mondeo is automatic right??