Ford bites the bullet

It is already a matter of some controversy that the new Ford Mondeo did not win the European Car of the Year contest.

The new Ford was beaten by the Alfa Romeo 147 by just three points, but since the vote was taken there have been suggestions that some of the nationalities involved deliberately avoided voting for the Ford for entirely spurious reasons.

Whatever about that, the tiny margin of defeat for the Ford is testament to the fact that the Blue Oval has, once again, created a machine which will put it right to the fore in the market segment in which it competes.

While the Focus swept all before it in terms of prizes won, the Mondeo has not quite achieved the same level of success, but in the nature of such awards, that is probably no real shock, because journalists are generally reluctant to allow any given manufacturer lose the run of itself in instances where they may actually be
entitled to.

Strange as this logic seems, it is true and because the new Mondeo has not swept all before it, does not mean that it has failed to live up to the standards set by the Focus in terms of design excellence and overall brilliance in a variety of areas.

That the Mondeo is competing in one of the most hard-fought market segments in the business, means it will be tested exhaustively and compared at length with its direct opposition. That the opposition includes such as the Peugeot 406, the Opel Vectra, the Nissan Primera, the Toyota Avensis and the Volkswagen Passat, indicates how competitive the segment is.

Having tested the car - albeit in a format that will not be in Ireland for a few months yet - I must say that my immediate impression was that while the Mondeo was a huge step forward for what preceded it, it also bore a lot of characteristics of some of the cars it competes against.

Rarely has a Ford in this class exuded the sort of competence we have come to expect from German manufacturers in particular. It exudes the sort of build quality stamp we expect from cars other than those with the Blue Oval on the front.

A squarish and angular looking machine which does bear testament to Ford’s latter-day ‘new edge’ designs, it also bows to other influences however and I have to say that the Passat springs to mind more than once when you survey both the interior and exterior of the new car.

Even the detailing of such as the instrumentation, switchgear and even the interior and exterior door handles, indicates that Ford has taken on board many of the elements that made the VW an instant hit when it was launched more than four years ago.

The pre-production model Ford provided for the test was fitted with the two litre 145 bhp engine which will be seen here in due course and it was obviously not the finished product in terms of what will actually go on sale.

Nevertheless it was clearly a much improved machine than its predecessor in many ways - it is more spacious; has more head, elbow and leg room; has better seats; has a bigger boot and a lot more cleverly packaged.

On the road the car is very solid and very responsive. It is an assured roadholder and the ride characteristics are very pleasing. The test car was fitted with the top-of-the-range ‘Ghia X’ specification which will also be unavailable here for a little while, but includes the metaphorical kitchen sink in terms of the ‘goodies’ on offer.

From the front, side and curtain airbags, through the ABS, central locking, air conditioning, alloy wheels, CD autochanger to cruise control and sunroof, the test car positively bristled with equipment.

On the basis of what I saw and experienced, I feel that any ill-feeling within Ford over the outcome of the European Car of the Year vote may soon be forgotten as the sales figures for the Mondeo ease the corporate pain.

Ford Ireland boss Eddie Nolan asserts that the new Mondeo has ‘raised the game’ on specification and price in its class and it is very hard to argue with him on that point.