What is it?
An estate version of the all-conquering Mondeo. It’s 52mm longer than the hatch and has between 554 litres and 1685 litres of boot space (compared to 500 litres and 1650 litres respectively, for BMW’s 5-series estate). Zetec versions get 16in alloys, dual-zone air conditioning and front fog lamps.
What’s it like?
Refined, stylish and spacious. The extensive boot space is easy to use thanks to fold-flat rear seats, a flat tailgate and squared-off load area. Opt for the £700 run-flat tyre package and you get further storage space underneath a sliding boot floor.
Even when unladen, the wagon feels agile under foot and ride quality does not suffer overtly at high speeds. However, the tapered window-line and large rear pillars do enlarge the blindspot when reversing.
The optional £300 sports springs offer a little bit of a sharper turn-in, but the standard springs and dampers cope remarkably well with all road surfaces.
The 2.0-litre diesel has a re-mapped fuel system that helps pulling away from the line smoothly. Called ‘feed forward’, it provides a pre-emptive boost of torque to the engine before setting off, ad seems to work well.
Should I buy one?
Unequivocally, yes. This is the most practical and stylish Mondeo on offer. The 2.0-litre diesel is also the best engine.
Just avoid the Ghia trim level; the faux wood is vile.
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Re: Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi estate
You can now buy a year old Mondeo with 10k miles for £12k at car supermarkets in reasonable spec, which is ridiculously good VFM for a car that is as good and in many ways better than an A4/C Class/3 Series. Good opportunity to ride out the credit crunch and not make any compromises.