I’m after a new car to replace my 09 Mondeo which I really like but is reaching that point of starting to be unreliable or at least having niggly issues.

Since diesel owners are clearly going to become hate objects soon (if not already 🙂 ), I’ve been looking at similar replacements with petrol engines. I like the new 16+ plate) Mondeo as it’s big and so am I but having tried the 1.5 ecoboost petrol, it feels a bit meh and I suspect that for my regular motorway driving plus fully loaded trips plus bikes on roof it’d be a bit overloaded.

There’s a 2.0 ecoboost option but that’s 240bhp (compared to 160 for the 1.5) which seems a bit boy racer to me. Otherwise it’s back to diesel…

Any thoughts/suggestions/alternatives? Real world experience particularly of the 1.5 Mondeo would be very welcome..

Oh and separately, anyone tried out the new Ford Sync3 computer – that seems like something that’s a big step up from the previous ones with the mobile app integration.

TIA

Not really answering your question (in the spirit of STW) but, I drove a diesel Mondeo for a couple of weeks over Christmas and liked it a lot. Diesel’s make sense in many cars and largish estates (or saloons) are one of them especially as you talk about “regular motorway driving”. I wouldn’t discount them altogether.

Another car I drove and loved (2.2l diesel, 170bhp) was the Mazda 6 tourer. Probably my favourite recently driven car. I drove from Derry to Dublin and back in a day and felt fresh as a daisy. I didn’t put bikes in the back but do remember that with the rear seats folder down, there’s no lip so really practical space. Keyless entry and start were awesome and made me feel like I had a fancy Merc.

If you want a Mondeo, get the 2.0 ecoboost. I’ve taken one for a test drive (the estate version) and its a lovely car to drive. Plenty of grunt but the ride quality is really comfortable and not boy-racery at all.

I’m definitely edging towards one for my next car. Currently driving the newer model 1.0 ecoboost Focus and its fine for everyday driving but lacking in space and grunt for hauling bikes / camping gear.

I’ve got the 1.6 EcoBoost in an S-Max and it’s great. Still responds fairly well on holiday journeys (3 bikes on roof and 3 kids in back with the boot loaded). We get 28mpg over an extended period but that’s a lot of school runs and the Mondeo will be slightly more aero.

Being picky those power figures are PS rather than BHP.

I drove the new Mondeo with the 1.5 ecoboost and 2.0 diesel back to back at a showroom and that’s why I’ve got concern about the 1.5. The 2.0 diesel basically felt like my current Mondeo – hardly surpising since that’s also a 2.0 diesel. The 1.5 just felt like it’d struggle on big mileages or with heavy load (and FWIW, we also have a Focus 1.0 ecoboost and motorway mileage seems quite uneconomical with that).

I did look at the Mazda 6 but they seem expensive next to the Mondeo

devash – I don’t mean so much boy racery in terms of style or suspension but rather 240bhp is way more than I reckon I really ‘need’. My current Mondeo is only 140bhp and I’ve found that plenty.

I test drove a version of the 2.0 petrol hybrid. That had quite a bit of grunt but doesn’t seem to come in estate! Not driven a UK production model. Disclaimer I work at Ford.

Paul, that’s good to hear – so do you know what power figure (PS!) that engine is as there are a lot of variants of the ecoboost.

I’m after a hatchback and not hybrid 😉

Yep, sorry. My 1.6 is 160PS, same as the current 1.5

The hybrid is 170PS IIRC, so it’s in your ballpark. (You do lose half the boot though.)

And aside from cost, that’s one of the reasons I don’t want the hybrid 🙂

So is that 28mpg on the car computer? That seems pretty low – even lots of town driving I seem to get high 30s on my current Mondeo.

If you look at the 240 bhp model be aware it only comes with the powershift gearbox not a manual.

My Dad has the 1.5t ecoboost and he cant fault it.

The powershift is effectively just an automatic though (with extra flappy paddles), isn’t it?

how many miles do you do? 15k plus i’d say you’re probably still safe with a derv.
otherwise, 2L petrol FTW.

Around 12k – local driving (school runs, etc mainly) or motorway driving basically

Wait – 140bhp is plenty but 160 isn’t enough?

Too picky 🙂

Yep, 28 on the fuel computer. It isn’t great but it is a bit of a lump doing most of it’s driving in town. Also i leave the bike racks on the roof permanently which can’t help.

The powershift is effectively just an automatic though (with extra flappy paddles), isn’t it?

Yep its an auto but you dont get the paddles unfortunately.

I had an smax with the 203bhp version of the ecoboost combined with the powershift box and it was horrendous on fuel !

And that’s kind of the problem – everything seems to point towards the diesel being the best option…

Mate at work had quite a lot of hassle with Sync 3 but I don’t know what he outcome of that was.

(Disclaimer: I do work attend daily for Ford)

That’s interesting – haven’t read anything other than positive reviews on the Sync 3 but maybe not from long term owners…

That was shortly after he bought it. Might have been a duff unit.

So is that 28mpg on the car computer? That seems pretty low – even lots of town driving I seem to get high 30s on my current Mondeo.

I’ve got the old 1.6 (petrol) C-max and can get 42-43 on the motorway which drops to 40 if there’s no traffic. Is the Mondeo that much bigger, or are the ecoboosts not as good as they’re cracked up to be?

The Mazda 6 is well worth a test drive – you might find it’s worth the extra budget. Highly underated by the general public but they have a good range of non-turbo petrol engines (that are still powerful and efficient), good interiors and the gearshift is quite sporty.

With regards to power, bear in mind that in general cars are becoming larger and heavier, so what’s more important is the power-to-weight ratio. One of our cars is a third more powerful than the other but weighs over a third more, and so feels about as quick.

Yeah, I get that – my Mondeo is 140PS, the new one is 150PS and as above they feel about the same due to the extra weight in the new one so there’s a difference but I don’t think it’s that significant. The difference in torque and resulting driving feel between the ecoboost and the diesel is much more of a difference I reckon.

The powershift is effectively just an automatic though (with extra flappy paddles), isn’t it?

It’s a dual clutch automatic like VW’s DSG. So changes for you, but inside it’s different and better than the old fashioned kind.

in general cars are becoming larger and heavier

I think they are becoming lighter again. My Dad’s Golf is 1150 ish, my mate’s Citroen Cactus is nice and roomy and only weighs 965kg!

Wasn’t suggesting it was a tea-stirrer automatic! 🙂 Definitely wouldn’t get one of those though I sincerely hope it’s better than the US version – I recently had a Fusion Ecoboost hire car in the US with what looks the same as the powershift and it was typical American car sluggish, horrible thing until the gearbox caught up with the engine and then it powered along ok.

They save costs on US cars with awful gearboxes because they can churn them out cheaply and no-one there cares, they’re used to slushboxes.

We have the 1.6 Ecoboost in our Tourneo Connect, only thing we dont like about the car is the fuel economy. Cant get above 30 even on a long run even using the dearer Tesco Momentum. Been checked over at the dealers who say its all set up right

Edit. Only average 24 around town.

I’m increasingly thinking that the ecoboost is good for town driving but not really so much for longer distances, particularly loaded..

Tracey – Member
We have the 1.6 Ecoboost in our Tourneo Connect, only thing we dont like about the car is the fuel economy. Cant get above 30 even on a long run even using the dearer Tesco Momentum. Been checked over at the dealers who say its all set up right

That’s not very good, assume you’ve checked for dragging brakes and so on?

Skoda superb 1.4tsi? Massive,comfy and frugal (get 50mpg AVG on the computer on a run). Ok it isn’t a speed wagon but it does the job.

I think there is a bigger petrol engine too.

We’ve just bought an Smax with the 150PS diesel and I’m very happy with it. We only do about 10k miles a year, so from a financial standpoint, I think the 1.5 ecoboost would have been better; however I had a major concern that it just wouldn’t have enough grunt when the car was fully loaded and I’d end up having to thrash it (couldn’t find one to test drive, though. Not quite the same, but I know a few people with ecoboost fiestas and focuses who all say that the fuel consumption is nowhere near the claimed figure.

I quite like Sync 3. Voice control for my ipod is good. My wife is impressed with the smartphone connectivity, but haven’t tried android auto apps yet.

Yeah, I haven’t tried one of those yet – that was on my list though again, I do like the Mondeo.

Every thing has been checked at the dealers. No dragging brakes and no heavy right foot. Dealer recommended change of fuel to see if it makes any difference but when you work out the extra cost of a tank of fuel to the extra miles its no saving price wise. Its the 150 version of the Ecoboost.

My ecoboost smax was even worse on fuel around town.

Gearbox couldn’t decide what gear to be in half the time and would sometimes try and kill you at roundabouts where the delay on engaging the gear was woeful.

^ would imagine that behaviour would depend a bit on what mode it’s in and how you drive it to some extent. if it behaves like a dsg box you can catch them out if they have the wrong gear queued up. with these systems one box is active, and the other shifts in to the anticipated gear you’ll want next. the vw system gives very rapid <200ms shifts ( IIRC ) if it all goes to plan, cos drive just goes from one box to the other, you’re disengaging one clutch and engaging the other one, but if things get confused the shift can take >800ms. doesn’t sound like much but it’s quite noticeable if you put your foot down and there’s nothing there.

When looking at a petrol engine for a big car, look at the torque figures, not the power. I’ll be that 240bhp petrol engined Mondeo has similar torque to a 180bhp diesel one. And it’s torque that lugs big cars around.

fwiw my 3l v6 petrol auto with 380bhp has given me a long term average of 27mpg and will do 38mpg on a motorway run, so some of the mpg figures being suggested for ‘eco’ engines here are shocking.

Back to the OPs request, I’d look at the Mazda 6. I’m very impressed with the 2l NA engine in our Mazda 3.

edit: changed my mind to avoid sidetracking the thread 😀