Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi 130 Ghia X 4dr Review

Overall Rating

Powerful and torquey engine, excellent motorway cruiser, great features.

Very poor fuel consumption for urban driving, mediocre handling and soft brakes.

Diesel, why does anyone buy a diesel car? It costs more than unleaded and produces loads of soot when you put your foot down. Better fuel consumption must be the answer then. That's what I had in mind when I bought my Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi 130 Ghia X 4 dr Family car. I previously owned an Alfa Romeo 156 TS Lusso, which was great fun to drive but a tad thirsty giving between 22-24 MPG Urban. I hardly do any motorway driving so these consumption figures were getting a bit hard to swallow.

Why the Mondeo? Well, most write-ups praise the Mondeo for its good all-round capabilities, so I went for the Ghia X (X for leather interior) for it's luxuries, being multifunction computer, heated front seats, electrical control drivers seat positioning, cruise control, leather interior, 6 CD radio, automatic climate control, 17" alloys. The TDci bit for the above reason.

The actual Tdci Ghia X is a great car. It is very comfortable, the seats giving excellent support and bolstering but not being too hard. With the 3 way adjustment on the seats and rake and height adjustment on the steering wheel, finding the perfect driving position is easy. Obviously electrical wing mirrors finish off the driving position adjustment. The rear seating is quite spacious. We have three boys (13,10 and 6), they're not often all in together, but when they are, it isn't World War Three (yet). Front space is also good but it took a bit of time to get used to the centre arm rest. The automatic climate control is easy to use and quite effective. I would recommend reading the user manual, as it gives extra information even if you think you know it all (like me). The 6 disc cd unit is also easy to use and sounds great for a factory fitted item. I was amazed to see all the 6 discs get swallowed up into the front of the unit having being used to an auto changer in the boot. The steering column control twig for the radio is intuitive and also a bonus giving plenty of control options for cd and radio without taking your eyes off the road. I don't have anything negative to say about visibility. The boot is cavernous, it is huge for this size of car and the split rear seats fold down virtually flat to give a load area you could hold a wedding in (if it was licensed).

Driving the car is good. Not as involving as the Alfa, but I didn't expect it to be. The 2 litre 130 BHP Duratorq engine delivers excellent power with the help of the low pressure turbo. There is some lag, but that's expected for a turbo-assisted engine. When it does reach full boost though, you are swept along with a great deal of pace until the diesel engine quickly runs out of revs at 4,500 RPM, time for the next change-up through the 6 speed gear box. It's a very 'torquey' engine with plenty of pull. Altogether it is a good experience and the car will give great performance in a straight line. I say this, as going round corners isn't as crisp or precise as the Alfa, and tends to wallow into corners with a bit of body roll, but this is only apparent if you're giving it some welly. The disc brakes are ok, but can feel a bit spongy and quickly fade if leaned on for any period of time. The engine is also very keen to get rid of plenty of soot as soon as any sort of pressure is applied to the accelerator. So this has brought me on to my bug bear with this car. Seems like driving any style returns very poor fuel consumption. I have done 4 consecutive fill-ups and calculated on each one, the best being a paltry 31.7 MPG and this was driving it like there was a nuclear bomb under the accelerator. I just cannot get a decent return. The official figures are 35/37 depending on engine type for purely urban, which is what I do. The multifunction computer will indicate you have anything up to 560 miles out of a full tank, but don't believe it. The best I have had is 350 and it was gagging for another fill up. On the flip side of the coin, this car is an amazing motorway cruiser. I haven't done a calculation for this type of driving, but the computer indicates around 50+ MPG in 6th gear. This car excels on the motorway, it is comfortable and powerful, with the great torque and turbo, it will pull away at 90 MPH without changing down to 5th. It is rock steady and doesn't feel like it is doing the speeds it can do. Setting the cruise control on an uncluttered motorway, driving is a breeze.

So to conclude, my April '03, 26,000 mile Mondeo is a good car. It is fantastic on the motorway but disappointing on urban driving. If I'd have bought a lesser Tdci, I'd be really upset, but the extras on the Ghia X make up for it's mediocre handling and thirsty, smokey engine. Maybe I should've tested the Audi A4 130 diesel sport first?

Members' Comments onpeterpan's Review

• quebec tango on 16th Aug 2007

  I have Ghia x 130 TDCi 56 plate does about 45mpg town driving mid fifties on a run my guess is your not getting out of first/second gear for that return. It appears to be returning reasonable consumption on a decent run so my guess there is nothing wrong with the vehicle just prevailing traffic conditions and driving style.