Ford Mondeo Hatchback (2014 - 2022) 2.0 TDCi (210bhp) Titanium (X Pack) 5d Powershift Owner Review

Look past the badge and the rep-mobile reputation (BMW sell more 3-series than Ford do Mondeos these days) and this is a BRILLIANT family car, it really does it all. I turned up for a test drive not expecting that much (I tried the previous generation years back and wasn’t impressed) but ended up buying, there and then. Previously I ran a Merc C300h AMG with Premier Pack as a company car. Quick and economical but very unreliable and not a lot of space for a family. I wouldn’t buy another! Circumstances changed and we were looking for something a bit cheaper. The Mondeo is HUGE with loads of room, cubby holes, decent sized glove box and a giant sized boot. Yet it has great visibility and manoverability so is very easy to park. First off, don’t buy new, we got ours from a main dealer, ex-demo, under a year old with about £12k off the list price. Which is one reason they don’t make much sense as a new company car. You can get a BMW for the same or less money. But nearly-new private sale is very different. Ours is in metallic black with a (subtle) body kit and 19” wheels. It looks fantastic, when clean that is! The Titanium X pack gets you lots of goodies (leather electric seats, LED lights, blacked out rear windows and they are a pretty dark tint) and we’ve got a further bunch of options including adaptive cruise, Sony 12-speaker stereo, blind spot monitor, rear camera and panoramic roof. The electric boot option would have been nice but apart from that it lacks for nothing. First thing you notice when driving is how refined it is. We’re talking 5-series refined, at least, definitely better than the C-Class. The 210 engine is also pretty quick although you don’t necessarily feel it until you look at the speedo, again down to lack of noise and vibration from the drive train. The gearbox changes are almost imperceptible (unless you’re in sport mode when there is a bit of a clonk as it changes more rapidly). Careful when accelerating from standstill though as it is easy to spin the wheels. The front seats are super comfortable, best I’ve ever had and heated too, with a memory for the driver. Considering the 19” wheels the ride is excellent, a few bumps around town but get the speed up and it just wafts along like a proper executive car. It is extremely relaxing to drive on the motorway. I average about 15k miles/year and my driving is fairly mixed (50:50 local:motorway). I’ve averaged 48 mpg so far over the initial 1000 miles, quite happy with that (Merc was about 52 long term). Bumbling at 60mph on the motorway saw 65mpg on my 50 mile commute (80% motorway), I used to get about 68mpg from the Merc on the same route. Build quality is very good, the doors shut with a solid thunk. Ok, it’s not Audi good but neither is it down market. The boot does drip rain on your head, if you’re not careful!? Most of the tech works well. The Sync 3 infotainment is quick to respond but has a few too many presses at times, especially if using Apple CarPlay when you need to exit CarPlay to access other functions. Also activating CarPlay locks out the Ford navigation system which is annoying as Apple Maps is rubbish at finding places and doesn’t display directions on the TFT instrument panel, unlike the Ford system. Speaking of the TFT display, it has a bit too much information to take in at glance and the speedo isn’t that easy to read (no 50 or 70mph markers). But, it is fairly configurable and the left screen can be left blank. The quick clear front windscreen works as it says but you can see the elements in the windscreen, especially at night with headlights coming towards you. Doesn’t bother me anymore though. For what is a “none-more black” car, the panoramic roof lets it a lot more light and lifts the atmosphere inside, the kids really like it especially. Shame it doesn’t open but there is an electric blind to cut out the sunshine, if required. Adaptive cruise is very responsive to cars speeding up and down but can “lose” the car in front if the road is winding. My wife's Golf is better in this respect (but is less good at speeding up after traffic has slowed and accelerated again). The blind spot monitor is great and lane departure can give a useful tug and warning if you drift (although it doesn’t pull you back into the lane like the Volvo system does). The LED headlights are excellent and it’s very quick to spot cars and activate/deactivate main beam automatically. There is a range of ambient lighting colours if you want to personalise the interior! Various blues, red, orange, purple, green (yuck!). The rear view camera is useful given the size of the car but is distinctly “low res” and as it is always exposed, gets covered in muck so sometimes doesn’t show much. The auto retracting one in the Merc showed a better quality image and had a wider viewing angle. Keyless start & entry just works, no issues with it not recognising the key in my pocket (unlike the Merc). The Sony hi-fi is ok, goes loud enough but the bass is a bit “woolly” and the surround function best switched off and left in stereo mode. The Burmeister in the Merc sounded quite a bit better. There are lot of very thoughtful touches throughout. Nice to see on a mainstream car. The front headrests slowly tilt forward on a little ratchet mechanism to support your head, there is no fuel filler cap (just open the flap), easy to fit/remove isofix child seat mountings, ambient lighting in the front doors turns red as a warning if you open the door when the engine is running and the twin tier central armrest makes it easy to separate keys/wallet from other stuff below. There are two USB sockets inside so you can connect a phone and another audio source at the same time. It only seems to accept up to 32Gb USB sticks, doesn’t recognise anything larger which is a bit annoying but it will play HD audio sources. No issues with 192KHz, 24-bit ALAC files. In summary this is a GREAT car and for £20k second hand you can easily pick up something that would be nearer £30k if it had a German badge. There is a lot less difference than you’d think!