2008 Ford Mondeo Details
October 15, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
Ford Australia has released details of the car we’ve all been waiting for, the all-new Ford Mondeo. With an eye-catching exterior design, high levels of standard safety and a reasonable entry price, the Mondeo should help the blue oval boost sales considerably.
Offered in four variants, the entry model LX, the mid-spec Zetec, a much needed turbo diesel TDci and the range-topping turbocharged Mondeo XR5, Ford has kindly answered calls for diesel and performance variants.
The entry model LX is available only as a Sedan but comes equipped with a variety of standard safety features:
- Intelligent Protection System (IPS)
- Anti-lock Braking System (ABS)
- Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD) and Emergency Brake Assist (EBA),
- Dynamic Stability Control
- Seven airbags, including a driver’s knee airbag and full length side curtain airbags.
Moving up, the Zetec variant is available as a four-door sedan or five-door hatch and comes standard with all the features of the LX plus 17-inch alloy wheels and enhanced grille and fog lamps, a Sony premium sound system (a six-disc CD player with eight speakers and MP3 compatibility), rain sensing wipers, front and rear parking sensors, dual-zone climate control, cruise control and a leather wrapped steering wheel.
Both naturally aspirated petrol variants are powered by a 2.3-litre Duratec four-cylinder petrol engine which produces 118kW and 208Nm.
There is no manual transmission, both variants are only available with a six-speed automatic transmission with Sequential Sports Shift. Fuel economy rates at 9.5 litres per 100km, which is a little on the high side.
In response to demands for a mid-size diesel model, Ford Australia has approved Mondeo TDCi. The variant is powered by a 2.0-litre Duratorq four-cylinder common-rail turbo diesel engine (96kW – 320Nm).
Available in both four-door sedan or five-door shapes, the Diesel variant share the same specification level (including the six-speed automatic gearbox) as the Zetec model. Of course the diesel engine wins on fuel, using just 7.3-litre per 100km. It can theoretically last for 950kms on the highway on one tank!
The car which started all this excitement for us is the new Mondeo XR5 Turbo. We spotted an XR5 a few weeks ago in Melbourne and initially many “in-the-know” claimed it was a dummy – obviously not.
Powered by the same 2.5-litre turbocharged engine as Ford’s hothatch, the Focus XR5 Turbo, (engines are built by Volvo) the Mondeo XR5 manages 162kW and 320Nm (0-100km/h figures are not available). The new performance model will add another name to the XR stable, and most probably lead to a locally tuned FPV Mondeo.
In addition to all the features of the Zetec variant, the XR5 receives 18-inch alloy wheels, keyless start via a ‘Ford Power’ start button, lowered sport suspension and a performance-styled bodykit consisting of front and rear bumpers, fog lamps, and unique upper and lower grilles and rocker panel moulding.
As the only model in the lineup that is not offered in an automatic, the XR5 Turbo is shipped exclusively with a six-speed manual transmission.
Pricing and options are below:
|
Model |
$RRP* |
|
LX 4-door 6-speed automatic |
$29,990 |
|
Zetec 4-door 6-speed automatic |
$34,990 |
|
Zetec 5-door 6-speed automatic |
$34,990 |
|
TDCi 4-door 6-speed automatic |
$37,990 |
|
TDCi 5-door 6-speed automatic |
$37,990 |
|
Mondeo XR5 Turbo 5-door 6-speed manual |
$41,990 |
|
Options |
$RRP |
|
Prestige paint |
$350 |
|
Voice control with Bluetooth |
$450 |
|
LX ‘Cruise Pack’ option (Cruise control, rear power windows, 16″ alloy wheels, leather wrapped steering wheel) |
$1,500 |
|
Sunroof (Zetec, TDCi and Mondeo XR5 only) |
$1,900 |
|
Leather trim with heated front seats (Zetec/ TDCi only) |
$2,000 |
Print it: 
Similar power outputs to its competitors, a very competitive price and good looks should see this car do very well. From what I’ve seen from UK reviews, this car should be a great success for Ford, as long as they give it the advertising it deserves. Wouldn’t this make a great addition to the FPV lineup!
hey adam [aka mada] i just realised there is no st version of the mondeo in europe or uk…australia is the first to have a performance version…how cool is that…but i do wonder why the turbo engine is 4 kilowatts less power in the mondeo guise compared to the focus equivalent…
FALCON FANTASTIC Said…
FPV MONDEO WOULD BE FANTASTIC, baby bro to the Typhoon!
That would be verry good, more of a range for FPV.
why are you jealous john? working at the motorshow or sitting in a mondeo? lol….
John…
The european version of the turbo mondeo is really no different to the aussie badged XR5 turbo we get here.
Ford AUS pretty much mixed and set it’s own versions to sell here, even the type of grilles have been chosen.
The upper spec mondeos get the 5 cyl trubos engine.
The new ST mondeo is still in the works in Europe and word is it will be launched with an inline 3.0 turbo 6 with the possibility of AWD, that will make the mondy a very heavy vehicle…
The ST is the version i hope we get as an FPV variant.
The 2.5 turbo we have and Europe gets is really only a warm version.
Tonyn was a male model at the show thats why he was sitting in the Mondeo..he he he ……….
hehehehe…. i would scare the punters away…. i dont work on the ford stand.. even though thats where my heart is!
LOL…Not all the punters!!
Must be hard working at another stand when you want the Ford stand:)
i enjoy working there, no i have a soft spot for the brand i work for, so its all good!
well not all is lost then…:))
I do not see Toyota Pauls non-sensical comment, but then who cares as he does not make sense most times and skirts issues too easy.
Whilst on car what do others think of grille and air intake with vertical and horizontal pattern. Looks tad too tartan or pedestrian for me (minor point). Dont get me wrong the car is still hot!
No I have not gone quiet, people do have commitments…. I find it funny how 20 post followed 2 words by me, talk about Ford faires.
I made an honest mistake… still dont like the rear end though.
Klink… yes Im the one who doesnt make sense most of the time abit rich coming from you!
Paul with all due respect, do you feel a need to criticise every car that isn’t a Toyota? Because whenever/if ever you complement a non-Toyota, it seems to be followed with a BUT…
Paul, you seem to hate every car, EVEN TOYOTA LANDCRUSERS so hope you don’t go on about wanting us to just love Toyota .
Oh OK Paul, mate coming from you with your mindset. You were the one who concluded that builders make $30K PA. Get back onto your Aurion thread and have a look at NO ALLEGIANCE and my comments! You are obtusely delicately stuck in your mindset all the time with Toyota this or Toyota that or bulletproof relability Toyota’s. You polarise people more then me and you must appreciate whilst we are on here I have no biase unlike you!
And Paul, mate have you heard of humour as you need it (like most on here)
KFC, probably find you don’t polarise people as you say because most can’t understand what you are trying to say in your posts.
JasonDill…. You do not fully know what you are on about as NO ALLEGIANCE has touched on it and your so called checkmate thing on drive website is not crystal clear one sided as you lot try to waffle on about a lot!
What’s with this “no allegiance” stuff? Still not making sense KFC…
no allegiance was the screen name of some person who wandered onto this website, and made a comment on what he as an outsider observed of Toyota Paul and blinky. Its in the TRD Aurion 3500 thread
Like the front – but the rear… hmm not so much. Interior looks a bit s15 200sx but not too bad. Fuel economy is a bit high for 118KW on tap. Love that silver one, would like to see it without the orange plastic indicators and black bezel headlights :)
I don’t know much about these new fords – is this RWD or FWD? (guessing the latter).
Thanks for clearing that up Tom.
OK… so JasonD, you are not Toyota Paul as suspected you were!
Paul you didnt make an honest you simply had a “knee jerk reaction” to this article as it is about a ford.
while you are admitting you are wrong can you please make your way over to the Aurion posts to apologise to me for yet another one of your outrageous ill educated comments that resulted in you calling me? the liar.
Adam, mate no gear selection indicators as the sticks in the pictures are manuals.
this is definately going to be a good car for ford. i see the only real competition for it at the moment being the Mazda 6. (well win win for ford as they profit from mazda aswell)
i think a big deciding factor in favor of the mondeo might be size. reports pin the mondeo as actually quite large and not far off falcon size.
i havent heard comments on size of the new mazda 6 has anyone? maybe the 6 might be too small for some (thats if the 6 is a bit smaller)
i can see the diesel being the hot seller here too.
what you only have to lose say 20kw to gain 115nm (round figures)
and then the fuel consumption on the diesel.
did it say consumption figures for diesel or did i miss it?
ah yes it did now i double check 7.3L
i suppose i should have done that first.
(i was just thinking out loud i suppose)
Just one thing… if 7.3L/100km is the average cycle figure on the 70 litre tank, 950 km is the AVERAGE range. Highway range then if say around 6.0L/100km (guessing) would be theoretically 1167km!!! More if the highway figure drops lower. So it’s even better!
9.5L/100km average for the 2.3 petrol is still 0.4L/100km better than Camry, the market leader, which whilst not as low as Mazda6 is still 5% better than what Camry gets. What hurts more is that Camry doesn’t offer the Diesel option. Will be interesting to see how Camry retail sales go with new 6 and new Mondeo.
No manual in the standard models?? I think they are giving up a fair few sales to the Mazda 6 just for that. Oh and the engine is disappointing as well considering the Mazda 6 will come with the newer larger capacity version. Really strange considering it is mostly Ford tech to begin with and Ford itself gets an inferior selection
Just checked whatcar in the UK, it gives a MPG of 50.4 on highway cycle. This is equivalent to 4.66L/100km. If we bring it up to 5L/100km just to account for air conditioning and other variables, even a figure of 5L/100km gives a possible 1,300 – 1,400km range on the highway. Nice.
For me, new Mondeo is the biggest disappointment of the year. All I wanted is sedan with automatic transmission and 2.5L Turbo engine and Converse+ interface. I don’t understand why australian branch of Ford has desided not to put those things together. I had 2 Ford cars, I have Ford car now, but my next car definetly be something else
Cuper…
If you actually read the comments made here, the 2.5 turbo 5 cyl does not come a with an automatic transmission at all, not here or in Europe.
Ford is not too far away from DSG gearboxes.
I would definitely consider that turbo Mondeo with a DSG gearbox.
wow the middle of this thread was almost like a daytime soapie between lovers of ford and lovers of toyota…
toyota paul…oh what a feeling…your cars are boring…
Did anyone else notice that the Epicas were hidden way out of sight on the Holden stand?
The new Mondeo looks nice, has quality features and engines and is well priced. BUT…they don’t seem to be importing the Wagon, so it still looks like my only options remain the Subaru Liberty/Outback and the new Mazda 6 (or something european). Wake up car manufacturers – not all people want a Captiva/Territory/CR-V/RAV 4/Kluger. Some of us still want a mid sized wagon! (I have an Outback)
So…who ever test drove this new mondeo, please let me know your experience because dealer close to me only can get it end of Oct. AND which one do you think it is better compare to Toyota aurion (around $40k). Is the mondeo has a smart key? or just push button? please let me know. Thanks.
Tommo the Epica’s been on sale for about five months, at the Melbourne Motorshow the Epicas were at the front.
Adam [aka Mada]
Probably, I should feel much better knowing that Ford does not equipe 2.5L engines with automatic transmission at all. But I feel that Ford has stolen my Christmas gift.
For me, it looks very stupid, that the most expesive configuration comes with manual gear. And why just hatch, not sedan as well?
I’m even trying to recall such cases in the past, but…. can’t. I don’t remember a car that hadn’t automatic transmission in its top version. Do you?
the only reason you would buy the sedan is because you would prefer the look of the sedan. Here’s what you lose by getting the hatch.
1. 1.1 cm of rear headroom
2. 7L of boot space with seats up, put the seats down and you gain 913L, which is a fair trade-off.
Honestly, thats it. The hatch is also 7 cm shorter externally than the sedan, which will make it 7 cm easier to park, if that matters.
Normally I hate the look of hatches, like hatch mazda 3’s and corollas. I know, some people love hatches, and good on them, glad they’re happy. I just don’t. But liftbacks like the mondeo and mazda 6 are awesome because you get the look of a sedan with the storage space of a hatchback. They’re still not quite as practical as a hatchback, but overall I reckon they are a better compromise.
As more manual or not, personally I reckon ford should just offer manual and automatic in the whole range, but I guess because they have to import them from belgium in limited quantities it wouldn’t make economic sense. Hopefully they sell enough volume for that to not be a problem anymore.
Cuper…
I understand your point and i’d like an auto option for the XR5 turbo too.
But reality dictates that Ford is working towards DSG transmissions, which i think is a more desirable investment in the long run.
It’s primarily a sports car with a mix of luxury, it’s no XR5 focus turbo.
I’m stoked that we even have the option of purchasing the mondeo! The US doesn’t have the same luxury…
One black mark for the mondeo, but when you consider that it’s primary rivals lack many of mondeos alternative options, it doesn’t appear that negative.
1. 6 speed tiptronic autos, not 4 or 5.
2. hatch, sedan and diesel options.
3. cheap comparative pricing.
4. high standard spec list, particuarly saftey, what other midsizer has 7 airbags, TC and ESC standard for a $30,000 base price? and it’s an imported European vehicle?
Holden keeps telling us it’s too expensive for them to import it’s Euro range, maybe for them.
It’s not as boring as the camry to look at and it doesn’t look Japenese.
5. It will be one of the few vehicles that comes close to the dynamic abilities of a BMW 3 series, while being a big family car.
Lets hope it’s not too much longer to wait for an automatic transmission for the XR turbo.
A manual is not difficult to use and it’s fun to drive, if people don’t have a manaul license, imo thats their issue.
Have a look at the major specs of the 2.3l 4cyl and compare it to the 2.5 turbo 5 cyl…they are very similar in comsumption while the turbo is faster and better performing, maybe a manual isn’t such a negative?
Adam (aka mada)
In my case, manual transmission is a huge problem. I have about 6 year experience with manual, but all the time the gear handle was on the right side, not on the left :)
I’m just moving to Australia for a few years, and manual transmission together with the left-side traffic makes me horrified. Besides, my wife likes automatic too.
Anyway, I’m starting to think about Zetec, cause I don’t see a better car for me…
Oh yeah, Cuper, I understand that. Having to shift with the opposite hand AND drive on the other side of the road would be scary. That must take some getting used to.
I hope you do get the variant you want with the auto, because it’d be a shame to rule out the all new Mondeo just for that.
Watto_Cobra
I hope so, thanks.
ive never driven LHD but cuper raises a point i bet not many people have experienced. having wipers on the RHS is bad enough let alone the gears being in a different location, which would mean to most using the un coordinated and weaker hand (the left hand).
first gear would have been towards yourself but now it is away.
i bet it would keep one second guessing and nervous about making sure they get the right gear.
im bad enough when i get into an auto every now and then. having owned only manuals my self it takes me a few k’s to tell myself i dont need to look for a clutch and it is ok to dive into corners without anything but steer
It’s a shame the LX and Zetec models won’t be available with a manual transmission. Although the majority of Australians prefer autos, there’s still a strong market for manual transmissions here. You see plenty of manual Mazda 6 and Accord Euros driving around because they appeal to a younger market, where-as it would make more sense to have auto-only Camrys and Epicas.
Disappointing…
I said that same thing re the Focus last night Andrew… bet if you get a Focus you will switch on the wipers , I still do it when I swap cars ,then you have to remember what side the fuel caps on too!
Maybe your better getting an old farts Fairmont and pimping it to stay safe !hehehehe For the MRSSS god I hate that term!
yeah missile i know you mentioned the wipers and boy didnt i look like a dick when i drove my service loaner out of the ford dealership one time.
yep i looked like a dick because i was driving a focus and then i even stuffed up the wipers.
i was short changed that day…… give them my falcon for the day to service and they give me a focus???? WTF
im sure you wont make fun of a fairmont as an old mans car when it comes with an optional hairdryer next year!!!!!!!
now that is what i would love. a luxurious cruiser with street cred and a bucket load of oooommph
hahaha….you a little thin skinned tonight….I will stop stirring you promise on the Fairmont! The hair dryer for her or you ……sorry couldn’t resist!!hehe Promise to be good now! That gets you back for the ash tray remarks on the M3 ….
I know what your saying re the loaners………we got one of their Fairlanes once ………that was boring as hell to drive!
I would have preferred the focus I think!
Wouldn’t you think they would up grade you like another blue and white badged company does when you get a loaner! Give you something better than what you’ve got and when you get yours back it seems like crap! Good marketing I think!
im thinking 2 birds one stone with the hairdryer idea
hahahah……
Isn’t that how most guys think!
Ill tell her I am buying her a new car ,but I will add my little extras,just to personalize it!!
I am sure shes not that blonde…..hehehe
What colour do you …..sorry she want?