Do you know what the Big Panda and the Ford Mondeo Kombi have in common? Yes, now I don't mean the Fiat, but the teddy bear – both are big and both are dying. And while the pandas are doing quite well in their return to the wild, the Mondeo in the station wagon will soon die out for good. No wonder, SUVs are pushing out all other animal species, even Ford himself has already confirmed that the next generation will be "on stilts" and, like the tested model, only as a hybrid.
LARGE WAGON – THE BEST CAR IN THE WORLD
Most of us probably feel that way – the station wagon is still a certain dogma. A square, slow transporter of naughty children and a practical helper in the construction of a family house. Felicia and Formany are just a bitter memory of the past, but even that does not change the fact that it is the most practical and versatile body option. Be sure to look around you, there are a lot of them… It will carry the most cargo and in an emergency it will also serve as a temporary dwelling.
The fourth generation Ford Mondeo has been with us in the world practically since 2012, when the sister model Fusion was introduced in North America. Despite its age, it still looks fresh and its design has a lot to offer. After all, the class competitors are not exactly the youngest either. Among them, it stands out not only with interesting color shades, but also with the sporty ST-line package.
Turning a big steamer into a sports car is stupid at first glance, but it has to be said that the sill extensions, bigger wheels and added spoilers really suit the Mondeo and work well. It looks a bit like a tram on small wheels in lower equipment…
SECURITY IN THE TIME OF TOUCH
The current generation of the largest passenger Ford is the last representative of the "good old days" when there were buttons, controls, switches and levers in the interior of the car. The interior shows the age of the Mondeo, I mean it more as a compliment.
Press, click, turn, everything has its own specific button, so you don't have to go to the infotainment screen very often. Infotainment in itself is not a scream of technology, but what it is supposed to do, i.e. display Android Auto and Apple Car play, it does excellently. Here, for example, the toys can start a smart application that will show them where the energy is currently flowing and, if they overhear it, if the gasoline engine is running.
The interior of the Mondeo shows that we are in the middle class. Don't expect any opulent luxury, but we will find quality materials that are soft and pleasant to the touch. Everything is fine here. The steering wheel is covered in quality leather. There's an omnipresent 'piano' decor on the center console that collects your fingerprints, but it's only a small beauty toll. Next to the angular design of the Passat and the utility design of the Superb, the Ford looks by far the coziest. A nice addition is the ambient lighting, where you can choose from several colors, green for calm and red for racing.
I mean, the Hybrid Mondeo isn't very good at racing…
CLASSIC MILD-HYBRID
The hybrid drive is provided by an atmospheric four-cylinder 2.0 with indirect injection with an output of 140 hp, followed by an electric motor with another forty-seven, for a total of 187 hp. It's not little, it's not much. BUT.
We will explain the big BUT right away. An electric motor with an internal combustion engine work quite independent of your existence. That is, if you don't try very hard. The indicator between the on-board instruments tells you when you are driving only on the electric motor and when both motors are working together. You can drive about two kilometers purely on electricity and it really works wonderfully in the city and in the districts. All you have to do is step on the gas little and carefully. Greater need for power = the incinerator is switched on. At higher speeds above approx. 110 km/h, both are permanently in the clutch. The manufacturer states that you can drive up to 135 km/h on the electric motor alone, but I was only able to do that when driving downhill… BUT?
BUT it's not a turbodiesel. I don't want to estimate how much the Hybrid Mondeo will drive in the typical turbodiesel "gas on the floor" mode, but I'm guessing somewhere around 8-9 L/100. But that's not how you drive hybrids.
Anticipate more, brake less, accelerate smoothly, think. It takes practice. By the end of the test week, I was already much faster in most situations, and switching back to a manual sports car was a real pain.
My average consumption over 1200km was 6.3L/100km without trying too hard to drive economically, with a good half of that being highway. On them, it is ideal to tame yourself a little and keep as close as possible to the speed limit. Not that the hybrid can't handle more, but listening to the constant hum of the revving engine, which CVTs just do, is very annoying. Racers must look elsewhere.
SPORTY ONLY ON PHOTOS
There should have been a paragraph about how the Mondeo is great to drive and what a joy it is to drive. I have to disappoint you, rather not, certainly not in this combination. The hybrid system will suit calmer drivers, however, it is also possible to go very fast with it, but it is annoying. The chassis is tuned very sporty, but it doesn't correspond very well with the drivetrain.
With the ST-Line equipment, you get relatively large wheels (18 inches) and also harder shock absorbers. In the real world, this means that the Mondeo sits like a nail in corners, but rattles in the city and bounces around in the country. I believe that in combination with the most powerful diesel, we would have an autobahn-cruiser like wine, on the highways it really feels like a fish in water, but it does not really suit a quiet hybrid. In the hybrid variant, you want the naturally soft and supple chassis that other trim levels offer.
DIESEL OR HYBRID?
It is probably only a matter of time when car companies' model offerings will only include a varying number of electric SUVs of various sizes. Buy station wagons, there won't be any more.
Despite its age, the fourth-generation Ford Mondeo is still an excellent mid-range car. Big, comfortable station wagon, lots of space and all for 6L/100. The luggage compartment is a little smaller because of the batteries, but those who don't carry firewood from the forest won't even notice.
Personally, I would prefer a hybrid over a diesel. Practically the same powertrain is used by Priuses that have driven millions of kilometers, so a long service life can be predicted and it will even cost you less than an equally powerful diesel…
