Clever, but 1-litre Mondeo shows size matters

Ford is battling the fact that people aren't buying non-premium big family cars like the Mondeo any more. Pictures / Telegraph

Less is more, or so Ford would have you believe, says UK writer Andrew English

Perhaps the most salient fact about Ford's new Mondeo isn't about the new Mondeo at all.
It's about the Nissan Qashqai, the Brit-built crossover SUV.

Last year, more top-spec model Qashqais were sold than all Mondeos in the top five European markets. Fact is, people aren't buying big family cars any more unless they are German and premium; think Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Wonder if either of them would dare offer an A4, 3 Series or a C-Class with a one-litre engine? Probably not. As Ulrich Koesters, Ford's vehicle line director for larger cars, says: "Most customers do not trust that such a small displacement engine has enough torque to pull a large car like the Mondeo."

Mondeo might be late, unfashionably big and well, slap-bang non-premium, but no one could accuse the Blue Oval of being less than ambitious and innovative. The new Mondeo is being fitted up with an Ecoboost one-litre three-cylinder engine, and we've had a chance behind the wheel.

Clever it might be (it's won the International Engine of the Year award three years running), as well as small and lightweight, but the Ecoboost is, well, very small.

The Ecoboost engine sits inside the Mondeo like a child's shoe box.

Open the Mondeo's huge bonnet and it sits inside like a child's shoe box. The block is no longer than an A4 sheet of paper and the gearbox looks slightly bigger than the engine.

The Mondeo weighs 1.5 tonnes (1445kg) so the 998cc twin-cam three has a fair bit to do. To help it out, Ford has stacked the first three gears closely, with the remaining three ratios further spread to give economical cruising.

The headline figures show a top speed of 199km/h, 0-100km/h in 12s, and CO2 emissions of 119g/km. Impressive, but is that only when you are on it like jam on toast? Start her up and the engine thrums mightily, but it's well damped in the frame and the noise that reaches the cabin is far from unpleasant.

First gear doesn't feel stupidly low and two and three slot in suit, although you are always using slightly more revs than you think and that will ruin the fuel consumption.

The engine delivers a flat, linear thrust without ever feeling over turbocharged or peaky. It's brisk rather than fast, but sounds unpressed and flat, which is a feature of a lot of three pots. There isn't a huge amount in reserve and merely revving the engine doesn't necessarily liberate more go, so you need to think carefully before overtaking.

At higher speeds, and in the top three gears, the unit feels calm and unhurried and there's enough pulling power to cruise at motorway speeds.

Daily Telegraph writer Andrew English tests the 1-litre Ecoboost powered Ford Mondeo. Photo / Telegraph Group

Again, it's any extra loading that reveals the lack of cubic inches and a full complement of passengers makes progress harder work; towing with this car might not be advisable.

The handling shows the lack of weight in the nose, but not as much as you might think. The Mondeo is a big and weighty car and the engine is a relatively small proportion of that mass, so the nose turns in faster than the rest of the Mondeo range, but not by much.

There's also a vivacious ride quality, particularly compared to the rather stolid feel of the diesel Mondeos, but it's not overwhelming. You notice it most at speed over crests where the one-litre doesn't heave like its bigger-engined sisters.

Perhaps it's the love and care Ford gives the rest of the Mondeo engine derivatives that makes the one-litre car less than a revolution.

It's almost as if Ford has spent a huge amount of blood and treasure trying to disguise rather than celebrate the fact there's a tiny engine under the bonnet. Strange.

-Telegraph Group Ltd

• Ford New Zealand is launching the Mondeo in April and will not include the 1-litre Ecoboost.