New Mondeo ST TDCi

[studbuckle]

Spent a great day yesterday at ProDrive's proving ground near Kenilworth testing the new Mondeo ST TDCi

Basically it's a sporty diesel... Yes, I know that's a contradiction but this is becoming a growing market as company car drivers doing lots of miles want diesels.

Spec is:

2.2-litre 155 PS TDCi diesel engine delivering 400Nm** of torque

Max speed - 137 MPH

0-62 MPH - 8.7 seconds

Combined F/E - 46.3 MPG

CO2 - 161 g/km

Euro emissions stage - III

Partial leather sport seats (black Recaros optional)

Sports styling kit and unique sports suspension

7 x 18" 16-spoke alloy wheels

Driver and passenger 2-way heated front seats

Electronic Stability Programme (ESP)

Single chrome-plated exhaust pipe

Rain-sensing wipers

Powered foldable mirrors

Chrome gear shift knob

Available as 4-door saloon, 5-door hatchback or 5-door estate

The tests using the STTDCi were split into 4. High Speed Track, Manouvering, Braking, Handling circuit.

1) High Speed Track.

ProDrive proving ground is an old arifield and the High Speed Circuit used part of the runway and taxiways. A few different surface changes and bumpy in places but mainly hi-grip rough concrete. We took the cars out 4-up. First impression was that the engine is very smooth and refined. To what I would class as BMW standards. It doesn't boom or vibrate anywhere in the rev range. The ** in the spec is for the transient over-boost figure which I wish someone would explain to me properly. Basicially it produces 300Nm at 1800 rpm and under full load it can produce up to 400Nm at 3000rpm. It pulls very well and even though the circuit was deisigned for the car, the gearing felt very well suited. A long sweeping Right hander taken at 80 in 4th down to a sharp chicane in 3rd. S's in 4th then 90 right in third to a complex and then wide hairpin right still in third down the straight back to the start. The trick was to get the speed off early and let the engine torque and electronic traction/stability control do its job powering through and out of the medium to slow bends. The sweeping bend was very much taken almost flat in 4th (it was a bit damp) and the car balanced very well. Enter a bit to fast and it ran wide, lift off and it switched to very controllable oversteer. For me, the only thing that spoiled it was the steering lock. Fully crossed up (my IAM instructer would not be pleased) to get round the hairpin left nothing in reserve for a wrong line or if it started to run wide. By the end of the second session (less than 50 laps) we were down to the canvas on the NS rear tyre, so we were trying somewhat.

2) Manouvering. This was a small autotest course. Slalam, circle, 3 garages, slalom, circle, garage, garage. I've never done anything like this in a big car like the mondeo and really struggled with the circle as it was designed to be the limit of the steering lock if you ran the nose of the car very close to the cones. It did show that the controls at parking speeds are very light and precise. I was dissapointed with the steering lock though. The parking sensors worked well in detecting single cones (i.e. lamposts) and I put in a time of 2min 50s plus a 10 second penalty for one cone touched. The mix of people there were comapny car drivers in the Mondeo sector and Ford Fleet dealers and customers. The fastest time of the dealers was 3:06 inc penalties but 2 people in my company car group beat me and one had a time of 2:26!!

3) Braking. It has them, they work. In fact they work just as well if not better than every other car in it's class. I'm sure the levels of grip from the big 225/40/18 tyres helped. The professional drivers throughout the day were impressed in the lack of fade for a car in this class. the ABS works well if not a little keen to kick in and is certainly less intrusive on the pedal feel than most other cars i've driven.

4) Handling. The handling circuit is very tight and twisty 2nd and 3rd gear switchbacks designed to simulate a Corsican Rally stage. It has surface changes and off camber bumps. Hairpins and 90 degree corners. I really enjoyed this as my steering technique paid dividends. The car is fantastic on this circuit. Lots of grunt from the engine to point and squirt between corners and the electronics doing there bit in the corners. It was frightengly easy to drive fast and I had to stop a few laps into my run to allow one of my group to revisit his lunch. My only complaint was with the gearbox. Reverse is in the upper left gate with nothing more than a tension bar to stop you going across to far so quick changes from 3rd to 2nd took some practice as often I found myself going to far across in the gate towards reverse. Other than that, great, loved it.

As a company car it would be great fun. It's suspension is hard enough to cope with being flung around but not severe like a Leon Cupra R or Civic R and so would be confortable on a long motorway run. It's a bit heavier on tax compared to some of its rivals (like the Octavia i've ordered) but would show all of them a clean pair of heals in a race around tescos car park on a Sunday morning!

I enjoyed it and came away very impressed compared to the somewhat dissapointment i'd felt previously with the 136PS TDCi Ghia X i'd test driven.

[Bananaman]

Sounds very good Si, are you begining to regret the Skoda decision????????

I thought that Deisel Mondeo's were quite expensive

[Al Yupright]

You told me you'd never get another Pug.

...its a Pug engine!  

[Bazzer]

I have a Skoda Octavia VRS estate and it is fantastic for putting my tool box, spare wheels etc in the boot and towing the Westie.

However for various reasons I ended up doing a trackday in it at Llandow and it is a pile of poo

It just has no traction it just understeers from apex to exit with a just a whiff of throttle.

Clio Williams and Pug 205's would have to be massively better FWD cars to be any fun at all on track. But I know some people swear by these but I do wonder if they have driven anything decent !!!

Bazzer

[studbuckle]

Not regretting the Skoda order for a minute.

There's already been some question on the Ford engine being a Pug unit and i've been told it isn't.

Bazzer, your Octy is the 'old' verision (cough) briskoda

[Al Yupright]

Not regretting the Skoda order for a minute.

There's already been some question on the Ford engine being a Pug unit and i've been told it isn't.

Bazzer, your Octy is the 'old' verision (cough) briskoda

It is a pug unit, definitely.

The 1.6 diesels are the ford units, Pug use these in the 206.

[Bazzer]

Not regretting the Skoda order for a minute.

There's already been some question on the Ford engine being a Pug unit and i've been told it isn't.

Bazzer, your Octy is the 'old' verision (cough) briskoda

Yep it is the old one, but it would have to be a lot better and grow an LSD  

I gave up on briskoda, seemed to be more interested in Hi Fi than cars  

It does handle slightly better since the first service. I mentioned that I thought it was rubbish. The told me that they had "Re seated the Springs" they probably did nothing but it seams a little better.

As a day to day car it is fine, it's just not that exciting, but unless you buy an RS6 what estate is !!!!

Have you gone for an estate or a saloon ?

I have a black estate and one of the things I like about it, is I think it looks quite nice runs and hides waiting for the mick taking !!! Oh and the other thing is the boot is huge !!!

Bazzer

[FlatSix2003]

Studbuckle,

In an attempt to try and explain the overboost torque... Don't quote me on this though.

IIRC the use of an overboost figure is due to limitations on the turbine in temp and therefore the maximum fuelling that you can run. During transient operation the turbo can be operated at temperatures above the steady state limits (the engine calibration is carried out at steady state conditions) as it is not held there for a significant amount of time and hence you can produce more torque transiently than you can at steady state conditions.

Really must try to get out more.....

Jon

[Nick A]

does this help ?here    

[studbuckle]

That talks about engines released to market at the end of 2003... this would suggest the Ford badged TDCi's first generation. As the ford guy said that this new 2.2 unit it s development of the original, seems like it is a pug engine....

hmmm, Al's right, I swore of pugs a few years ago but that wasn't because of the engine (apart from when it blew up)

[Al Yupright]

My '04 307 (Hdi 136) has been ok so-far except for some wind-noise. This was fixed by applying silicone sealant to one of the rubbers under the bonnet/around the windscreen.

I've had pugs for years, but only cos I get a huge discount on them. If it wasnt for that I'd have got the '04 Golf 140 diesel.