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Ford Shows Off Classy New Midsize Mondeo

During the mid '90s, North America was introduced to the Ford Contour, knownelsewhere around the world as the Mondeo. It was a global vehicle, developed by Ford of Europe and it sold extremely well in most markets. For some reason, however, it didn't quite catch on in North America and was therefore phased out. Our market continued on without a version of the Mondeo when it was updated after the turn of the new Millennium. For Ford, the Mondeo continues to be a critically important part of its global plan. It competes strongly with other European products such as the Opel Vectra (closely related to the Saturn Aura), the VW Passat and the BMW 3-Series. For this reason, Ford's new

Kinetic Motion styling gives the new Mondeo a sleek, European look. (Photo: Ford)

generation Mondeo has been long awaited. It was previewed as a wagon in concept form, as well as in the recent James Bond flick, Casino Royale. It will finally be shown in full production guise in Geneva, early this March.

More or less unchanged from the film, the new Mondeo is a strikinglymodern vehicle, truly European in style. Called "kinetic design", this design language provides a huge contrast to the triple-bar chrome treatment

Five door hatchback gives the appearance of a sedan, but offers more practicality. (Photo: Ford)

that we've seen on everything from the Edge and Fusion to the Super Duty truck. It's much more sophisticated looking, particularly in hatchback form. Speaking of its configuration, Ford will be offering the Mondeo in three body styles once more, including a four-door sedan, a five-door hatchback, and a five-door wagon.

Inside, the new Mondeo features an interior thatNorth American dealers would absolutely die for. The design is classy, yet cutting edge, with daring shapes and futuristic details such as its graphic interface instrument cluster and center stack. To ensure that

Wow! Just look at that interior. It's so very stylish. (Photo: Ford)

the Mondeo stands a fighting chance against premium marques like BMW, Volvo and Saab, Ford has improved the material quality with low-sheen plastics and trim that's richer to the touch. Ambient lighting creates a positively upscale atmosphere at night. Other signs that this once humdrum sedan has moved upscale include keyless ignition, a navigation system, digital climate control, and more.

Ford will be offering its usual wide selection of drivetrains with theMondeo, including gasoline and diesel engines. The diesels range in displacement from 1.8 to 2.0 liters, and range in horsepower from 100 to 140, and are available with manual and automatic gearboxes. The gasoline spectrum utilizes the Duratec name, although there are some suffixes that North

Various engines will be available including Volvo's turbo I-5. (Photo: Ford)

Americans won't be familiar with. There's the 1.6-liter Ti-VCT (110 or 125 hp), the entry-level engine, as well as the mid-range HE engines that are 2.0 and 2.3 liters in displacement and make 145 and 161 horsepower respectively. One change is that for the first time Ford won't be offering the Mondeo with a V6, as it has in the previous two generations. The top of the line engine will be the 2.5-liter 220-hp inline-five that's borrowed from the Volvo C30/S40/V50/C70 T5 lineup.

Currently, Ford has no specific plans to bring the Mondeo over to North America, although new CEO Alan Mulally has stated he wants to see more cooperation between Ford's global divisions (read into that what you may). Here's a family sedan that not only looks great, with a stylish and well-built interior but promises to provide excellent driving dynamics to boot. C'mon Ford - consider bringing this guy over as the next Fusion!

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