Mk5 Mondeo Unleashed

What you’re looking at is the new Mondeo – well, kind of. It’s actually the US-market Fusion, unveiled today at the Detroit Motor Show.

The new Fusion/Mondeo, like all new Fords since the Mk3 Focus, is packed full of cutting-edge technology, as the company continues to position itself as giving luxury-car tech and gadgetry to everyone.

New aggressive grille and front-end treatment was first seen on the Evos concept car

The most obvious example of this is the car’s appearance, which we in the Fast Ford office reckon has shades of modern Jaguar and Aston Martin – no bad thing!

On top of this, and most importantly for us fast Ford fans, Ford is continuing to roll out its advanced EcoBoost drivetrains which the company hopes will help propel it back up to the top of the mid-size saloon sector that BMW and Audi have occupied in recent times.

This looks pretty frikkin sweeeeeet

The 168bhp 1.6 and 234bhp 2-litre EcoBoost engines will feature in the Mk5 Mondy, as well as a 2-litre hybrid with the all new ‘Atkinson Cycle’ engine shown in last year’s Evos concept car, and the Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid.

There is no news yet about diesel power, but it is highly likely that we Europeans will have then option of the 163bhp 2-litre TDCi recently added to the Mk3 Focus and Mk4.5 Mondeo line-ups – possibly instead of one or both of the electric Fusion drivetrains, as these are not yet popular this side of the Pond.

Interior is what you would expect from a new Ford – luxurious but maybe a bit bland

Ford has not forgotten about dynamics – multilink suspension features at the rear, and we bet that despite the Fusion/Mondeo‘s world car status (branded ‘One Ford’), the spring and damper settings will be fettled with to suit UK and European roads. Plus, there is a 4wd option for the Fusion… but will that make it over the water and lead to a Mondeo 4×4?

Although there are currently no plans for a replacement for the Sierra Cossie or even an ST version, the 234bhp EcoBoost should be quick enough to keep most family men entertained – and as it’s turbo’d, expect tuners to be able to take that to a reliable 300+bhp quite easily by the time the Mk5 Mondeo goes on sale in March 2013.

Posted on Monday, January 9th, 2012 at 2:04 pm under News, Other Fords. You can subscribe to comments. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.