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The Ford Mondeo has finally got the 2.2-litre, 173bhp turbodiesel engine, currently found in the Land Rover Freelander and the Citroen C-Crosser. The new addition to the range, known as the Ford Mondeo Titanium X Sport, will also be available with the company’s 217bhp, five-cylinder turbocharged petrol unit. Both engines will be mated to a six-speed manual gearbox.
The Titanium X Sport is available in five-door hatchback or estate body styles and comes fitted with a host of visual enhancement...Read the full article

 Prices start at £23,355 for the five-door and £26,605 for the estate.

Three and a half grand extra for the estate!! Buy the saloon and have the wife follow behind in a van.

Ford should be making this diesel available in lower spec levels as well as. Bet they'd sell loads of them in Zetec trim. Maybe the factory can't make enough of the engines to meet demands with it being in so many cars and thats the reason.

superstevie:

Ford should be making this diesel available in lower spec levels as well as. Bet they'd sell loads of them in Zetec trim. Maybe the factory can't make enough of the engines to meet demands with it being in so many cars and thats the reason.

Couldn't agree more!!!  173bhp in a car that size is hardly 'sporty' these days as you have long been able to get it in standard models from VW, Seat, Skoda, Audi, Citroen, Renault, Volvo, BMW, Peugeot, Toyota and so on.

To bling it up with a 'Max Power' kit is obscene and would send customers  flocking into the Citroen dealer next door for a discrete version.

I know they have vastly under estimated the demand just for the standard 140bhp diesel as 3 of my workmates who ordered them had many, many month wait - you could get a custom Bentley quicker! So perhaps they are trying to limit demand. Oh God! they may even put those awful 18" alloys with all the allen bolts around the rim on!

Ford - No! no! no! no! no! no! no! NO!

 

 

Oh a new diesel in the Ford Mondeozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

From what I have read elsewhere I think it is going to appear in the Zetec models as well. I know people may think that 173hp isn't that 'sporty' but with 400Nm of push, rising to 420Nm if you really need it, that puts it on a par with the BMW 325d, Audi 2.7TDI and Mercedes C220cdi and a lot more than the VW 170 TDi engine.

This isn't really that interesting of course! But it is good to see that everyday cars can have the same technology and performance that the more prestige brands have.

 

I am at a loss as to why Ford haven't put the Volvo D5 unit in the Focus, Mondeo and S-Max even though they have taken the pleasant, but ludicrously thirsty turbo petrol 5 pot. The latest spec D5 unit has 185 ps, 400 nm of torque and only puts out 173g of co2 in manual form, on top of which it has a lovely, gruff 5 cylinder soundtrack, admirable refinement and economy. It's not really suitable for the higher end Volvos that take it (mid to high spec V70s. S80s and XC90s) because the competition all offer beefier and more advanced 6 cylinder units - but in a Focus, S-Max or Mondeo it would fucking slay.

I think an ST Mondeo and Focus using the D5 engine is a huge missed opportunity - my D5 manual has 90% of my old 5 pot STs available performance, but it has more punch in higher gears, a meatier engine note and I get 39 mpg average rather than 23 mpg average. With an unique Ford tune, 190 bhp and 400 plus nm would have been an easily achievable target that would have slung the 250 kilo lighter Focus down the road in a highly enjoyable manner - the lower emissions and fantastic economy being the bonus.

I totally agree. I think the petrol ST will die a death when the new tax bands come into effect plus with the price of fuel as it is I can't see how anyone covering a normal mileage could justify the expense of 20 mpg from a Focus.

Even a 'normal' diesel car has amazing overtaking ability compared to even warm hatch these days. Even people on a reasonable income are compromising their car choices due to the day to day running costs - including myself.

Not making a D5 engined hatch is a missed opportunity.

 

Chips:

I am at a loss as to why Ford haven't put the Volvo D5 unit in the Focus

 

Isn't this because of Ford's relationship with Peugeot and Citroen in the development of new diesel engines? I assume that they prefer to use what they develop rather than borrow from Volvo. The Focus ST engine is an exception to this mainly because it is sold in small units and probably doesn't warrant developing a new engine.

If Ford keep Volvo I would imagine the engines will eventually become completely shared across both manufacturers.