New Lease Of Life For Mondeo

It's a case of the light fantastic for the new Mondeo. Ford has revamped the look and quality of its family car, and also added two new trim levels to the range.

Auto Express Car Reviews

By Matt Joy

20th April 2005

But as these official pictures show, the most noticeable difference is at the rear. New lights and a redesigned bumper, which incorporates a lower lip with twin reflectors, have been added. Up front, the Mondeo gets a stylish mesh grille, which is painted silver on high-spec models. These variants get body-coloured bumper strips, too.

Inside the cabin, the door handles, gear- lever gaiter and clock surrounds are now chrome on all versions. There is also a wider choice of interior colours, while two new trim levels have been added: Titanium and Titanium X. These offer similarly high equipment levels as the luxury Ghia and Ghia X specifications, but are aimed at younger buyers. The models get unique 17 and 18-inch alloy wheels respectively, and both also boast deeper front and rear bumpers than the standard machines, plus privacy glass on the rear windows.

Titanium-badged cars have unique cloth trim and metallic-effect flashes, plus a Sony CD player. Meanwhile, the Titanium X adds climate seats, ESP and a mix of leather and Alcantara upholstery. New optional gadgets include three different types of Bluetooth mobile hands-free kits, while all cars get an auxiliary input jack in the glovebox to connect an MP3 player or Apple iPod. Finally, the Mondeo's brakes have been upgraded to provide more feel.

The revised car goes on sale next month. Prices start at ΂£15,995 for the base LX, rising to ΂£22,360 for the ST V6 range-topper.

For an alternative review of the latest Ford Mondeo visit our sister site carbuyer.co.uk