Ford Mondeo Estate 2015 review

This is our first taste of the new Ford Mondeo Estate in the UK, and it’s clearly an important car as it’s been a well established favourite for families and fleets since 1993. The latest model comes as a saloon (as a hybrid only), hatchback and this attractive estate – and this is the model that we would be tempted to go for. It’s good looking, better built than ever and has a great petrol engine in the shape of this 1.5-litre turbo.

Family estates need a diesel engine under the bonnet, right? Not necessarily, because unlike the diesel-only VW Passat Estate, Ford is offering its new Mondeo Estate with a range of clever EcoBoost petrol engines to appeal to a wider spread of buyers.

The Mondeo will be available with the impressively small 1.0-litre EcoBoost three-cylinder (which arrives in early 2015) and a racy 240bhp 2.0-litre, but there’s another petrol option – a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder. And that’s the unit we’ve tried for the first time in the UK. The good news is that it is a decent little engine, which proves that small cubic capacity can deliver decent performance when there’s a turbocharger attached.

There’s 158bhp on offer, which allows the Ford to reach a top speed of 135mph, get from zero to 62mph in 9.2 seconds and return 47.9mpg – although we struggled to better 32mpg on a mixture of roads.

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On the move, the 1.5 turbo is eager to rev, with power kicking in from 1,500rpm. There’s a slightly rorty soundtrack as you press on and the six-speed manual gearbox proves pretty slick, although a six-speed auto is also on offer. It’s a good cruiser, too – the 1.5 settles down to a distant hum on the motorway and overtaking is easy in top gear thanks to 240Nm of torque.

While some rivals can’t pull off the same trick, Ford has managed to make its Estate as good looking as the hatch and saloon models. And it’s practical, too – there’s 500 litres of capacity with the seats up and 1,605 with them down, and once they are folded the load space is wide and flat. If space is the absolute priority, though, look to the Passat, because it offers 650 and 1,780 litres respectively.

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Despite our car’s 17-inch alloys – just one of the goodies on offer in the top-spec Titanium – the Mondeo rides well on harsh UK roads. It’s an example of the direction Ford has taken with the new Mondeo, as it trades some of the old model’s fun for comfort, and this is particularly evident with the steering – it’s a tad limp while the suspension is soft. But it’s hardly a major gripe, as the Mondeo Estate has become a highly desirable, comfortable wagon.