"The Mondeo was never fancy or spectacular, it never won Le Mans, it was never awarded a Nobel Prize, it didn't write The Grapes Of Wrath. It was just your mate, someone you enjoyed going to the pub with."
- Jeremy Clarkson on the Mondeo
The Ford Mondeo is a large family car manufactured by Ford since 1993. The first Ford model declared as a "world car", the Mondeo was intended to consolidate several Ford model lines worldwide (the European Sierra, the Telstar in Asia and Australia, and the Tempo/Mercury Topaz in North America). The Mondeo nameplate is derived from the Latin word mundus, meaning "world". For its first two generations, the Mondeo was produced using the CDW27 platform, with the third-generation model shifting to the EUCD platform. The fourth-generation models use the CD4 platform, and the fifth-generation use the C2 platform.
Due to declining sales and a growing trend towards crossover SUVs over saloons and estates, Ford announced in March 2021 that it will discontinue the production of the Mondeo in Europe and Argentina with no direct successor. Production of the Mondeo ended in Europe in March 2022. However, the Mondeo is still manufactured in China.
The Mondeo was one of the few cars to earn praise from Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.
Appearances[]
- In 1998 Old Top Gear episode, Quentin Willson rated down the Mondeo as the bottom list on its JD Power Survey including some Ford models for customer satisfaction feedback with most common issues as well the recalls.
- In Series 45 of Old Top Gear, the Ford Mondeo was named Car of the Year in 2001.
- In Series 10, Episode 10, the Ford Mondeo was named Car of the Year in the 2007 Top Gear Awards, along with the Subaru Legacy Outback.
- In Top Gear: Apocalypse, Richard and James attempt to drive Mondeos with completely blacked out windows and GPS devices to simulate driving in a nuclear winter.
- In Funeral for a Ford, Jeremy does a retrospective on the Ford Mondeo, discussing its involvement in the touring car championships and the declining sales over the years, while driving to the Lincoln Cathedral in a blue Mondeo ST200 Estate with Richard and James to the car's "funeral" due to the car's production winding down in the UK. Jeremy cites the Mondeo as the only car that he, Richard and James really like.