• Diesel fuel economy is good
• Residual values are poor
• Economy falls in AWD model

What are the running costs?

Navigating the Mondeo’s claimed fuel economy charts used to be quite a daunting thing thanks to a wide variety of engines, gearboxes and drivetrains that were available. Today, things are far simpler, with only two diesel engines offered in the Mondeo hatchback, one with a manual or auto gearbox, the other being auto-only, but with front- or four-wheel drive.

The economy hero of the Mondeo range is the 150hp 2.0-litre EcoBlue diesel with the six-speed manual gearbox. It offers a best of 56.5mpg on the combined WLTP test, while adding Ford’s Powershift auto sees fuel economy tail off to 53.3mpg. The auto-only 2.0 EcoBlue returns the same fuel economy figure, but adding four-wheel drive sees fuel economy reduce to a claimed 48.7mpg.

Safety

• Two official recalls for the Mondeo hatch
• Build feels solid and like it’ll last
• Should be little to worry about overall

There have been two official recalls for the Mondeo, one regarding the headlamps switching off without warning, and another regarding the seatbelt pre-tensioners malfunctioning. Your local dealer should have carried out fixes for both of these issues, so any car you could be buying second hand should have had the remedial work taken out already.

The EcoBlue diesel engine can be found in a range of other Ford products, including the Transit van and Ranger pick-up truck, so it will have been extensively tested to ensure its reliability.

Many of the electronic safety systems found in the Mondeo have already run the test-bed marathon in other Fords too, so there shouldn’t be any critical maladies there either.