Ford Mondeo: Season 6 cancelled

[warren t claim]

At the end of the day, Mondeo production lasted a decade longer than all Cortina variants and twenty years more than the Sierra was sold for.

[cort1977]

Good point, hadn't thought of it like that.

[Madman Of The People]

6 hours ago, AnthonyG said:

The Mk1/2 were built in the USA (or maybe Mexico).

The Contour (Ford) was mildly successful until Taurus sales started to flag, then the discounts on its bigger sister made it look rather expensive. 

The Mk1, 2 and possibly 3 were also available in Aus/NZ.

 

Contours were indeed built in the USA and Mexico.

In addition to the reasons for the Contour's underwhelming sales performance I mentioned in a previous post, The Contour faced plenty of in-house competition from the Taurus.  When the Contour was introduced in 1995, the Mk II Taurus was on it's way out and dealers were heavily discounting the outgoing Taurus in anticipation of the new 1996 Mk III Taurus.  This meant the bigger, plusher Taurus could often be bought for less than the relatively cramped and expensive Contour.

Then, when the 1996 Mk III Taurus arrived, it's controversial ovoid styling was met with fierce criticism from the press and resistance from the buying public.  In an effort to shore up flagging Taurus sales, Ford started piling on the discounts almost immediately after the Mk III Taurus was launched.  Once again, buyers could often get a Taurus for less than a Contour, thus undermining Contour sales even further.

In it's later years, Ford were dumping Contours into rental fleets.  Based purely on personal observation, almost all of these rental Contours were painted in a particularly hideous shade of beige.  It's almost as if Ford wanted these cars to be as undesirable as possible!

 

[Timewaster]

13 hours ago, R1152 said:

Lithium.

Or "fire", as I prefer to call it.

Ooh, transport powered by fire? 

Imagine the carnage. 

[sierraman]

Cortina, Sierra, Mondeo... life goes on. Maybe in 20 years time when the Kuga craps out people will be mourning its loss, if you remember the original Mondeo was panned for being very dull in appearance. 

I think we’re looking at this in very retrospective eyes, the new Puma is selling well, it’ll appeal to a new generation of people I guess in the same way my dads generation mourned the loss of the Cortina and can’t get misty eyed at all about the Mondeo ceasing production. 

[Talbot]

It's only a name.

The Sierra could have been called the Mk6/7 cortina, and the most recent mondeo could have been called the carrot.

[New POD]

56 minutes ago, Talbot said:

It's only a name.

The Sierra could have been called the Mk6/7 cortina, and the most recent mondeo could have been called the carrot.

My Dad cried when he couldn't buy a mk6 cortina, after having mks1,2,3,4 and series 80 (which people now call a mk5) and he eventually bought a Sierra. 

Having then owned numerous Sierra Estates and Saloons, he cried more when he had to chose a Mondeo. 

Mainly the move to FWD.  But eventually he was happily buying focus.  He's on his third I think. 

[Talbot]

That's a level of brand/marque loyalty you just don't normally see.

If he wanted to stick with RWD that much, did he consider other brands?

[garethj]

1 hour ago, New POD said:

My Dad cried when he couldn't buy a mk6 cortina, after having mks1,2,3,4 and series 80 (which people now call a mk5) and he eventually bought a Sierra. 

Having then owned numerous Sierra Estates and Saloons, he cried more when he had to chose a Mondeo. 

Mainly the move to FWD.  But eventually he was happily buying focus.  He's on his third I think. 

Toyota kept the Corolla name when moving from RWD to FWD👍

[sierraman]

2 hours ago, Talbot said:

That's a level of brand/marque loyalty you just don't normally see.

If he wanted to stick with RWD that much, did he consider other brands?

Traditionally a Ford was the working mans chariot I think that where the loyalty comes through. Obviously this goes back to the seventies when people stuck to what they knew. Still though I’m a Ford man through and through, you wouldn’t find me poncing about in an Audi 🤣

[New POD]

2 hours ago, Talbot said:

That's a level of brand/marque loyalty you just don't normally see.

If he wanted to stick with RWD that much, did he consider other brands?

His first car was a Morris 8, then a brand new 1959 Austin mini. Somewhere in 1974 until 1979 he had an avenger which I remember was riddled with rust as I remember him using chicken wire and plastic padding on the front wings. 

All the others were Ford. Some company cars, some bought new with real cash. All serviced by a Ford Dealer.

One was serviced in Italy on a 2.5 month trip around Europe my parents went on about 12 years ago. Booked it via email in advance of starting the journey. Were treated like Royalty according to my mum. 

They bought the car new and drove it straight to Poland first to run it in. 

[AnthonyG]

14 hours ago, Madman Of The People said:

In it's later years, Ford were dumping Contours into rental fleets.  Based purely on personal observation, almost all of these rental Contours were painted in a particularly hideous shade of beige.  It's almost as if Ford wanted these cars to be as undesirable as possible!

 

I had a Contour on rental in late 2000 when I spent a few weeks in New England, I think it was in a half decent colour like metallic red. I assumed at the time it would have been a 2.5 V6, although thinking about it now it very well could have been a 2.0 4 cyl. 

The main difference between this car and the UK market 1.8 LX manual I had at home was that the auto box kept changing up and down around the  legal limit of 65mph, which was pretty damn annoying and didn’t strike me as a great aspect for a US market car!!!

[warren t claim]

 

[warren t claim]

 

[warren t claim]

The sad reality for the FoMoCo is that if they couldn't get someone like me, who honestly can't remember how many mid sized Fords he's owned, to sign on the line for a new Mondeo when I was out to buy a new car, then something has gone terribly wrong.

I don't just mourn the passing of the Mondeo, I genuinely feel shocked and upset at the thought of Ford binning the whole class of family saloon it created back in 1962.

It's an uncomfortable truth that even if Ford replaced it with the most perfect family saloon in the world our fake and plastic society would ignore it because of the blue oval on the front. It's not just cars that suffer from this as we live in a society that either buys perceived badge snobbery like BMW or Waitrose or reasonable quality but cheap and cheerful like Skoda or Aldi, the middle ground like Mondeo or M&S has indeed been squeezes.

[Shite Ron]

22 hours ago, sierraman said:

I guess in the same way my dads generation mourned the loss of the Cortina and can’t get misty eyed at all about the Mondeo ceasing production.

Bloody hell, I feel old now being described as your dads generation. I was only 12 when Cortina’s went out of production but really mourned their loss and still think nothing has or will ever really replace it. I am very glad they gave the Sierra a new name as it is a very different car even if most of the mechanical parts are the same. It was a shame Ford did not drop the Granada name in 1985. Life moves on and things change but not always for the better. The Sierra was a good car and still RWD, the Mondeo was very good and the mk1 was the best riding  FWD car I have driven, but crucially it was FWD. I think it is time to kill off the name, for Mondeo enthusiasts to have the name on an SUV would be as appalling as it was to me to see a Granada badge on a Jellymould, they should have called the Granada mk3 a Scorpio.

Just my view, other opinions may apply. I have owned 3 Mondeo’s, a mk1, 3 and 4, all good but dull modern cars bought because they were best in class in my opinion, I just don’t get modern car’s sorry.

[adw1977]

On 01/04/2021 at 13:52, Talbot said:

It's only a name.

The Sierra could have been called the Mk6/7 cortina, and the most recent mondeo could have been called the carrot.

Imagine, if Ford had stuck with the Cortina name through the Sierra and all generations of Mondeo, we would be on the Mark 11 Cortina now and we would be talking about it ending production after 60 years.

On 01/04/2021 at 16:37, garethj said:

Toyota kept the Corolla name when moving from RWD to FWD👍

See also Escort, Cavalier and Bluebird.

[sierraman]

The Cortina name is meaningless to anyone under about 35. I can about remember them being the typical dads car if he was skint, they were everywhere when I was a kid nearly all of them were the archetypal silver Carousel with the blue wing and a coat hanger aerial. The typical Ford Dad car (if he’s not one of these wet fuckers with a Zafira...) is probably a Focus, it’s plenty big enough. The next generation is supposedly going to be half developed with VW, this tech is so expensive you can’t really go it alone. 

I must be getting an old fart because over the last few days I’ve found the idea of a Kuga 2.0 diesel strangely appealing, high up to feel safe, comfortable, enough space for my tools and shit, economical. 

[wuvvum]

17 hours ago, Shite Ron said:

they should have called the Granada mk3 a Scorpio.

They did, everywhere but Blighty.

[Bren]

The mondeo was a great car - its last incarnation was not the best - reminded me of a beautiful woman who had ruined her looks with plastic surgery.

Price, and people looking to aspire to german marques has sealed it's fate. I actually think that german stuff has been built down to a price in order to be accessible to more people. This flip side to this is crap quality which becomes all too apparent after a few years.

[sierraman]

Getting someone to admit they’re actually chucked together is hard work. 

Years ago having a Golf or whatever used to be a bit of a style statement, they were expensive but a quality motor. Now it means you’ve probably got it on the chuckie and you’ve got a baggie hidden in the glovebox. Or up your bum. 

[BorniteIdentity]

Saw this at my son's footie last night.  

I don't think I've seen a Vignale in the tin.  

If I was a rep I'd gladly bomb up and down the A1 in one of these.  OK, I wouldn't want it in "Essex White" and I'd obviously get ripped by my colleagues who were likely running 520Ds at the same cost to the company, but they're an attractive car (not in Essex White) and certainly look very nicely appointed inside.

I still think it's an Image problem.  Under 30s will not buy a Ford because that's what your Dad had... in the same way my Dad wouldn't have owned a Rover 75 as HIS Dad had Rovers.  Despite the 75 being a phenomenally good car. (bite me)

[sierraman]

I’m not sure, the Fiesta and Focus are consistently in the top 10 sales charts.

[wuvvum]

Umm, Daniel...  That's a Focus.

[sierraman]

There’s not really reps any more though is there? That died off years ago the archetypal shower curtain ring salesman driving with a boot full of samples up the M1. You’d distance sell these days or use Skype or whatever. 

[wuvvum]

My dad was a de facto rep for a while in the early '90s (he was actually a software engineer but it was a small company so he ended up being roped into sales type stuff as well) - he used to pound the motorways of the UK (and later Europe) in diesel Montego estates (a bright red DLX and then a BRG Countryman, with air conditioning thankyouverymuch).  He chose them because they were cheap so the company car tax liability was low, and also because the Perkins Prima was brilliant on diesel so his mileage allowance went a lot further.  He never really gave a shit about badges.

[sierraman]

[BorniteIdentity]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

Umm, Daniel...  That's a Focus.

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

That genuinely did me.  Hilarious.  Fucking hell.  

I didn't realise they did the Vignale range throughout; I thought it was just the Mondeos.  That just indicates wonderfully how bloody out of touch I am.  

I did expect it to be a bit bigger in fairness, as people continually complain about how long the Mondeo is.

That's it.  I'm clearly old.  And done with Fords.

[sierraman]

Yes, the Fiesta Vignale is a nice  car, you’d be nuts to spunk £25-30k on one though.

[Remspoor]

What happened to the Vagina range?