The Ford Mondeo I (first generation) is a mid-size car manufactured and marketed by Ford, beginning on 23 November 1992, with sales beginning on 22 March 1993. It is also known as the Mk I Mondeo; the 1996 facelift versions are usually designated Mk II. Available as a four-door saloon, a five-door hatchback, and a five-door estate, all models for the European market were produced at Ford's plant in the Belgian city of Genk.

Intended as a world car, it replaced the Ford Sierra in Europe, the Ford Telstar in a large portion of Asia and other markets, while the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique replaced the Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz in North America. Despite being billed as a world car, the only external items the Mondeo shared initially with the Contour were the windscreen, front windows, front mirrors and door handles. Thus, the CDW27 project turned out not to be a true world car in the sense that the original Ford Focus and newer Fords developed under the "One Ford" policy turned out to be. The first generation Mondeo was replaced in 2000, by the larger second generation; in the United States and Canada, the Contour/Mystique were replaced initially by the Focus and later the Fusion.

Design and development

Mk I Instigated in 1986 (just before its Sierra predecessor received a major facelift), the design of the car cost Ford US$6 billion. It was one of the most expensive new-car programmes ever. The Mondeo was significant as its design and marketing were shared between Ford USA in Dearborn and Ford of Europe. Its codename while under development reflected thus: CDW27 signified that it straddled the C and D size classes and was a "world car". The head of the Mondeo project was John Oldfield, headquartered at Ford Dunton in Essex. A large proportion of the high development cost was due to the Mondeo being a completely new design, sharing very little, if anything, with the Ford Sierra. Unlike the Sierra, the Mondeo is front-wheel drive in its most common form, with a rarer four-wheel drive version available on the Mk I car only. Over-optimistically, the floor pan was designed to accept virtually any conceivable drivetrain, from a transverse inline-four engine to a longitudinal V-8. This resulted in a hugely intrusive and mostly disused bellhousing cover and transmission tunnel. Resultingly the front interior, especially the footwells, feels more cramped than would be expected from a vehicle of this size. The Mondeo featured new manual and automatic transmissions and sophisticated suspension design, which give it class-leading handling and ride qualities, and subframes front and rear to give it executive car refinement. The automatic transmission featured electronic control with sport and economy modes plus switchable overdrive. The program manager from 1988, and throughout its early development, was David Price.

By 1989, Ford had confirmed that it would be launching an all-new front-wheel drive car to replace the Sierra within the next four years, although it had not yet decided whether the Sierra name would continue or be replaced, with some subsequent reports even hinting that the Cortina name could make a comeback, having been axed in 1982 when replaced by the Sierra. Several prototypes were tested that year, but the launch of the Nissan Primera in 1990 prompted Ford to make a number of major alterations to the final product, as it saw the new competitor from Nissan to be the benchmark car in this sector, having previously identified the Honda Accord as the class leader.

The car was launched in the midst of turbulent times at Ford of Europe, when the division was haemorrhaging hundreds of millions of dollars, and had gained a reputation in the motoring press for selling products which had been designed by accountants rather than engineers. The fifth-generation Escort and third-generation Orion of 1990 was the zenith of this cost-cutting/high-price philosophy, which was by then beginning to backfire on Ford, with the cars being slated for their substandard ride and handling, though a facelift in 1992 had seen things improve a little. The Sierra had sold well, but not as well as the all-conquering Cortina before it, and in Britain, it had been overtaken in the sales charts by the newer Vauxhall Cavalier. Previously loyal customers were already turning to rival European and Japanese products, and by the time of the Mondeo's launch, the future of Europe as a Ford manufacturing base was hanging in the balance. The new car had to be good, and it had to sell. It was unveiled to the public on 23 November 1992, although sales would not begin for another four months. At this stage, Ford confirmed that the new car would feature a completely new name and would be called the Mondeo. In December 1992, Autocar published a section on the Mondeo, and how it would conquer rivals.

Safety was a high priority in the Mondeo design, with a driver's side airbag (it was the first-ever car sold from the beginning with a driver's airbag in all of its versions, which helped it achieve the European Car of the Year title for 1994), side-impact bars, seat belt pretensioners, and anti-lock braking systems (higher models) as standard features. Other features for its year included adaptive damping, self-leveling suspension (top estate models), traction control (V6 and 4WD versions), and heated front windscreen, branded Quickclear.

The interiors were usually well-appointed, featuring velour trim, an arm rest with CD and tape storage, central locking (frequently remote), power windows (all round on higher models), power mirrors, illuminated entry, flat-folding rear seats, etc. Higher-specification models had leather seats, trip computers, electric sunroof, CD changer, and alloy wheels.

During its development, Ford used the 1986 Honda Accord and in the later stages the 1990 Nissan Primera as the class benchmarks that the CDW27 had to beat.

Mk II (facelift)

The mid-cycle facelift, launched in October 1996, addressed three of the original Mondeo's biggest criticisms: its bland styling, the poor headlight performance, the reflectors of which quickly yellowed, and the cramped rear legroom. The lowering of specification levels around that time, such as air conditioning and alloy wheels, became optional on the UK Ghia models. This may have indicated a desire by Ford to cut costs and recoup some considerable sums invested in the original design. These specification levels were improved again in 1998 as the Mondeo approached replacement.

The facelift left only the doors, the roof, and the rear quarter panels on the estate the same as the original model. Even the extractor vents on the rear doors were replaced by a panel bearing the name Mondeo. The most notable change was the introduction of the grille and larger, wraparound lighting units. The saloon version featured some distinctive rear lights. These incorporated an additional reflector panel that extended around the top and the side of the rear wings. Unlike the iterations seen on the heavily facelifted Scorpio and Mk IV Fiesta during the previous year, this facelift was well received.

The interior was also mildly revised, though the basic dashboard architecture was the same as before. Safety specification was improved, with the car gaining a full-sized driver airbag in place of the smaller 'euro-bag' fitted in the Mk I Mondeo. The Mk II gained a 'flagged' three-star rating in Euro NCAP testing, which was average for rivals of its time (the same as the Vauxhall Vectra, better than the Citroën Xantia and Peugeot 406, and worse than the Nissan Primera). The cars' structure suffered excessive footwell intrusion in the frontal impact and a disturbing B-pillar displacement in the side test.

The Zetec engine was thoroughly revised in 1998. The updated version was far more refined at high revolutions. In December 1998, Ford released in Europe a sports car with a coupé body shell based upon the Mk II Mondeo called the Ford Cougar (or Mercury Cougar in North America). This car shared the engines (2.0 I4, 2.5 V6), transmissions, suspension (partially) and floorpans from the Mondeo, but the body shell was unique to the Cougar, and was one of the last Ford cars to be designed under Ford's New Edge philosophy.

Engines

Along with an all-new platform, the Mondeo also used Ford's then-new Zetec engines, first seen in 1991 in the Ford Escort, Ford Orion and Ford Fiesta.

Three versions of the 16-valve Zetec engine were used. The 1.6 L version, rated at from the Escort was used, a 1.8 with also found in the Escort and Ford Fiesta (), while a new 2.0 L version was launched.

An alternative to the Zetec engines was the Endura-D 1.8 L turbo-diesel. This engine had origins in the older 1.6 L diesel design (which in itself was based on the petrol OHV Kent engine block from the Mk1-2 Escort and Mk1 Fiesta) and was used in the Fiesta and elsewhere. Despite its strengths, it was not seen as a strong competitor to other European diesels such as that produced by Peugeot. The contrast between this unit and the competition seemed enormous by the time the engine was dropped in 2000. Strangely, the diesel-powered vehicles could easily be distinguished by dint of their having a slightly redesigned grille so that more air would flow to the top mounted intercooler.

A new American designed V6 engine was introduced in 1994 as part of a model line-up review, in the form of the 2.5 L 24-valve V6 Duratec unit, primarily included for markets where four-cylinder petrol engines are not favoured and are usually intended for the upmarket European buyer. This engine, first unveiled in the Mondeo's North American cousin, the Ford Contour, is characterized by its smooth operation, chain-driven camshafts, and additional butterflies in the lower inlet to close of the inlet path to one valve, giving better torque at low engine speeds, this was vacuum operated on the Mk1 and electronically controlled on the Mk2. This engine was originally branded 24v on the Mk1, but later on badged as the more glamorous sounding V6.

This engine was also used to introduce the new "ST" brand to the Mondeo range as a flagship model (with less specification than a Ghia or a Ghia X), the ST24 in 1997. The power of the engine stayed at , the same as other 2.5 L-engined models (so was slower than a Mk I 24v), but the ST featured unique cabin trim (half-leather seats), unique 16-inch alloy wheels (that were originally only available on a Ghia X Estate), and a full Rally Sport Appearance Pack body kit as standard. The bodykit option was listed as a delete option for those who did not want it fitted as standard. This was later replaced by the Limited Edition ST200 in 1999, featuring an SVT version of the V6 Duratec with a power output of .

Although neither of these models ever sold in high numbers, the marketing was important to Ford, as it was an introduction to the ST range as a sportier side to the full range, especially significant as apart from the Focus RS, both the XR and RS model ranges were phased out during the 1990s.

Ford briefly sold a version using the 2.0 L Zetec engine and four-wheel drive, available between 1995 and 1996 on cars with Si, Ghia, and Ghia X trim and in 1997 on the Mk2 in some European countries.

Model YearsEngine and type Displ. Power Torque 1.6 1993–1999 I4 16V Zetec 1597 cc @ 5250 rpm @ 3500 rpm 1.6 1999–2000 I4 16V Zetec 1597 cc @ 5250 rpm @ 3600 rpm 1.8 1993–2000 I4 16V Zetec 1796 cc @ 5750 rpm @ 3750 rpm 2.0 1993–1996 I4 16V Zetec 1988 cc @ 6000 rpm @ 4000 rpm 2.0 1996–2000 I4 16V Zetec 1988 cc @ 5600 rpm @ 4000 rpm 2.0 4x4 1993–1996 I4 16V Zetec 1988 cc @ 6000 rpm @ 4000 rpm 2.5 1994–1998 V6 24V Duratec 2544 cc @ 6250 rpm @ 4250 rpm 2.5 1998–2000 V6 24V Duratec 2495 cc @ 6250 rpm @ 4250 rpm 2.5 ST200 1999–2000 V6 24V Duratec 2495 cc @ 6500 rpm @ 5500 rpm 1.8 TD 1993–2000 I4 8V Endura-D 1753 cc @ 4500 rpm @ 2250 rpm

Market

Europe