What is it?
After the diesel's rise to pre-eminence in upsize family cars, the petrol engine is fighting back. Some of the tools in its armoury are direct injection, a turbocharger and clever interlinking of exhaust ports and turbo scrolls to improve exhaust scavenging.
Combined with inlet and exhaust valve timing variable over a very wide range, remarkable feats of power, torque and frugality become possible. Ford's new Ecoboost engines feature all of the above.
And the newest Ecoboost is this 237bhp version of the aluminium-block 2.0, found in the Titanium X Sport version of the newly facelifted Mondeo and replacing the thirsty five-cylinder.
It comes exclusively with a six-speed double-wet-clutch gearbox, and the Sport part denotes adaptive dampers with the usual Comfort, Normal and Sport settings. You'd expect paddle-shifters to go with this transmission, but they are strangely absent. Manual shifting therefore involves the central lever, with the Ford (and BMW) logic of pulling back for an upshift.
What's it like?
The shift is quick, clean, very smooth and a touch more definite in its own Sport mode, but the engine's torque and the automatic mode's intuition are such that you'll likely leave the transmission to its own devices after the novelty has worn off.
But for all that 251lb ft of torque (266lb ft on overboost), and the inclusion of a bulkhead-directed 'sound symposer' to add some aural character at high revs and big throttle openings, you do sometimes wonder if all 237 horses are on duty. Blame the Mondeo's weight for this, and the easy, undramatic, always accurate way it handles difficult bends and bumps.
It's also worth noting that the cabin quality of the facelifted Mondeo puts it within touching distance of more premium rivals, while the CO2 output of a engine of this power and size are impressive, too.
Should I buy one?
Maybe. While impressive in the bulky Mondeo, this engine would work very nicely in a hot hatchback of, say, Focus size. Soon it is likely to do just that, bolted to a manual transmission in the next Focus ST.
John Simister
Ford Mondeo 2.0 EcoBoost 240 Titanium X Sport
Price: £27,045 (est); Top speed: 150mph; 0-62mph: 7.9sec; Economy: 36.6mpg; CO2: 179g/km; Kerb weight: 1494kg; Engine type: 4 cyls in line, 1999cc, turbodiesel; Power: 237bhp; Torque: 251lb ft; Gearbox: 6-speed double-clutch
Join the debate
Add your comment
Re: Ford Mondeo 2.0 240 Ecoboost
It's not that weird a logic - BMW changed this in 2002 to match the SMG system, which again mimicked sequential boxes. The reason sequentials have this logic is because it's easier to pull back (gear up) when accelerating, and push forward (gear down) when braking.
Re: Ford Mondeo 2.0 240 Ecoboost
Straight typo here I think. Taken from the Ford website the 2.5T 0-60 was 7.3 seconds. The 203 Ecoboost is 7.7. I have seen 7.1 quoted for the 240 Ecoboost on Parkers who also agree with the above figures. That seems more than respectable and certainly in line with a low to mid 6 time for a Focus ST with a manual box. The kerb weight for this Mondeo will officially be close to 1600kgs around 150kgs more than the incoming Focus ST I suspect, backing up the performance for the new Focus ST.
Re: Ford Mondeo 2.0 240 Ecoboost
This is interesting from an Aussie/Kiwi's perspective - the Ecoboost engine is soon to see rear-wheel drive service in the Aussie Falcon sedan, which is usually hauled about by a 4.0 litre in-line six.
Having said that, I believe that the current FG-series Falcon is not much bigger or heavier than the 3rd-generation Mondeo, so it might be OK. But many traditionalists in this part of the world are spluttering into their beers at the thought of a 4-cylinder Falcon.