rhumb

While we in the U.S. get the ... pause while I gulp down a mouthful of No-Doze ... Fusion, seems like Ford Europe is further raising the lust factor of the already hottie body Mondeo. Granted it doesn't look like it will be a ball of fire, figuring HP figures somewhere in the upper 200s, the Mondeos have generally been good examples of the adage, "It's not only how fast it goes, but how it goes fast," and that has often been very well.

Stick the upcoming 3.7 V6 in dat thang with AWD and you really do have a potential real serious performance piece ... for everyone else in the world but us, that is

Knight

Ford honestly needs to create a performance version of the fusion. F-bomb! even if they made burningmans F-bomb with 4 doors i would be happy.

Maybe they are worried that it would compete with the Mazda speed6?

Moosetang

I think they intended to do an SVT Fusion by now, and things like the crash-redesign of the 500/Freestle into Taurus/TaurusX, a faster product cycle overall, and other vehicle updates sapped the funding away. I really think SVT's had to bear the brunt of budget woes in order to keep the core products rolling, it bit the Fusion, the Adrenaline, and Lightning. Hopefully, with the core products improved and on track to keep improving, they'll have the resources to go expand the SVT lineup soon.

Knight

I sure hope so.

Zastava_101

Mazda recently canceled MazdaSpeed6.

Knight

if it was due to lack of sales then i guess i can see why ford would be hesitant on making a fusion like that.

Hollywood_North GT

Louie

Here you go :

http://www.caradvice.com.au/6520/for...rbo-spy-shots/

Strickland

I think that would be cause they're bring out a new Mazda 6, the Speed6 (I hope) will follow soon after the new model hits.

Knight

whats with the dumps on the exhaust?

Louie

You mean the cheapest mufflers and tips known to man? Well, something had to be overlooked by the designers...

The rest, however, is looking great.

rhumb

I'm sure those aren't the final production tips, which will undoubtedly be much nicer looking.

The MazdaSpeed 6 was, well, nice enough but lacking a bit of spice necessary to make an impact. Wheels looked kind of skinny and mundane (rather than simply understated), the hood had more tiers than a wedding cake (or SN95 Mach I hood) and the early issues with power output whithering away on hot days (sinced fixed) didn't help either. They probably would make a great bang for the buck deal now, though, as they are basically excellent if overlooked cars (hint, hint to the frost-belt family guys/gals here needing some room, doors and AWD traction with their speed ;-)

GT98

The redesign of the 500 was already planned when it launched. The name change wasn't..

jsaylor

I think the bigger problem with the MS6 was that it just wasn't very fast, power loss issues aside. And unfortunately we aren't just talking about a uber-powerful car with difficult to access performance, the MS6 really wasn't all that fast. Even worse the suspension tuning was a bit on the extreme side for a four door, which is a bit odd considering the lack of straight line prowess.

I would feign surprise but Ford has been burnt on this so many times before I wonder how and/or why they keep making this same mistake. The success of the SVT Contour was blunted by a lack of power, as was the SVT Focus for that matter. Some cars can get away with this, but neither the Focus, Contour, or MS6 had any heritage of performance to fall back on which effectively meant they were left swinging in the breeze by folks who should have known better in the first place.

Back to the topic. While the Mondeo XR5 would make a nice addition to American shores unless this car recieves a rather serious power boost I would hope that Ford would have the good sense not to tout this as anything other than a top notch mid-size sedan with a bit more oomph than is typical for cars in this class. Because to put it bluntly, if they tried to hang a hi-po tag on this one they would almost certainly end up in the same boat all over again....and performance enthusiasts would be right behind you looking for their own dose of No-Doze.

kevinb120

In european magazines, the Modeo is trouncing the C-class and 3-series in reviews.

Hollywood_North GT

I haven't seen a single Euro mag where it "trounces" the 3-Series. I haven't seen any car trounce the 3-Series.

A link to such a story would be cool, though. If true, it would be just one more vote for bringing the Mondeo over here.

burningman

Wow good looking car

hi5.0

Even the Aussies would rather have this car than any sedan "styled" by FoMoCo USA... Those exhaust turndowns have got to go, they've got to be straight tips for production. Otherwise -

Louie

Even though it doesnt actually "trounce" the 3 Series, TopGear seems to put it in the same league: http://www.topgear.com/blogs/drives/048-ford-mondeo/

rhumb

To JSaylor:

Yeah, too often, Ford seems to offer either good handling and chassis dynamics (Contour SVT, Probe GT, Focus SVT) OR good power and acceleration (insert favorate model Mustang here), but seems to have a hard time creating the whole package, at least at an affordable price (they did do it with the Ford GT, but at a trillion dollars...).

If Ford had slapped a turbo on the Focus, or the Japanese market KL-ZE motor in the Probe, that would have done much to cure the engine bay woes and really give these cars the zip to match their chassis capabilities.

On the other side, a bit more astute chassis tuning and releasing the IRS would give the Mustang the dynamic finesse to really bend its impressive straight line prowess into the corners and back roads. Ford may yet do that with the Stang come '09 to meet the challenges from the Camaro and Challenger as the Mustang will no longer be THE big fish in a little pony car pond anymore.

Of course this pretty much leaves the entire rest of the Ford model lineup utterly lacking in any real performance models to speak of now that SVT has essentially whithered away. Yeah, I understand their financial straights and all, but perhaps one way out of it would be to offer cars we want to buy rather than cars they want us to buy, certainly when it comes to enthusiasts of various stripes.

The MazdaSpeed 3 offers a perfect demonstration of what Ford could and should be offering in that market segment rather than the aged and now pathetic rental car known as the Focus. The Mondeo offers a level of dynamic and visual pizzazz simply lacking in the oh-so-mildly competent Fusion. The 500, oh, Taurus? Sure, right after I get my AARP card. Crown Vic? Hmmmm, I've always wanted to start a second career as a taxi driver ... or perhaps to reward myself on my third decade as a card-carrying AARP member.

Maybe Colletti can be lured back from retirement...