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Mondeo to Australia??
Hi Christopher ,
I totally agree with you on the Vectra score, Ford will definitely lose big ground if they dont fill the 2.o litre segment and with the Vectra being built in AU the "Buy Australian made factor "will be hard enough to fight even with the Mondeo let alone without it, I have seen a mock up photo of a Mondeo wagon with plastic body protection and 4 Wd (Jaguar X type running gear) I think this would use 2.5 V6 power or maybe even 3.0L V6 from the ST 220 (only sold in Europe) but I have seen no more gossip on that one.
the Mondeos sold in NZ have the 2.0l Duratech HE engine which bears no resemblance to the Zetec E engine of the old model. It is all alloy and I believe Mazda had a hand in the development of the unit but will not be quoted on that. It makes 107 kw compared to 96 kw for the old unit and weighs around 20kg less than the Zetec unit. Having driven the old model for three years and 140,000 kms I can say that the new model(which mine was replaced with in July) is seemingy from another planet and surely not the same factory. Its not just foot down stuff, its smooth and fairly quiet. Prefers 96 octane or even 98 if you can get it , The 2.3 Mazda engine, I dont know about that one. The Mazda engine makes about 122 kw which is pretty stirring stuff, but we only get the 2.0 L
or the 2.5 Duratech for the ST. The Ford 2 litre engine uses plastic exstensively under the bonnet with the cam covers and inlet manifolds all made from Plastic thus saving weight. A recent posting here suggested Mazda and Ford could in the future share the same floor space at retail level, this is the case in the U.S. where they have one website for Ford products and it covers the lot from Jaguar to Lincoln,Volvo ,Aston Martin etc so thats an interesting idea from the engine sharing point of view.
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