KEY POINTS:
Given the rest of the western world has pretty much gone ga-ga over the latest Mondeo, you might be wondering why the car has kept a pretty low profile in Kiwiland.
Sales are ticking along in a modest way - the model is hovering just below the top-10 passenger cars - but the awards cabinet is a bit bare for a car acclaimed as the most technically advanced car that Ford of Europe has ever built.
Case in point: in the recent AA Motoring Excellence Awards, a brace of Mondeos failed to even make it through the 89-car field to finalist status. What gives?
Here's my answer: it's all to do with powertrains. The Mondeo is every bit as well-engineered, spacious and engaging on the road in New Zealand as we've read from European reports.
But the powertrains we get here don't do it justice. The Mondeo is a heavy car for the class and the 2.3-litre petrol mill that does most of the work for the range isn't up to the task. Nor is the six-speed automatic gear that goes with it - it shifts smoothly but is reluctant to kick down (perhaps in the interests of extracting maximum economy), exacerbating the performance deficit.
In fact, the combination of the 2.3-litre petrol engine with that automatic gearbox prompted Britain's influential Autocar magazine to announce the car was: "Disappointing, to be honest. Indeed, it's not an exaggeration to say that we've finally discovered a new Mondeo that we don't like."
What Mondeos do they like? Ones with diesel engines and ones with five-cylinder turbo motors. They're the missing pieces of the Mondeo puzzle for New Zealand, since they weren't launched with the rest of the range.
They're not scheduled to arrive until mid-year, in fact. When they do, I'm betting that the Mondeo will be a blindingly good car.
Even with the plodding 2.3-litre engine - it's the same one Mazda used to use, although it has moved on with the new Mazda6 model - the Mondeo stands out as a mid-sizer with fabulous steering and assuredly dynamic handling, and it gives off an overwhelming impression of meticulous eningeering. In fact, the Mondeo stands out rather well as a large car.
If you're in the market for a Falcon, perhaps you should stop at the Mondeo bit of the showroom first.
It has a longer wheelbase than the current Falcon so, despite the lower roofline and narrower body, you have still got generous accommodation for four adults.
And the boot of the Mondeo hatchback is actually larger than that of the big-brother Falcon. Go figure.
Build quality is impressive, although the glitzy silver-coloured plastic jammed into every spare space on the dashboard of our upmarket Mondeo Zetec was tasteless.
Some of the minor controls are a little untidy as well.
But the fundamentals are all there - it's sportily stylish, with an excellent driving position and pretty comfortable front chairs.
The Mondeo is a landmark model that combines the nimble handling of a medium-sized sports hatchback with all of the cabin and luggage space of a large sedan.
But to be all that it can be, the car needs some powertrain options to match the potential of the packaging and chassis.
If you wait until June, you can have one then.
On the way are a high-performance 162kW/320Nm 2.5-litre XR5 turbo and a torquey 103kW/320Nm 2.0-litre TCDi diesel engine.
The TCDi hatch will cost $43,490, while the XR5 will be $48,995.
If want a Mondeo - and there's every reason you should - they'll be worth the wait, I think.
