Well... I have had my new Mk3 Mondeo for 4 weeks now and I just want to share the experience so far. I have the 2.5 Duratec V6 with 5 speed ATX with manual shifting (Steptronic).
Just took it on a short trip to the black forest.
I am quite impressed with the new ATX over the old CD4E. Downhill mode works very well. The ATX shifts down as soon as you need the braking power of the engine. Most of the time it finds the same moment for shifting that I would have chosen manually. Uphill is not quite as good, but definitely better than CD4E. The manual shifting is very handy uphill. Especially since you can keep the foot on the throttle when shifting ;-)
Fuel consumption so far is about the same as my 98 Mondeo V6 ATX with CD4E was.
On the second day, my check engine light came on. By great chance I was right next to a Ford dealership. They pulled the codes right away and upon further inspection told me a marten had chewed on one of the O2 sensor wires. That sort of damage is not unusual over here. They had to order a new sensor (cable does not come as separate part), and told me I could drive the car until the sensor was in the next day (yes... actually they had it there the next morning and it took them about 1 hr to fix it). Basically it was a pretty good dealership experience, except that the total cost for the damage was over USD 250,--, which seems like A LOT of money for what they did. However, it is a company car, and I shouldn't bother too much.
Several of my colleagues over here at the office just got new company cars, and somehow we all have had some bad luck with them: One was in an accident with a motorcycle within the first week (nobody hurt, fortunately). The next ran into a fox the other day. The third had a chipped windshield on the way home from picking up his new car. The next had a flat tire on the second day he drove the car... All of them black Audi A4s, btw.
Anyways...
