Aston Martin DB12 vs Ford Mondeo

What's the difference?

Aston Martin is best known for two things - being James Bond’s preferred mode of transport and building grand tourers.

The new DB12 is the latest in a long line of memorable grand tourers from Aston Martin that dates back to the DB2 of the 1950s and runs all the way through icons like the DB5 (1963-65) and more recently the DB7 (1993-2003), DB9 (2004-2016) and DB11 (2016-2023).

Except there’s a slight problem with this lineage - Aston Martin doesn’t think the DB12 is a ‘grand tourer.’ Instead, the brand has decided to define it as a ‘Super Tourer’ and claims this is a car that “takes a new direction” for a brand that is more than 100 years old.

Yes, this is a Ford Mondeo review in Anno Domini 2018.

This assumes, of course, that Ford even still sells the Mondeo, and despite the fact that it's the third best-selling car in the segment, Ford oddly doesn't seem keen to talk about it.

Why? Perhaps Ford doesn't want anybody to get overly attached to a sedan-y hatch that has a cloudy future in an ever-shrinking mid-size market. After all, there's still a rather vocal sect of the population feeling burned by the end of the Falcon dynasty.

You'd also be right to assume those numbers are padded out a fair bit by corporate leases. Salesmen in England were long referred to as Mondoe Men for a reason. I'll tell you this much, though, I'd be pretty stoked if I got one of these Mondeos as a lease.

As an FG Falcon owner, for most intents and purposes it would even be a half-way decent replacement for my large sedan. Stick with me as I explain why.