Skoda Octavia vs Ford Mondeo

What's the difference?

The Skoda Octavia has always been impressive in wagon guise and this mHEV variant is no different. While the mild-hybrid set-up adds little to the Octavia package there’s still plenty to like about this wagon. It’s smooth and refined to drive, packed with features and has ample appeal as a value-for-money buy.

It’s no surprise if this wagon is at or near the top of your vehicle shopping list.

The Mondeo creeps to the forefront as one of the best Fords with the smallest marketing budget.

Well equipped, reasonably fun to drive and semi-luxurious to be in for long periods, it's hard to remember why it's so forgettable.

Its certainly worth your consideration over its rivals, but then perhaps you don't want to fall in love with another Ford potentially headed for the chopping block in the near future.

A wagon, by its very nature, is a vehicle with a low and long body style. And the Skoda Octavia Select mHEV wagon adheres to that design expectation.

At 4698mm long, 1829mm wide and 1468mm high, it’s low and sleek, especially compared to the taller and bulkier SUVs and utes I usually test, and this wagon’s lower entry/exit height takes a bit of getting used to. It feels like I have to do a contorted yoga pose every time I get in and out of this wagon.

The interior has a premium feel about it, despite bearing fabric seats, expansive use of durable plastic and the like, and it does feel squeezier inside than expected.

In design terms, this Octavia holds its own against mid-sized wagon rivals and even mid-size SUV competitors.

There's no doubt that the Mondeo is a chunky monkey. Just get a look at those proportions, it looks like a dense rectangle's worth of car, and that's before you line it up next to something else for perspective.

In this case I sat it next to my Falcon. Once the largest sedan on offer by Ford in Australia, in some ways it looks dwarfed. The Mondeo is taller and just as wide, but not quite as long. A quick comparison of spec sheets proves it's not much lighter either, despite the Falcon sporting a cast-iron engine that's literally twice the size.

The front three-quarter especially makes the Mondeo look tough. The big catfish-esque grille combined with the slimline headlight clusters and bonnet ripples make it look aggressive - like a rolling advertisement for the Mustang.

Head round to the rear three-quarter, however and things get a little… off. The raised dimensions and high rear light features make it look too tall. The 'liftback' roofline does no wonders for the car's proportions either.

It's a shame that after so many decades of Mondeo there is still apparently no way to make that rear-end appealing.

Inside there are also plenty of quirks. While there are some parts that really work, there are also some that don't.

The plush leather seats unique to the Titanium grade are lovely, but they're positioned so high up you'd be forgiven for thinking you were at the helm of an SUV. The sunroof is also so far back it's basically useless for front passengers, yet it eats their headroom (also, it's just a glass roof that doesn't open).

Then there's the switchgear, of which there is an overwhelming amount. You're presented with a sensory assault of buttons and displays, half of which could seemingly be easily offloaded onto the multimedia system. It's an approach that dates an otherwise modern-looking cabin.

Eerily similar to the Falcon, the fan speed and temperature controls aren't dials (a user experience nightmare) but the volume control is… go figure.

Those gripes aside there's plenty to like about the Mondoe cabin. There are soft-touch surfaces everywhere, helping the car live up to its luxury spec and price point, while all the switchgear and interactive parts are solid and tough, just like the Mondeo's big brother, the Ranger.

While the digital dash is way too busy, it presents the relevant information well, and is a good interactive design once you get used to it.

The back seat is a very nice place to be, making full use of that big glass roof, and the rear seats are just as plush as the front ones. If you spend lots of time ferrying friends or family around, it's a strong point for the Mondeo.

This Octavia has a neat and functional interior with a low-key premium feel about it, even though it’s a lower-spec variant in the line-up.

The front seats are manually adjustable and offer a reasonable degree of comfort and support, and there are enough hard-wearing plastic surfaces and handy storage spaces throughout the cabin to please the fussiest of drivers and passengers.

There are two USB-C outlets and 45W charging upfront and in the rear seat.

Bonus: the multimedia system is easy to pair with your phone and to use in general driving.

Second-row passengers are well catered for with charge points, storage spots and even a small portable bin in the passenger door pocket. That, and the umbrella in the driver-side door, are among the many nice, welcome touches Skoda does so well.

The second-row seats – in a 60/40 split configuration – are comfortable with adequate room for everyone. The fold-down centre armrest has cupholders.

For child seats, it has two ISOFIX points on the outboard seats in the second row and three top-tether anchor points.

At the back, there is a 640-litre boot (when all seats are up and in use) and luggage capacity expands to 1700 litres when the second row is stowed away.

The rear cargo area has a luggage compartment cover, a 12V outlet, net pockets and four tie-down points.

This Skoda has a listed unladen mass of 1388kg and a gross vehicle mass of 1910kg, so payload is approximately 522kg, which is reasonable but not overly generous.

It’s rated to tow 700kg (unbraked) and 1500kg (braked).

As a practical vehicle, this Octavia holds its own against mid-sized wagon rivals and even some mid-size SUVs.

Do you like stowage spaces? Good, because the Mondeo has heaps of 'em. No longer content with just making one huge plastic fascia across the dash, there's a surprisingly large extra stowage space sitting below the air-conditioning controls. That joins a massive centre console box, with two USB ports and an extra tray layer for tidbits, as well as one of my favourite features, two truly massive cupholders. These show Ford's American influence as much as the aforementioned chunky switchgear.

The cupholders spent our weekend easily swallowing two phones, two wallets and two sets of keys with no problem at all. They'll fit your XL Coke no problems.

As I mentioned before, front passenger headroom is impacted by the glass roof, and there's a slightly claustrophobic feeling brought about by the huge swooping A-pillars, which also create a bit of a vision impairment for the driver. The SUV-like seating position can potentially be awkward, room-wise, for people with chunkier knees, or those that prefer sitting in a low, sporty position.

Up the back there's plenty of legroom and space for heads and arms and legs. I fit easily behind my own driving position, and there's the luxury of a fully leather-bound fold-down armrest with two big cupholders for rear passengers.

The keyless entry is also truly keyless, in that all four doors can lock or unlock the whole car at a touch. Another nice feature for when you're ferrying people around.

Boot space is also colossal, thanks to the liftback design. Ford states the size as 557 litres but as this seems to be a non-VDA-standard measurement it's hard to compare to competitors with numbers. Rest assured it will swallow a set of suitcases with ease, and the space is a practical rectangle with little intrusion from wheel arches.

Today's Mondeo has evolved to adapt to modern expectations for a mid-size sedan. It's a far cry from the budget Mondeo of the ‘90s and even approaches territory that once would have been restricted to cars like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. No, really.

Our top-spec Titanium, for example, is packed with heated and leather seats front and rear, a power tailgate, auto-leveling ‘dynamic' LED headlights (the ones that move where you're pointing the steering wheel.), a fixed panoramic sunroof, power tailgate (handy) and even an auto-dimming wing mirror on the passenger side. The Titanium also gets a different digital instrument cluster and a heated windscreen.

These join the regular suite of Mondeo features such as Ford's Sync3 multimedia system on the 8.0-inch screen (thankfully, with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), rain-sensing wipers, Digital radio (DAB+) and adaptive cruise control (part of a rather excellent safety package).

It's an impressive features list, which means nothing if the price isn't right. Our Titanium EcoBoost comes in at $44,790 before on-roads, pitting it against the Holden Commodore RS-V sedan ($46,990), Mazda6 GT sedan ($43,990) and Toyota Camry ($43,990).

You may also want to consider the Hyundai Sonata Premium ($45,490) and, dare I say it, the $45,990 rear-wheel-drive Kia Stinger 200S…

None of those rivals have the heated windscreen or fully digital dashboard, though, and only the Mazda6 GT has heated seats front & rear. The Commodore RS-V is the only car here than can match the 8.0-inch screen size, but it does come with the addition of wireless phone charging and a colour head-up display. Food for (value) thought.

The Skoda Octavia Select mHEV has a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol mild-hybrid set-up, with the engine producing 110kW at 5000-6000rpm and 250Nm at 1500-3500rpm. It’s paired to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

This combo generally offers smooth acceleration once you’re underway, but the Octavia wagon takes some urging from initial foot down to fuller vehicular movement and the dual-clutch should cop most of the blame for that.

This wagon’s mild-hybrid set-up includes a 48-volt electric motor and a lithium-ion battery, and this system is designed to assist the engine during acceleration, but this vehicle can’t drive on electric power alone.

It has regenerative braking and allows engine-off coasting, which aims to reduce fuel usage.

While the mild-hybrid set-up adds little to the Octavia package, this powertrain delivers enough in terms of drivability to keep it on level terms with its rivals.

Ford offers two 2.0-litre turbocharged engines with the Mondeo, either a petrol EcoBoost engine or its diesel Duratorq equivalent.

The EcoBoost in our car is a bit of a gem. It produces an average sounding 177kW/345Nm when compared to the 220-plus-kW V6 engines in the equivalent Camry SL and Commodore RS-V, and it's even somehow out-played in the torque division by the Mazda6 GT, with its 170kW/420Nm.

As I'll explain in the driving section, however, it doesn't make the Mondeo feel any less powerful.

EcoBoost Mondeos can only be had with a six-speed traditional torque-converter automatic. Thankfully it doesn't carry 'PowerShift' branding either…

Official fuel consumption figure on the combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle as 5.2L/100km and on this test I recorded 6.5L/100km.

This Skoda has a 45-litre fuel tank so you could reasonably expect a driving range of about 690km from a full tank.

Worth noting it takes premium unleaded petrol (95 RON minimum).

Due to the entertainment factor given by the EcoBoost engine I wasn't particularly light on the throttle.

Ford claims you'll use 8.5L/100km on the combined cycle, which is 1.9L/100km more than the Mazda6 but on par with the V6 Camry and Commodore. In reality I experienced about 12L/100km, which is a fair bit more than the claimed figure, but not unusual for a keen-to-go engine. More on that in the driving segment.

For a bit of perspective, I can extract similar, if not better, fuel figures from my 4.0-litre FG Falcon.

At 4698mm long, with wheel tracks of 1543mm front and 1535mm rear and 142mm ground clearance, this wagon has a low, squat stance at rest and yields controlled ride and handling on the move.

The driver’s seat is manually adjustable, so you can approximate your preferred position, but because this is a long and low wagon, visibility for the driver is a bit pinched along the sides and at the rear, compared to the view you're typically afforded in a slab-sided SUV.

The Euro-oriented steering wheel controls (indicator stalk on left, windscreen wipers on right) take some getting used to if you’re not already familiar with that arrangement and the cruise control stalk is in an awkward position at the bottom left of the steering wheel column. Annoying.

Otherwise, the Octavia offers a pleasant overall driving experience – smooth, comfortable and refined – except for that aforementioned initial lag from a standing start.

The four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine and mild-hybrid set-up yields enough all-round pep without being too lively and there’s no drastic change in performance when the 48V motor cuts out after assisting acceleration.

Steering is well-weighted and precise at all speeds and with a 10.4m turning circle this Skoda feels highly manoeuvrable around the suburbs and in the city.

The suspension (MacPherson strut with lower triangular links and torsion stabiliser at the front and semi-independent compound link crank-axle at the rear) is firm.

The Skoda’s Laufenn S Fit 2 (205/55x17) all-season tyres are reasonable for urban roads and rough back-country roads. This wagon has a space-saver spare, not ideal but not unusual, either.

The Octavia mHEV is a smooth cruiser and more than holds its own against its rivals.

The Mondeo is thankfully quite a bit more fun than it looks. As I've been leading up to, the EcoBoost engine absolutely hammers with little encouragement. It's a hoot. The downside to this is that the fuel figure suffers.

Channelling 345Nm from as little as 2300rpm through just the front wheels also has the side-effect of tearing the steering wheel out of your hands under heavier bouts of acceleration. It does wonders to suspend the initial impression from the SUV-like seating position that this Mondoe must be a heavy car.

It definitely isn't a sports car, though, more of a semi-luxe sedan, which is a good thing, because when you're not driving as hard it's a pleasure to be at the helm of.

The steering is direct and light, making it easy to point at any speed, and in terms of noise the Mondeo is impressively quiet. There's barely a peep out of the engine. Road noise is great around town but increases a lot at freeway speeds and on rough surfaces, likely due to the larger alloys and lower-profile rubber.

The suspension makes for a mostly luxurious ride as well, but frequent undulations cause it to become unsettled side-to-side. Heavier bumps and potholes also resonate through the cabin.

It's almost annoying how close to excellent the refinement is.

The six-speed auto transmission is fantastic for a daily driver because you'll never know its there. I failed to catch it off guard once during my week with it.

There's a Sport mode and paddle-shifters you can use to make it stay in gear a little longer, but with the amount of power seemingly available at a moment's notice I never felt like I needed it.

Once you get to Titanium level, the Mondeo's safety offering is truly expansive.

On the list is Auto Emergency Braking (AEB) with pre-collision warning, Lane Keep Assist (LKAS) with Lane Departure Warning (LDW), Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM), Driver Impairment monitoring and trailer-sway control.

There are also a standard set of airbags with a few sneaky extras like inflatable rear seat belts on the outer two rear seats,which join ISOFIX points in the same position. Since April 2016, every Mondeo has a five-star ANCAP safety rating.

These join the very welcome surround parking sensors, rear-view camera and auto-park, which make not nudging things in the Titanium a cinch.

And a boon for long-distance drivers is the fact that all Mondeo hatchbacks have a full-size steel spare.

Skoda’s seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty applies to this wagon and it’s pretty impressive.

Roadside assistance is offered and extended for up to 12 months following each completed scheduled service at an authorised dealer.

Servicing is scheduled for every 12 months or 15,000km whichever occurs soonest and the cost per service was, at time of writing, $413 (12 months/15,000km), $707 (24 months/30,000km), $396 (36 months/45,000km), $1090 (48 months/60,000km), $396 (60 months/75,000km), $801 (72 months/90,000km), and $396 (84 months/105,000km).

Service packs (which include the roadside assistance provision) are available and cost $2590 (five years) or $3490 (seven years).

There are 39 Skoda sales and serviced dealers across the country with eight service-only sites in key rural and regional areas.

Ford has recently updated its warranty to five years/unlimited kilometres, which is a nice standard, although it is now matched by Holden and Mazda. Toyota lags behind with a three-year offering. The Kia Stinger starts to look very impressive here with its seven-year warranty.

At the time of writing, Ford's own service calculator tells us the Mondeo will cost a minimum of $370 per year or 15,000km (whichever comes first) service interval. Every fourth year that jumps to $615.