Ford Mondeo Vignale: car review | William Fotheringham

Tour de France journalists know all about long, hot days in the car. So the padded seats in Ford's new range are a gift"

Price: 29,395
Top speed: 140mph
0-62mph: 8.3 seconds
MPG: 62.8

There was a time when Tour de France journalists sat on motorbikes to watch the race. Then we would sit for hours in restaurants chewing over the event while consuming the locality's finest wines. Now we spend most of July sitting in a car watching France flash by, and the rest of the time watching the race on TV from plastic chairs.