Would have been a 2013 model year. Same size class as the us market fusion. A year later the mondei and the last Fusion gen for the USA were the same. We had to fold the mirrors on that Micra
to get through a village in Ireland.
Wowwww.
Who said an ordinary sedan canāt look gorgeous! The proportions belie its size, kind of like a cross between a contemporary Sentra and the last-gen Fusion.
By the way wolyrobb, do you recall the earliest example of a Mondeo youāve driven? My Contour was based on the 1994-1999 or 2000.
I remember the contour wel. Rented a later Ford Fusion for a weekend and liked how it drove but really more comfortable in a focus sized car. Safety tech was helpful. Ford has made great cars particularly for Europe. They sold tons of mondeos but the Camry was too Americanand expensive. .
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If there was any complaint about Mondeo/Contour, it was from the reviewers regarding limited backseat legroom.
I feel you about the Focus. I actually sat in a just-arrived 2001 Focus while my ā96 Contour was, again, in the garage for constant check engine lights. It was shorter and narrower than Contour, but several inches taller, and that gave it a very light and roomy feel inside.
Yes, smaller cars, like Focus, Versa, Rio largely seem more āfunā to drive, more intuitive. While larger cars, like Camry and the front-wheel drive Impalas and Malibus, seem to use their weight to keep them planted on the road. Big difference in feel.
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Around 2006 dad spent a month commuting for a work assignment in a ford focus then after a break a month in a Ford Taurus, the roof height of the focus was betterfor his long torso and comfortable for the 140mi round-trip so heād be on his own bed at night. The travel rules specifically said to reserve a compact which is what heās used to anyways.
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People around here (Buffalo area) who use winter tires usually mount skinnier rims and tires in a taller size. A longer and skinnier tire patch works better than a shorter wider one in the snow esp/ in deeper snow, less likely to climb up on top of the snow and less wedge effect from the non driven wheels.
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ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā
(looking for the longest censor trigger!)
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Thatās just crazy. if you get a flat you are probably going to ruin the rim. A lot of rims these days are expensive to replace. I know mine are $1500 each at the dealer.
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Wouldnāt be surprised if that was the reality, even on family sedans and crossovers, in 5-10 model years.
Another product that experienced a ālow-profileā trend, albeit pre-dating that of tires by about a decade:
Socks!
That is a surprisingly cheap tireā¦ lol
275/23ZR24 96W XL Lionhartā¦
Walmart can get it for the same $133.99ā¦
Yeah, and I bet itās a pleasure to mount!
The spec sheet shows a max pressure of 49psi. @ChrisTheTireWhisperer , what pressure would you run with this tire on your car? 
I wouldnāt even transport a set of those kreldan things in my car, let alone mount and drive with them.
Otherwise, I or the retailer would consult the load tables for the correct pressure.
I know you didnāt ask me, but I donāt think the question has an answer, because itās not following any of the published standards. That means the manufacturer has to supply it.
Doing my part to reach 600!
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A similar sized tire on tire pressure . orgās metric tables, 275-25R21 I believe, required a cold pressure of 34psi for all four corners of my 2010 Honda. That size tire, as is the one several posts upstairs, is an XL-only size, hence the slightly higher pressure.
It is a very vain tire, a size targeted squarely toward the appearances crowd, with little practical value outside of the Javits Center in NY, or whatever venue hosts the car show on the opposite coast, in Los Angeles.
What a waste of a perfectly practical type of vehicleā¦
Donāt know about the pictured trucks, but monster trucks like Bigfoot, use the little rim/tires so they will fit into their transport rigs.
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+1
Also so they will fit through lower overhead doors or lower ceilings on some garagesā¦
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On the news in Boston a few years ago. One of these lifted trucks got stuck trying to get into parking garage at Logan airport. Thereās a hanging sign that warns you not to enter. If your vehicle hits the sign - itās too tall.
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Yeah, just some humor to compare and contrastā¦ the last truck you can tell pretty easily those are the beater wheels.
Height is one thing- I can get my truck into the garage if I grease up the roof but itās about 4" too long to close the door. I even left it out in the cold overnightā¦nope still too long
Those little wheels reminded me of the casters I have under a couple cars. Many years ago, we had a mechanical engineer that had a tendency to over engineer everything. He was tasked with making a wheeled apparatus for moving around a piece of equipment we manufactured. His solution? 7/16" conversion coated plate steel with these heavy industrial swivel casters. The equipment weighed around 50 pounds. When the program was over, we had a couple dozen of these left over they were throwing out. Hold on there, I can use those. They had a cutout in the middle, perfect for a tire or hub to sit in. So I had a couple cars on casters I could push around in the garage. Super easy to just tuck them out of the way or pull them out if I wanted to access something or to work on them. Casters even have locksā¦I have engines and transmissions on some others. Handy.
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