Rasher

has anyone owned one??? Can you share your experineces with the car good and bad
Thinking of buying a 12 month old model
thanks

eldudereno

Think you'll be better off asking on www.fordmondeo.org

DavidChief

I had one a couple of years back. Engine is fantastic, very torquey low down but revs cleanly up to 7k. Very smooth. Performance is "quick" but some way off the current batch of hot hatches. Traction is incredible for FWD and almost no trace of torque steer.

Interior is well screwed together and incredibly comfy. Those leather recarros are some of the best seats out there! Having said that, it lacks the premium feel of the german stuff.

Chassis is pretty stiff and personally I found it a rather disconnected affair when it got to the corners. Steering is a bit wooly and although very capable it was just rather uninspiring round the bends. Very strange as the standard Mondeos are incredibly good in this department. This was my major complaint with the car. If only they had been able to get this engine in a chassis that worked as well as the Mondeo Zetec S setup.

Best ones to go for are the post facelift models with 6 speed box and better motorway refinement.

DavidChief

Oh, the other thing to note is that these can be bought for ABSOLUTE BARGAIN prices. Probably the best the used car on the market IMO for value for money. Just make sure you are starting a long way down the ladder as the prices fall VERY quickly!!

ScoobyJawa

Scott W has one - but hes off swanning around Spain being a lazy g!t at the moment!

Rob Walker

I've had one for about a year now... Don't find it too torquey low down as the poster above said.. only really starts moving above about 3500 to 4000 rpm... Apart from that the engine is lovely if a bit quiet..

Interior is nice.. very well specced.. nice seats as mentioned above..fuel consumption isn't great.. about 26mpg.. not much more on the motorway either (but mine only has the 5 speed box.. I'd imagine the 6 speed one is better)

Loads of space inside.. massive boot.. good family car for me as I have 3 sprogs...

Fairly cheap to run.. had mine serviced last week.. £130.. tyres are a bit pricey being 225/40/18 (have to make sure you have tyres with high load index too or they wear too quickly with the car being so heavy)

Insurance not bad.. I pay about £500..

Mine has been reliable since I've had it.. not had to have a single thing fixed so far..

Don't feel like i'm about to be carjacked in it which helps living next to Manchester..

Any more questions ask away..

JTaylor

Not driven the ST220 sadly but thought the lowly TDCI was a cracking car. I recall EVO raving about the ST220 when it was part of their FastFleet and i'm always inclined to have "a look" if I see one when out and about.

Rob Walker

You can get a 2.2 st-tdci now which is supposed to be good.. Unfortunately it goes against my never-have-the-same-car-twice philosophy...

Rasher

thanks lads very informative, not replacing the Scoob, it is for the wife and me at weekends really, what should I be paying for a one year old example,???

Sport160

Careful you get one of the very late ones, the MK3's have a known rust problem. I had to have 2 out of the 4 doors resprayed on an 18month old, late 52 plated Mk3, all under warranty of course, but still not what you expect in nowdays.

The guys on the forum above will be able to tell you exactly which ones to avoid

eldudereno

The reason for the rust is because Ford used the wrong sealing mastic on the doors.

Jamescsti

I saw a new shape ST220 in Imperial Blue at a car supermarket on an 03 plate for about 13500

Rasher

CHEERS

Scott W

Back now though which sucks!

As Neil says, I have one and I've had it since new which is a year ago. Build quality is fine, power is a bit frustrating if you are coming from a Scooby background but TBH it is still quick enough if you want to get some speed up down the lanes. Once you get it wound up it can be a good laugh throwing it around on the country lanes, and to do this make sure you keep the revs above 4.5k. Fuel economy is about 23mpg, and the six speed box can make you lazy if you want to be as it pulls in 6th from 30 - however, just don't expect to be going anywhere very quickly!

The heated seats, and other toys you get on it are nice and the seats are bloody great at this time of year.

Only downsides are that it seems to chew up front tyres like no tomorrow. I'm on my third set of fronts and I've just done 20k's worth of miles in it.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask!

Rasher

thanks

23 mpg is that all you get, mind you it is a 3.0 V6
The tyre wear is that normal.
I take it for motorway cruising it is fine??

Scott W

It's great for motorway cruising as you can just chuck the cruise control on and relax in the seats (which are great due to the various settings you can control). The mpg for motorway cruising goes up to about 27-28mpg, but that's the best I've had out of it. On a good run I can get over 300 miles to a tank, but on average it's about 250-270.

I'm not sure on the tyre wear unfortunately. I know that I do like to push on when given the chance so I might be reducing their life a fair bit, but tbh I think the engine is quite heavy and this is putting more strain on them.

If you take the one you are interested in out for a test ride, make sure you give the brakes a good test. Some people have complained about them being poor.

If you wanted to tune it in the long run then the only thing that is really available is the BlueFin product, but I decided against that as I felt it wasn't worth shelling out the money for the relatively low increases in power and torque. You can get a K&N induction kit for them which sounds nice, but I've not fitted one to mine as the insurance company wanted more for the "mod" than the induction kit cost!

Sport160

How could I have forgotten those brakes in only 5months, spot on the brakes on the MK3 have a dreadful feel and require a firm push, they work well when you stand on them, but for everyday driving the pedal effort is to high (IMHO + a few others as well)

03 plates still have the rust issue for sure.

6 speed gear box was introduced on MY2003.5 cars so early ST220's are 5 speed

Rgds
Neil

ScoobyJawa

LMFAO!!! Nice way of putting its because you rag the cr4p out of it

Mark A

iTrader: (1)

I have a 98 2.5 Si. Great car but the steering is not pin sharp and a bit light. It's been reliable and has a pleasant/firm ride. Not sure I'd choose the V6 again if I wanted a car for the wife. On the school runs it was only doing 20mpg and now the Dci Scenic does 42mpg on the same run.

The engine makes a great noise, shame they don't do a Noble option on the engine

Bargain prices about at the moment

Scott W

Rasher

My wife drives a 2.0 Mondeo 54 plate so we were thinking of trading up as it seems a good drive , good handling and steering, so thought the ST220 would be a big improvement, do they come with Sat Nav?? thanks for the comments guys

MikT

The Mk3 Mondy with either of the V6 engines are notorious for front tyre wear (i have the 2.5 v6) and the local Frauds garage (or at least the Rapid Fit bit) recommends getting the front tracking and alignment checked every 2k-3k miles! The good bit is that they do it for free for me! Apparently it is the weight of the v6 lump that causes the problem as smaller enginged MK3s do not suffer the same problem.

Since getting the tracking regularly checked i am getting considerably more life out of the front tyres.

Cheers
Paul

DavidChief

33mpg is possible on a decent run but on short trips 24mpg is the ball park I was getting. Didn't keep mine long enough to experience the tyre wear.

DavidChief

Pics:

http://www.forddesktops.com/show.asp...ST220_Blue.jpg
http://www.forddesktops.com/show.asp...ST220_Rear.jpg

Scott W

I thought about the Sat Nav option for mine but decided that it was simply too expensive when compared with Tom Toms and the like. If you can find one that has it second hand then go for it. There are two levels, so look for the High level one as this has a colour display and a few other touches that I cannot remember right now.

The stereo that comes with the Sat Nav has MP3 player functionality. However if you get the non Sat-Nav option the newer Sony stereos have an aux connection in the glove box for connecting your MP3 players in to.

Rasher

will do thanks

dexter

Rasher, I`ve had one as well mate.

Very nice car TBH, and the Mrs would swap the Scoob for one again tomorrow, but, unfortunately for her, I don`t agree

I would say that I`ll probably never have as well an equipped car again, as it had, along with the standard leather recaros etc, sat nav, parking sensors, 6 CD, headlamp wash, cruise control.............Made for very comfortable motoring, I must say !

Mine was one of the earlier 5-speed versions, but the torque was still excellent, as was the handling for a big car. Whilst quite rapid,they`re no Scooby-killer in standard form, but, if you are considering one of these as a second car, then you`re a lucky man, and getting the best of both worlds, so to speak ie: mental performance in the S202 when you want it, and relaxed cruising, with a performance-edge when you prefer the ST instead.

Get it bought mate, I think the wife (and yourself ) will thoroughly enjoy it !

PS: Just to give you an idea, performance wise, I occasionally drive a new 3.2 Vectra at work, and IMHO, the ST220 well-out performs it, in all departments.

Rasher

thanks for the imput mate much appreciated