Ford Mondeo ST220
I know, there's a brand new Mondeo, and I know that it's very good, but as yet there is no ST derivative of the new model. The "old" one however, is fabulous. It's also available at way below the ridiculous original list price of £23,000, or £24,000 for the estate. You can bag one online for as little as £18,000, and for that, you'll get a huge amount of car. The standard spec is simply massive; full leather Recaro Seats (electrically adjustable and heated), superb Sony sound system, 6-speed gearbox, 18" alloys, plus loads more that would saturate this column if un-leashed. The only possible options are Sat-Nav & scary Red Leather seats...The best bit is that it's all hoofed along by a growly 3.0 V6, putting near-as-dammit to 220bhp through the front wheels. If this car was RWD, it would be simply stunning, having said that, the nose-driven chassis is still a revelation.
I ran an estate version for a year, and its ability to resist under-steer, coupled with quick, well-weighted steering and a slick gear-change made it a brilliant driver's car. It's also a great all-rounder, you can fill it with whatever you enjoy filling cars with (I once opted for 5 adults and all their camping kit for a week in Goa) and gunned them up to Heathrow in complete comfort and no real dent in performance. The engine really is a gem - it may lack the variable valve timing, found in the same unit used by jaguar - but it still delivers plenty of low-down torque, plus, it loves to rev; unlike most large-capacity units, it has an extra kick near the top of
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the rev range, sending both needles soaring round their dials. It's also bursting with character, sounding better than any V6 Audi has yet mustered.
I once (briefly) saw 32MPG on a motorway run, in contrast to a pitiful 17MPG on some fabulous, sinewy local roads; that was, of course, under severe use. It averaged around 26MPG, and given it was always driven hard, I think that's pretty good. The front tyres were still just legal after 11,000 miles, the rears still had over 5mm of tread block left; helped hugely by the fact that I never took it on track. With the driver aids disengaged, I'm sure 20 laps of Castle Combe would have sent a new set to the grave.
The brakes have a good, progressive action; Ford deliberately only fitted single-piston calipers to the front, married to substantial ventilated disks, to improve feel and aid driver modulation. It works, the brakes are strong but never grabby.
The cabin is largley a success, ergonomics are spot-on, the electric Recaros adjust every-which-way and are amongst the best seats I've experienced. The small leather steering wheel houses the cruise control switches, plus there's a remote stalk for the Stereo controls at fingers reach from the wheel. At launch, I recall many automotive writers commenting that Ford have finally caught up with the Germans in terms of build quality. Not quite. My car did suffer a few annoying niggles, namely, a poorly fitted rubber door seal and a broken
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..."If this car was rear-wheel-drive,
it would be simply stunning"...
remote fuel cap release. All were fixed in good grace under warranty, by an excellent dealership in Stroud. The driver's seat developed an irritating squeak and the air- con only offered either arctic-cold or sahara-hot with little in between. Mechanically, however, it never skipped a beat. I once drove it from Paris to Calais, filled it with plonk at the Village of Europe, got the Euro-Tunnel to Dover, and drove halfway across England in a day. I got out feeling completely refreshed, and with a huge amount of respect for the fast Mondy.
I loved my year with the ST220, never tiring of firing up it's lovely V6 and hurling it round corners as if it was a Clio 172. You can buy a pristine one-year-old example privately today for as little as £12.500 with fewer than 15K on the clock, and that is an utter bargain.
© Paul Sanders 2006
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