Soldato
... Erm, Mondeo.
Yep, I bought another one. The ST220 is a brilliant car and it's an excellent all-rounder, it really is. But the time came to move it on. I could have done a Fox and kept it tucked up as a reminder of the finer points of early 21st-century sports-oriented saloon-based motoring, but in reality I have no further need for it. Fortunately, its new home is only a mile down the road so I'll get to see it from time to time.
What did I want from a car?
- Not slow
- Spacious and comfortable
- Lots of equipment
- Sensible running costs
- Newer
So I bought a Mondeo 2.0t Ecoboost Titanium X Sport Powershift. That means it has a 200bhp/221lb-ft 2.0-litre turbocharged engine with 6-speed twin clutch 'DSG-style' box, in the highest trim level, the 'sport' models having lower/stiffer sports suspension.
It's a pretty rare model and I was lucky to find this one fairly locally. There aren't any others like it for sale on Autotrader at the moment.
This one is a 2010 model with 37k miles, and it cost just over £10k. To some, this is probably a lot 'for a Mondeo', but it fitted the criteria of what I wanted from my next car nicely . It would have cost north of £25k new so thanks to whoever bought it for taking that depreciation hit! I'm hoping it's going to last me a while.
Standard spec is pretty darned generous, to me it's fairly nicely loaded with kit, and has everything I wanted and had in the ST220 and more.
- Driver and passenger electric seats
- Driver's seat memory function (factory option)
- Heated front seats
- Cooled front seats (factory option)
- Keyless entry (factory option)
- Keyless start
- Front and rear parking sensors
- 7" touchscreen DVD navigation with European maps and bluetooth with A2DP, aux and USB, and upgraded speaker system (factory option)
- Bi-Xenon headlights with static cornering lights
- Cruise Control
- Multi-function steering wheel
- 5" TFT 'Convers+' instrument cluster control system
- Dual zone climate control
- Auto lights and wipers
- Electric(memory)/heated/folding mirrors
Electric windows, ABS, PAS, ESP, airbags, 5 seats... Whoops, sorry, this isn't Autotrader
I think that's it!
So what's it like to drive?
Very composed, very refined, and very smooth. The engine has more than enough oomph to make progress and whilst the headline horsepower figure isn't as high as the ST220's, it has more torque over a much broader spectrum so you get plenty of turbocharged surge. It doesn't have quite the same urgency as the ST220 would if you kept it in the upper reaches of the powerband thanks to the sharper throttle response of the naturally aspirated 3.0 V6 but it certainly isn't far off. Driving it home on the motorway immediately highlighted how much more effortless the acceleration is thanks to the increase in mid-range torque and the increased refinement really masks the speed you're doing.
The facelift models have 240bhp and more torque still, but there's a Bluefin remap available for the 200bhp model which takes it up to 250-260bhp with plenty of torque, soif when I sort that out, it'll make it a good deal more lively still.
The gearbox seems very well-matched to the engine's power delivery characteristics and the shifts are very fast and very smooth. It's an impressive gearbox and I should assume that it's very similar to the VW DSG unit. I'm not quite used to driving this type of automatic yet and so I'm still in the 'learning phase' as to the nuances of not having a clutch pedal but I already feel very comfortable with it. There aren't any paddles, but you can shift manually using the lever and it will hold on to the revs without intervention (right up to the rev limiter) which is nice when pressing on (and handy for rolling roads!)
Chassis-wise, it's a heavy car but it hides it well. It's satisfying to make progress in. Again, turn-in and adjustability 'on the edge' both aren't as sharp as the ST220 but it feels more composed, and more planted, especially over rougher road surfaces. Body roll isn't an issue and the cumbersome feeling of weight transfer is kept to a minimum. Ford have always been good at getting the most out of their chassis designs and the mk4 Mondeo is no exception. It's very comfortable, but then I knew this ever since I had a 'regular' diesel Zetec hire car and took it on a 5-hour drive to Newcastle, at which point I got out feeling perfectly refreshed.
The brakes are much stronger than the ST220's, but that's always been a mk3 weak point.
The interior is a decent step up in terms of quality feel, and whilst I don't feel the ST220's interior was bad at all, this one feels a lot more upmarket and modern with all its gentle orange backlighting of the controls and ambient lightning (don't have to retrofit my own this time!). The seats are supportive and comfortable despite not hugging you quite to the same extent as the Recaros, and the interior is quite a bit more spacious overall. It's a lot quieter and more refined - bumps in the road are soaked up much better and at speed it's really quite calm and serene inside.
As a bit of an audiophile/music enthusiast, naturally one of the first things I did was set up the audio system and bluetooth pairing. This was dead easy and it took about 20 seconds for Spotify to start streaming from my phone over bluetooth. Supposedly the touchscreen nav system comes with 'upgraded' speakers and the sound quality is nice and clear with smooth frequency response and, despite the lack of subwoofer to which I was accustomed to in the ST220, a nice deep, smooth bass response. The days of retrofitting head units and subwoofers are gone now with this car, but I can happily confirm that the OEM system does everything that I need.
The sat nav system works quite well too and clearly the TMC alert system is working nicely as it was soon barking to me about roadworks (which do exist) in the direction I was travelling.
So that's what I think of it after having it for a day! I like it very much and am quickly feeling at home driving it, despite the car being totally different in most ways to the mk3. It will hopefully make an excellent and reliable long-term ownership proposition.
For what it's worth, I'll be getting increased MPG (I can already tell that it's a lot more efficient than the ST220 even with just urban driving) and it's cheaper to insure and tax, too. Which is always nice.
The best bit, however? The wheels will be at least 32 times less likely to make me want to rage-quit the cleaning process in a bile-spitting red mist-filled hissy fit, every time I go to clean them.
TL;DR: New car. Has boost. Not silver. Easier to clean the wheels. Not rusty. Yet.
Here are some quick photos:
Yep, I bought another one. The ST220 is a brilliant car and it's an excellent all-rounder, it really is. But the time came to move it on. I could have done a Fox and kept it tucked up as a reminder of the finer points of early 21st-century sports-oriented saloon-based motoring, but in reality I have no further need for it. Fortunately, its new home is only a mile down the road so I'll get to see it from time to time.
What did I want from a car?
- Not slow
- Spacious and comfortable
- Lots of equipment
- Sensible running costs
- Newer
So I bought a Mondeo 2.0t Ecoboost Titanium X Sport Powershift. That means it has a 200bhp/221lb-ft 2.0-litre turbocharged engine with 6-speed twin clutch 'DSG-style' box, in the highest trim level, the 'sport' models having lower/stiffer sports suspension.
It's a pretty rare model and I was lucky to find this one fairly locally. There aren't any others like it for sale on Autotrader at the moment.
This one is a 2010 model with 37k miles, and it cost just over £10k. To some, this is probably a lot 'for a Mondeo', but it fitted the criteria of what I wanted from my next car nicely . It would have cost north of £25k new so thanks to whoever bought it for taking that depreciation hit! I'm hoping it's going to last me a while.
Standard spec is pretty darned generous, to me it's fairly nicely loaded with kit, and has everything I wanted and had in the ST220 and more.
- Driver and passenger electric seats
- Driver's seat memory function (factory option)
- Heated front seats
- Cooled front seats (factory option)
- Keyless entry (factory option)
- Keyless start
- Front and rear parking sensors
- 7" touchscreen DVD navigation with European maps and bluetooth with A2DP, aux and USB, and upgraded speaker system (factory option)
- Bi-Xenon headlights with static cornering lights
- Cruise Control
- Multi-function steering wheel
- 5" TFT 'Convers+' instrument cluster control system
- Dual zone climate control
- Auto lights and wipers
- Electric(memory)/heated/folding mirrors
Electric windows, ABS, PAS, ESP, airbags, 5 seats... Whoops, sorry, this isn't Autotrader
I think that's it!
So what's it like to drive?
Very composed, very refined, and very smooth. The engine has more than enough oomph to make progress and whilst the headline horsepower figure isn't as high as the ST220's, it has more torque over a much broader spectrum so you get plenty of turbocharged surge. It doesn't have quite the same urgency as the ST220 would if you kept it in the upper reaches of the powerband thanks to the sharper throttle response of the naturally aspirated 3.0 V6 but it certainly isn't far off. Driving it home on the motorway immediately highlighted how much more effortless the acceleration is thanks to the increase in mid-range torque and the increased refinement really masks the speed you're doing.
The facelift models have 240bhp and more torque still, but there's a Bluefin remap available for the 200bhp model which takes it up to 250-260bhp with plenty of torque, so
The gearbox seems very well-matched to the engine's power delivery characteristics and the shifts are very fast and very smooth. It's an impressive gearbox and I should assume that it's very similar to the VW DSG unit. I'm not quite used to driving this type of automatic yet and so I'm still in the 'learning phase' as to the nuances of not having a clutch pedal but I already feel very comfortable with it. There aren't any paddles, but you can shift manually using the lever and it will hold on to the revs without intervention (right up to the rev limiter) which is nice when pressing on (and handy for rolling roads!)
Chassis-wise, it's a heavy car but it hides it well. It's satisfying to make progress in. Again, turn-in and adjustability 'on the edge' both aren't as sharp as the ST220 but it feels more composed, and more planted, especially over rougher road surfaces. Body roll isn't an issue and the cumbersome feeling of weight transfer is kept to a minimum. Ford have always been good at getting the most out of their chassis designs and the mk4 Mondeo is no exception. It's very comfortable, but then I knew this ever since I had a 'regular' diesel Zetec hire car and took it on a 5-hour drive to Newcastle, at which point I got out feeling perfectly refreshed.
The brakes are much stronger than the ST220's, but that's always been a mk3 weak point.
The interior is a decent step up in terms of quality feel, and whilst I don't feel the ST220's interior was bad at all, this one feels a lot more upmarket and modern with all its gentle orange backlighting of the controls and ambient lightning (don't have to retrofit my own this time!). The seats are supportive and comfortable despite not hugging you quite to the same extent as the Recaros, and the interior is quite a bit more spacious overall. It's a lot quieter and more refined - bumps in the road are soaked up much better and at speed it's really quite calm and serene inside.
As a bit of an audiophile/music enthusiast, naturally one of the first things I did was set up the audio system and bluetooth pairing. This was dead easy and it took about 20 seconds for Spotify to start streaming from my phone over bluetooth. Supposedly the touchscreen nav system comes with 'upgraded' speakers and the sound quality is nice and clear with smooth frequency response and, despite the lack of subwoofer to which I was accustomed to in the ST220, a nice deep, smooth bass response. The days of retrofitting head units and subwoofers are gone now with this car, but I can happily confirm that the OEM system does everything that I need.
The sat nav system works quite well too and clearly the TMC alert system is working nicely as it was soon barking to me about roadworks (which do exist) in the direction I was travelling.
So that's what I think of it after having it for a day! I like it very much and am quickly feeling at home driving it, despite the car being totally different in most ways to the mk3. It will hopefully make an excellent and reliable long-term ownership proposition.
For what it's worth, I'll be getting increased MPG (I can already tell that it's a lot more efficient than the ST220 even with just urban driving) and it's cheaper to insure and tax, too. Which is always nice.
The best bit, however? The wheels will be at least 32 times less likely to make me want to rage-quit the cleaning process in a bile-spitting red mist-filled hissy fit, every time I go to clean them.
TL;DR: New car. Has boost. Not silver. Easier to clean the wheels. Not rusty. Yet.
Here are some quick photos:
