So I've had my Mondeo ST220 for nearly a week now, put a few miles on it and had one or two decently spirited drives so rather than an in-depth introspective on the merits or otherwise of owning one of these, this is more just a short reflection of my first impressions of the car - and my first real foray into driving a decently quick performance machine.
Firstly, the car itself.
It's a Mondeo ST220 on an 05 plate in performance blue with just over 40k on the clock. My particular car is an ex-demonstrator so comes with all the kit - Denso touch-screen nav with 6 disc cd changer (climate and radio controls are all incorporated into the touch screen), auto xenon headlights, auto wipers, heated electric front seats, heated windscreen, rear audio interface, tinted windows, parking sensors and probably a few other things that I've forgotten about or not realised were an option.
Secondly, and quite importantly, a bit of context. My last car was a Mondeo too, a ten-year old Ghia X 2.5l V6 that was beginning to feel a little old and tired and was starting to throw bills up that weren't really in keeping with how much the car was worth. So my frame of reference is my older, but essentially similar Mk3 Mondeo.
I know some of you drive some seriously good cars so just bear in mind that this is my first performance car, and thus my perspective on it as a new to me car will be skewed by my lack of driving anything particularly quick before.
Anyway, enough of that - onto the car.
I'll break it down into a few sections: engine, ride, handling, performance, reaction and a final 'first impressions' conclusion.
Engine
It's safe to say, the 3.0 V6 in the ST220 is a belter. Most impressive is how tractable it is, it'll pootle around town all day long without an issue. Get it out on the open road and it loves to rev, anything above 4000rpm in either 3rd or 4th shows the strength of the engine, it really does fly and coupled to the shorter gearing of the 6-speed box, a change up near the redline brings the next gear right into where the power is.
It also sounds good, if quite subtle. At idle it's silent from the inside, and just a very faint, almost inperceptible vibration gives any indication there's something quite potent under the bonnet. Full throttle at low revs brings a nice, but again, understated growly hum from the exhaust, which turns into a wonderful V6 howl as the revs rise past 4k. 6th gear on fast A-roads and the engine is again silent, only tyre and traffic noise as you waft along.
So the engine, impressive. A far cry from the 2.5 V6 (which had covered 100k) in my old Mondeo which now seemed lethargic, unwilling to rev and nowhere near as powerful as this 3-litre incarnation.
Ride
Compared to the old Mondeo, the ST rides well to say it's quite a different animal and designed for quite a different audience. My car is on CS2's at the standard ST size of 225/40/18. The whole setup feels a lot stiffer out on the road and given the surfaces around here are pretty consistently shocking, there's quite a bit of tramlining, the very occasional hint of bump steer on the worst pothole-infested excuse for a highway and I've noticed the ST to follow adverse camber more than my old Mondeo. We have quite a few new bypasses nearby which are silky smooth and nice quick NSL pieces of road, and as I haven't had chance to take the ST out on the motorway just yet, these quick straight A-roads show the car to be a very comfortable, assured cruiser. It certainly feels like an few hours down the motorway wouldn't be a hardship at all in the standard Recaros.
Handling
This is the one that has surprised me the most and is markedly different from my preceding Mondeo. The old one was wallowy, never really inspired me with any confidence to push it and ultimately was just never utilised as a vehicle that could go round corners with any great aplomb.
The ST220 is an altogether different beast. This is where the firmer ride repays itself and the taut feel of the whole vehicle makes perfect sense. The steering is much quicker and precise, it grips with enough bite and feel to be able to push it through the corner and the whole thing just feels much, much more composed and capable. A caveat though: the big bulky V6 up the front is obvious. As quick as the steering feels and as confidence-inspiring the grip on turn-in is, you can feel the nose trying to push wide. So far I've only induced some understeer when I've deliberately been a hooligan with it, and it's all perfectly controllable with the throttle, I've felt the back end lighten up a few times through quicker flowing corners when I've lifted off a little but again, it's been induced by the driver. All in all, I've enjoyed chucking it around a little and I'm trying not to have my cake and eat it, I'd prefer to ease myself into the car rather than trying to push too hard too soon.
Performance
Wherever you look regarding the ST220 performance figures, there's always someone saying something slightly different. Ford's official figures to 60mph were 7.5s - Evo and Autocar tested theirs to something like 6.8. I have no definitive way of measuring my particular car but it feels an awful lot quicker than the 8.3 seconds of my old Mondeo. That said, the engine feels quite lazy, which sounds contradictory given I said earlier it loves to rev. It needs to be stirred to work, anything above 4k and you really start to get going. A caveat again. The ST most definitely is torque limited in 1st and 2nd. I can really feel the difference between 4000rpm and the redline in 2nd and 3rd, it just pulls so much harder in 3rd, and I daresay 4th too. Maybe this accounts for the slightly disappointing 0-60 time - but the top end punch in 3rd more than makes up for it. Off a quick roundabout in 3rd gear up to 4th I reckon it would give much more expensive machines a run for their money.
All that said, it doesn't feel lightning quick. You get a nice shove in the back but it never pins you into your seat with a ferocious kick. But it is quick, the numbers on the speedo build rapidly and looking at the speedo you'll be seeing 3 figures approaching much quicker than you think it feels. It's again, a very subtle way of making the world come past you in a blur at speeds that will lose you your licence.
Reaction
This is a strange one. This car elicits a whole range of reactions from other people. To the car enthusiasts it's created a little hum of excitement, expectation and 'when can I have a go' mentality. The majority of folk have no idea what an ST220 is, and when you tell them 'it's a Mondeo' their eyes immediately glaze over in apathy. And yet some have their interest piqued when they realise what kind of Mondeo this is.
Because the car is a relatively rare one, out on the road, it's either all or nothing. I've had everything from unexpected nods of appreciation from BMW drivers to complete ignorance from drivers of the TDCi ST. The car nuts are easily spotted, they wait til I've driven past then turn and look for the ST220 badge on the boot.
Conclusion
So far, so good.
I get the impression I'm really going to enjoy owning this car for a fair few years to come. A car is just a toy to me, I don't use it day to day nor for work so that was part of the reason for stumping up the cash for the ST. When I do go out, usually I've got the missus and a 4-year old with me so their safety and comfort is an important factor. When I'm out on my own, I like to make it count and so far in the few decent drives I've had out in it, the ST220 has put a nice big grin on my face. Compared to my old Mondeo, it's aeons apart. It goes well, it handles well and as long as you're not braking down from 3 figures a few times in a row, it stops well. The interior and seats are much much better too, the touch screen nav really helps declutter the centre console.
In short, I've only known it a week but so far I love it!
Thanks for reading
Andy.
Firstly, the car itself.
It's a Mondeo ST220 on an 05 plate in performance blue with just over 40k on the clock. My particular car is an ex-demonstrator so comes with all the kit - Denso touch-screen nav with 6 disc cd changer (climate and radio controls are all incorporated into the touch screen), auto xenon headlights, auto wipers, heated electric front seats, heated windscreen, rear audio interface, tinted windows, parking sensors and probably a few other things that I've forgotten about or not realised were an option.
Secondly, and quite importantly, a bit of context. My last car was a Mondeo too, a ten-year old Ghia X 2.5l V6 that was beginning to feel a little old and tired and was starting to throw bills up that weren't really in keeping with how much the car was worth. So my frame of reference is my older, but essentially similar Mk3 Mondeo.
I know some of you drive some seriously good cars so just bear in mind that this is my first performance car, and thus my perspective on it as a new to me car will be skewed by my lack of driving anything particularly quick before.
Anyway, enough of that - onto the car.
I'll break it down into a few sections: engine, ride, handling, performance, reaction and a final 'first impressions' conclusion.
Engine
It's safe to say, the 3.0 V6 in the ST220 is a belter. Most impressive is how tractable it is, it'll pootle around town all day long without an issue. Get it out on the open road and it loves to rev, anything above 4000rpm in either 3rd or 4th shows the strength of the engine, it really does fly and coupled to the shorter gearing of the 6-speed box, a change up near the redline brings the next gear right into where the power is.
It also sounds good, if quite subtle. At idle it's silent from the inside, and just a very faint, almost inperceptible vibration gives any indication there's something quite potent under the bonnet. Full throttle at low revs brings a nice, but again, understated growly hum from the exhaust, which turns into a wonderful V6 howl as the revs rise past 4k. 6th gear on fast A-roads and the engine is again silent, only tyre and traffic noise as you waft along.
So the engine, impressive. A far cry from the 2.5 V6 (which had covered 100k) in my old Mondeo which now seemed lethargic, unwilling to rev and nowhere near as powerful as this 3-litre incarnation.
Ride
Compared to the old Mondeo, the ST rides well to say it's quite a different animal and designed for quite a different audience. My car is on CS2's at the standard ST size of 225/40/18. The whole setup feels a lot stiffer out on the road and given the surfaces around here are pretty consistently shocking, there's quite a bit of tramlining, the very occasional hint of bump steer on the worst pothole-infested excuse for a highway and I've noticed the ST to follow adverse camber more than my old Mondeo. We have quite a few new bypasses nearby which are silky smooth and nice quick NSL pieces of road, and as I haven't had chance to take the ST out on the motorway just yet, these quick straight A-roads show the car to be a very comfortable, assured cruiser. It certainly feels like an few hours down the motorway wouldn't be a hardship at all in the standard Recaros.
Handling
This is the one that has surprised me the most and is markedly different from my preceding Mondeo. The old one was wallowy, never really inspired me with any confidence to push it and ultimately was just never utilised as a vehicle that could go round corners with any great aplomb.
The ST220 is an altogether different beast. This is where the firmer ride repays itself and the taut feel of the whole vehicle makes perfect sense. The steering is much quicker and precise, it grips with enough bite and feel to be able to push it through the corner and the whole thing just feels much, much more composed and capable. A caveat though: the big bulky V6 up the front is obvious. As quick as the steering feels and as confidence-inspiring the grip on turn-in is, you can feel the nose trying to push wide. So far I've only induced some understeer when I've deliberately been a hooligan with it, and it's all perfectly controllable with the throttle, I've felt the back end lighten up a few times through quicker flowing corners when I've lifted off a little but again, it's been induced by the driver. All in all, I've enjoyed chucking it around a little and I'm trying not to have my cake and eat it, I'd prefer to ease myself into the car rather than trying to push too hard too soon.
Performance
Wherever you look regarding the ST220 performance figures, there's always someone saying something slightly different. Ford's official figures to 60mph were 7.5s - Evo and Autocar tested theirs to something like 6.8. I have no definitive way of measuring my particular car but it feels an awful lot quicker than the 8.3 seconds of my old Mondeo. That said, the engine feels quite lazy, which sounds contradictory given I said earlier it loves to rev. It needs to be stirred to work, anything above 4k and you really start to get going. A caveat again. The ST most definitely is torque limited in 1st and 2nd. I can really feel the difference between 4000rpm and the redline in 2nd and 3rd, it just pulls so much harder in 3rd, and I daresay 4th too. Maybe this accounts for the slightly disappointing 0-60 time - but the top end punch in 3rd more than makes up for it. Off a quick roundabout in 3rd gear up to 4th I reckon it would give much more expensive machines a run for their money.
All that said, it doesn't feel lightning quick. You get a nice shove in the back but it never pins you into your seat with a ferocious kick. But it is quick, the numbers on the speedo build rapidly and looking at the speedo you'll be seeing 3 figures approaching much quicker than you think it feels. It's again, a very subtle way of making the world come past you in a blur at speeds that will lose you your licence.
Reaction
This is a strange one. This car elicits a whole range of reactions from other people. To the car enthusiasts it's created a little hum of excitement, expectation and 'when can I have a go' mentality. The majority of folk have no idea what an ST220 is, and when you tell them 'it's a Mondeo' their eyes immediately glaze over in apathy. And yet some have their interest piqued when they realise what kind of Mondeo this is.
Because the car is a relatively rare one, out on the road, it's either all or nothing. I've had everything from unexpected nods of appreciation from BMW drivers to complete ignorance from drivers of the TDCi ST. The car nuts are easily spotted, they wait til I've driven past then turn and look for the ST220 badge on the boot.
Conclusion
So far, so good.
I get the impression I'm really going to enjoy owning this car for a fair few years to come. A car is just a toy to me, I don't use it day to day nor for work so that was part of the reason for stumping up the cash for the ST. When I do go out, usually I've got the missus and a 4-year old with me so their safety and comfort is an important factor. When I'm out on my own, I like to make it count and so far in the few decent drives I've had out in it, the ST220 has put a nice big grin on my face. Compared to my old Mondeo, it's aeons apart. It goes well, it handles well and as long as you're not braking down from 3 figures a few times in a row, it stops well. The interior and seats are much much better too, the touch screen nav really helps declutter the centre console.
In short, I've only known it a week but so far I love it!
Thanks for reading
Andy.
