Review in Retrospect: Two Years with a Ford Mondeo ST200

So, it has been slightly over four months since I sold my 2000 Mondeo ST200, and during that time all of my thoughts have had time to settle, and now I write this review to you, in order to talk about this car, as some of you might not be familiar with it, to tell you the pros and cons, the joys and hardships of ownership and my personal experience with the ST200, in order for you to form an opinion on whether or not to ever entertain the idea of picking one of these up yourself.

What is an ST200?

The production of the popular mid-size family car, the first generation Mondeo, took place between 1992 and 2000, with a major facelift in 1996. However, this facelift, despite the fact that it heavily transformed the look of the car, did not start the second generation yet! These humble family cars were 4 cylinder petrol or diesel affairs, until 1994, when a 2.5 L Duratec V6 was introduced into the range. Why? Well, in parts of the world where big engines are preferred, like the States - where this car ran under the name of Ford Contour or the Mercury Mystique - it was in order to be even remotely presentable size and performancewise, while in Europe, where petrol-sipping inline 4s were popular, it was an upmarket option. This 24V V6 unit produced 170 HP and 220 Nm of torque.

The problem with this engine was, first of all, less than excellent fuel economy, and more importantly, its place in the lineup. In the U.S. if you wanted a sporty Ford, why not go with the Mustang? Or if you were after the entry level luxury marque, why not get more luxury and the full V8 treatment of a Grand Marquis or a Cougar? Same situation in Europe, if you just wanted a decent sized 5 seater family car, there was nothing wrong with smaller-engined Mondeos, whereas if you wanted a sporty sedan, you would probably fork out some more for a German prestige brand’s mid-range model. This is where the love of fast Fords kicked in. Ford’s European division introduced the ST24 version of the Mondeo in 1997, which, although retained the V6’s standard performance, got nicer wheels, a bodykit, and some bucket seats, which attracted people with boy-racer attitude like a shiny object attracts a magpie. (Keep in mind that this was even before the Fast and the Furious and NFS Underground era of tuning, and was more than acceptable from the factory! :)) In any case, the ST24 was also an important step, as it introduced Ford’s new sporty “ST” lineup of cars, instead of the old and phased-out RS and XR badges. What does ST stand for? Nearly all enthusiasts will give you a different answer. Special Tune, Sports Technology, Street Tuner, Smokes Tires :) who knows? Anyway, the ST24 was replaced in 1999 with the ST200, which got even more equipment (like digital AC and Recaro racing seats), and improvements to handling, but most importantly, the 2.5 V6 was given to SVT (the Special Vehicle Team) for a workover. After they did their magic, the unit developed just over 200 HP and 235 Nm of torque. The american Contour also got this in the form of the “SVT” upgrade.

So this is the Mondeo ST200, the first “real” ST car, a limited production, final hurrah of the facelifted first generation Mondeo, and a serious rival to cars like the Accord Type-R in its time.

But what is it like, and what is it like today?

First of all, it is good performance for the money. They are rare, but when they do show up for sale, you can get a decent example for, or under, 3500 USD. Bear in mind that I am talking about prices in Hungary, so in the U.K. with all of your insurance premiums driving down prices and right-hand-drive making them specific to the local market, it probably costs like 2 pounds fifty. :) 0-60 times vary all over the internet, depending on where you check. Some sites say 8.4 seconds, which is absolute B.S. others cite 7.7 seconds, which is closer to the truth. Again some others say 7.4, and the lowest I could find was 7.1. When I had mine, I measured 7.5s, 7.6s with it, so the 7.4 figure was about right when it was new I would imagine. So in other words you can buy the performance of a brand new Toyota GT86 for a fraction of the price, but you can do that (and then some) with many used cars today, so what else is in favour of the ST200? Well, if you are looking to buy something sporty in the aforementioned price range, you might be looking at an E36 BMW 325/328i, for example, so let us start a comparison from there, where I am not hating BMW (I owned an E39 528i) just giving you a baseline. First of all, the money that buys you a decent ST200 will probably buy you a beat-up BMW. Second of all, the ST200 is faster, and generally, quite quick for its price point. Also, it is stealthy. If you don’t want the stigma of the a-hole BMW driver stereotype on you, or you don’t want every single Honda driver attempting to race you, the ST200 is a good bet. Sure, double exhaust pipes and the bodykit are a given, but the car is not shouty if you drive it leasurely, and you really have to know what you are looking at or give it a long and hard second look to notice it - especially in silver, like mine was. During two years of ownership precisely three people spoke to me who knew what it was. But, you might be saying, it is FWD, and that takes away sports car cred, while the E36 is RWD, and that is proper. Well, I agree with the idea that RWD is a great sports car setup, BUT, FWD means less power is lost through the drivetrain, and if you couple that advantage with the 5 speed manual transmission, which is the only one you could get with the ST200, you might alrady have a noticable advantage against a RWD, automatic E36, even if it has the same size engine. As for burnouts and drifting, don’t entertain yourself, you won’t be doing those anyway in an open-diff BMW, and if you are looking at limited-slip models, we are not talking this price range anymore. Add in the fact that FWD gives you more stability in bad weather or winter,and I think we have a winner.

As for handling, the car is tight and firm, but its ride height is not too low, so it has all the family car practicality of a Mondeo, but it also has sharp, responsive steering and firm suspension to have fun with. The 5 speed manual is easy to shift, and the sound…one of my favourite things about this car was the way its V6 sang all across the rev range, giving a menacing grawl at the low end, slowly giving way to a muscle car-like experience until 6000 rpm, after which comes the “Oh my God it is about to fall apart” phase as it shouts and screams and it feels really uncomfortable for the engine and you just want to upshift already, but you just hang on until the 6750 redline.

But now, after all that fanboy talk, let me tell you about the numerous, glaring problems with this car. First of all, it gets poor fuel economy. For me it consumed 11 L/100km or 25mpg(UK) in the city, even with very relaxed driving. But surely it is better on the highway, right? Well, no. No, because the gears of the 5 speed box are rather short, which is good for acceleration, but as a result at highway speeds in fifth gear revs sit above 3000. This car sorely needs a 6 speed gearbox for economy, which, luckily, the ST220 had, later. Next up, parts supply. You might think, just like I did when I made the purchase, that most things are interchangable with any old V6 Ghia you can find in the junkyards, or you could just get good quality aftermarket parts. Again, not so. Sure, the really obvious things can be had from the common base-models, like door locks or lights, but it just about ends there. The engine is so specialised that the base V6s contain virtually no adequate parts, and the same is true for the drivetrain, and as far as the suspension goes, my mechanic says it was manufactured with four differnt setups, but each unique to the ST200, and so parts are either super expensive or have to be made to order in Germany.

My Experience

Here, we delve into the realm of the subjective, drear reader, so anything from this point on is my own experience with my own car. I can not speak for more examples of this car, and therefore I can not confirm nor deny that these are general tendencies for the ST200, (althugh I can suspect…) but without beating around the bush any further let me just say: TERRIBLE BUILD QUALITY AND RELIABILITY!!!

So, I bought my ST200 for 2500 USD, from a private person, trading in my Fiat Seicento Schumacher, as he just happened to be looking for a small car. It looked really nice. The paint was in good order, the interior was clean and tear-free, I climbed under it as best I could on the street with a flashlight, and saw no rust, the engine sounded fine, the test drive was nice, there were only 70.000 miles on it, and I bought it with clear consciousness. It was the last time I did not do a pre-purchase inspection with my trusty mechanic, as I promised myself later. On the 100 km way home, traction control failed. It worked on the test drive when he showed me where to turn it on and off, but when 80kms later I wanted to play with it, it was already broken. As was the ABS. and then the twist switch for the AC. And then the AC itself. In the first two days. My mechanic found traces of burn damage in the engine bay, and signs of questionable quality repair to front end damage, so who knows what happened to this car before. In any case, every two weeks something new failed on my car, and I quickly became very close friends with my mechanic, Robert, as I attempted to fight and prevent fate. After just a few months, the clutch started slipping, had to be replaced, as well as many suspension components that were just barely hanging on. The stereo shorted out every time I hit a bump, and turned off. Then, it would only come back if I hit a bump again, and so when it refused to work, sometimes I drove around delierately hitting potholes for it to turn back on, and it worked eventually. People must have thought I was an idiot. :D Other things that failed: fuel cap release, electric windows, central locking system, electric mirror adjuster, handbrake, alternator (twice), starter motor, left horn, windshield defroster, fog lights, buttons falling off the dashboard, trunk leaking…I think that is all. At the end of the day, I ended up spending nearly as much as the purchase price of the car on repairs, and the car never thanked me by being reliable at any point.

So after two years of this abusive relationship, and - despite the constant repairs - being able to save up some money, I uprgaded to my S500, which feels like a much more solid vehicle so far. I was very open about the faults of my car and was still able to sell it to a Ford enthusiast for nearly 3000 USD, which was still a huge loss, but at least he got a better car than I did two years ago.

Conclusion

The ST200 is a cheap, sporty car for when you need trunk space and the ability to transport 5 people, so you can not go for an all-out 2 seat sports car. If you can find a good one, it can be a very good buy, and a rarer, even faster option to some typical choices in this price range. Whatever you do, get a pre-purchase inspection, and/or be ready to wrench away on your car yourself. At the end of the day, it is an exciting car that rewards you during those moments of perfection when you drive it enthusiastically on just the right twisty bit of country road, which it enjoys best. In one way or another, prepare for an adventure if you decide to get one. :)