Mondeo or Mundano? (Ford Mondeo ST-200 Estate)

Member Name: eGordy

Product:	Ford Mondeo ST-200 Estate
Date:	12/10/05 (1435 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fairly nice looker, somewhat sporty for an estate, nice drive.

Disadvantages: Underpowered, poor MPG.

A number of things happened to precipitate me buying a Ford Mondeo ST-200 Estate. About 2 years ago I started my own business and the extravagance of owning cars such as a Honda Integra Type-R, BMW M5 and Mitsubishi Evo had to be cut back. My wife also got a 2-seater Honda S2000 as a company car at about that time and shortly afterwards we got a Border Collie.

I therefore needed an estate to accommodate the Border Collie with ease and to use for those times when my wife’s 2-seater simply wasn’t big enough. So I paid £6,500 for a year 2000 Ford Mondeo ST-200 Estate with 70,000 miles on the clock from a garage in Swindon.

To look at the car’s okay. It looks a bit sportier than a basic Mondeo Estate with bigger wheels, fatter tyres, a lower stance, a rear spoiler and a few bits of additional trim. Mine is in Ford’s ‘racing blue’ which looks a bit too much like purple for my liking, but I think the general consensus amongst people I meet is that a fairly good looker for an estate.

The interior is quite nicely appointed with grey leather Recaros which are quite comfortable on a long journey. I have been told that the back seats are less comfortable, but I’ve never travelled any distance in them myself. The dash is fairly uninspiring save for the white dials which I quite like, but there are plenty of toys and switches to keep people amused if you like that sort of thing.

Boot space is excellent, particularly with the rear seats folded down, although it lacks in the height dimension when compared against many other estates. We can fit a large dog crate in the back (with the seats up) with ease, and as this was our main requirement we have no complaints in that area.

Performance, however, left me disappointed. Now I’m prepared to accept that it was bound to after my previous cars, but I still think it does not feel like 200 BHP car, even given that it is a reasonably heavy estate. It is not a slow car by any means, but it is disappointing for a car that is meant to be the sporty, top of the range Mondeo of its time.

It’s a perfectly fine drive, if a little skittish at the front under hard acceleration due to the excessive torque steer. Body roll is minimal and it handles reasonably well, but it isn’t the sort of car you would want to throw into corners too fast.

I have been lucky with this car and not a thing has gone wrong with it. I have only bought 4 new tyres and a wiper blade in 14 months and it passed its MOT without a single problem. Don’t, however, expect much more than 22-25 MPG around town or more than about 28-30 MPG on a long run.

This is an end of term report as far as I’m concerned as the wife is getting an Audi Estate as a company car in the next few weeks and I’ll be selling the Mondeo. Whilst it may not have particularly inspired me, it has served its purpose perfectly.

Summary: A reasonably sporty estate car that is pleasant enough, but fails to fully hit the mark.

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