Friday 18th February 2011

SOTW: Ford Mondeo ST24

It's 'wagons roll', as Shed picks out a BTCC-inspired repmobile estate

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Remember the days when 168bhp was enough to qualify a family car for 'sporting' status? We hope so, because it wasn't actually that long ago, as today's SOTW proves.

Eleven years ago, the Mondeo ST24's 2.5-litre V6 and consequent ability to sprint to 60mph in 8.0secs on the way to a 139mph top speed was more than enough for the outlandish bodykit - that recalled The BTCC Mondeo Super Touring racers, you'll remember - to be justified. Though even then probably not on grounds of good taste.

Still, the four-spoke alloys (Ford went through an odd phase of alloy wheel design in the late 90s, with four-spoke efforts also available on the Fiesta) did mark the ST24 out as something a little beyond the ken of its regular fleet-market brethren.

But the ST24 we've picked for Shed is somewhat of a runt of the fast Mondeo litter. For starters, the true touring car wannabes would have lusted after the ST200, which packed a more punchy 202bhp and whose body styling tweaks and bigger alloys more closely recalled the kerb-hopping antics of the Rapid Fit-sponsored BTCC cars.

Secondly, the ST24 estate never quite looked as performance-oriented as the saloon and hatchback versions. Partly this was to do with the simply massive estate body, partly because the estate versions often did without a rear spoiler.

On this particular car, the grille has also apparently been changed to a more ordinary 'cooking' nose, making this particular V6 Mondy even more of a 'sleeper' (if you ignore those alloys, that is).

That inappropriate nose job is a potentially worrying issue, and could imply a bit of a crash history, but we've done a spot of HPI-shaped digging and discovered that the car has never been written off, so we shall give this particular silver dream machine the official Shed benefit of the doubt for now.

But if the outside is suspiciously oridinary, there's plenty of kit on the inside to keep you occupied, with electric windows, seats and mirrors, half leather, a heated windscreen and even a 6-cd autochanger.

So although it may not be the darling of fast Ford fans, you'll have to look long and hard to beat the ST24 estate's combination of space, reasonable pace, a pleasant V6 and handling that comes from a time when Ford genuinely seemed to care about making its cars fun to drive.

This is one we'd go in with our eyes open on (that odd grille makes sure of that), but as long as it looks as clean as it appears to be in the advert, £695 rapid repmobile sounds like a bit of a bargain.

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Advert is reproduced below

FORD MONDEO 2.5 V6 ST24 5dr Estate (1999)
92,000 miles £695

FORD MONDEO 2.5 V6 ST24 5dr Estate, Silver, Petrol, 5 Speed Manual, Rear wiper, Drivers airbag, Electric Front / Rear windows, mirrors & drivers seat, Heated front screen, Half Leather, ABS, T/C, Alarm / Immobiliser, Alloy Wheels, RDS 7000 stereo with 6 CD autochanger,
Smooth drive, generally in good condition

 

[hogfisch]

Barge-tastic!

[Goodfella 555]

If you had to name the top 5 cars for under a grand you'd have to have a Mondeo in there. The interior in this one though? Ouch

[Riggers]

Goodfella 555 said:

If you had to name the top 5 cars for under a grand you'd have to have a Mondeo in there. The interior in this one though? Ouch

Is that not the standard ST24 upholstery then? (not saying it's nice, btw - I do have eyes... )

[varsas]

Someone call the seller of last weeks Crown....the guy selling this Mondeo has stolen his interior shots!

[Baz Tench]

I seem to remember them having leather interior. May have been an option though.

Good SOTW though. Sorry for the cliche but it's a lot of car for the cash.

[DBSnappa]

This one doesn't have the RSAP bodykit, just the wheels. That interior is actually charcoal it's jut the pictures look like they've been shot with flash which makes the interior look a lot brighter than it would in the flesh, which to all intents and purpose would appear to be black.

I had an ST24 hatchback for about 4 years, it was a really good car.

[pSyCoSiS]

Interesting SOTW - something reasonably quick, whilst still being practical.

Not my cup of tea, but a good car for the cash.

[Goodfella 555]

Riggers said:

Goodfella 555 said:

If you had to name the top 5 cars for under a grand you'd have to have a Mondeo in there. The interior in this one though? Ouch

Is that not the standard ST24 upholstery then? (not saying it's nice, btw - I do have eyes... )

In honesty i don't know, but what i do know is that there are 5 V6 Mondeo estates for sale nationally (on Autotrader) with full leather (in GHIA X guise) which is partly what is so good about Mondeos is that you can pick and choose your engine size and spec even though you are only spending a weeks wage

[mn1981]

Riggers said:

Is that not the standard ST24 upholstery then? (not saying it's nice, btw - I do have eyes... )

mine certainly had a nicer interior than that.. also had the full RSAP body kit which made it look a lot better even in estate body shape. brilliant cars...

[boredofmyoldname]

Does it sport the obligatory taped up bumpers?

Oh and you do realise that the time spent trying to find out which bit of trim is loose today will take longer than the average 50 mile commute.

[Faust66]

Always liked the fast Mondeos.

When finances allow (or my current Sierra blows up!) a nice ST220/ST24 may well be on the cards.

As has already been said, you do get a LOT of car for your money.

[tab165]

Having had one of this era previously I suspect its the wheels that have been changed not the grille. The early ST24's (97-99ish) had no RS appearance pack, 1/2 leather with a questionable fabric choice and the multi-spoke alloys that later came on the Ghia X. From roughly late 1999 the ST24 was beefed up (subject to opinion) in the looks department with the 4 spoke alloys and the bumpers, spoilers etc to mark it out a little.

Great value shed though

[jake15919]

Excellent load lugger and pretty decent performance. Interior is different to say the least, and my guess is it will just feel tired inside like an old taxi.

Top DIYers shed though. I bought an E-class estate when I was renovating my house. It also had a challenging fabric on the seats. Must have been a shared 90's estate vibe.

[Mike 820]

Not a big fan of the estate version but really like the hatch/saloon.

I think the RSAP kit is a great addition and makes the car look low and sporty. A while back I wanted to get a Mondeo ST. All the looks of the st24/220 but not heavy on insurance.

[Rumblestripe]

Decent shed. I've always like estates with more go than standard. I had a V6 Rover 75 Estate that was huge fun at surprising BMWs in a straight line. Does the Mondeo Estate handle as well as the saloon? I cannot recall ever driving an Estate Mondeo.

[PetrolHeadSeb]

Good shed!

Looks like a real bargain at that price too, just a shame it's an estate

[IROC-Z]

ST24? Shed?

That hurts

[Tomoose85]

I bought a V6 Ghia X for about £770 a few years back. It was mint and had just over 100k on the clocks. Full leather, heated seats, cruise control etc

I did about 10k in it, averaged 32mpg (genuine!) and got £1k p/x when I chopped it in for an e36 328i.

Lovely cars to drive, suprisingly frugal, but ultimately not very fast. Pretty reliable too, although changing the alternator was an exhast off, driveshaft off and assemble as many wobble bars an universal joints as possible to undo a bolt you still couldn't see that had been tightened up by The Hulk...

A few common problems on these, but nothing catastrophic. IMRC boxs fail due to heat (they are on top of the engine) and will reduce performance over about 3000rpm as it won't open the secondaries in the inlet manifold. A VERY easy fix though and cheap too.

These are certainly capable of mega mileages, and if in the market for a sub £1k family motor I'd have another in a heart beat.

A colleague had an earlier 2.0 Ghia X and got similar mpg, he was a bit annoyed lol. No cambelt to worry about on the V6 either!

[Escort Si-130]

Same here, nt a fan of the estate. It needs the sideskirts to complete the job.

Mike 820 said:

Not a big fan of the estate version but really like the hatch/saloon.

I think the RSAP kit is a great addition and makes the car look low and sporty. A while back I wanted to get a Mondeo ST. All the looks of the st24/220 but not heavy on insurance.

[Strawman]

Tomoose85 said:

I did about 10k in it, averaged 32mpg (genuine!) and got £1k p/x when I chopped it in for an e36 328i.

A colleague had an earlier 2.0 Ghia X and got similar mpg, he was a bit annoyed lol. No cambelt to worry about on the V6 either!

Interesting, I run a 2L estate version of this era and get about 33/34mpg on a run, which isn't great for the performance, but then there are cheap enough to get parts for.