Anyone gone from Mondeo ST220 to Focus ST 2.5?

[V8 OH NO]

When I had my ST220 last year I borrowed a Focus ST from Peoples Ford
for 24hrs test drive with a view to buying one. After a good drive round
I felt the Mondeo was the better car for me and the interior quality was
a lot better than the Focus.

[TorchDCi]

isn't the boost limited in first and second gear? in order to avoid getting bogged down by tc

[Damian S]

Turbo cars are never quite as good at the top end. Things get pretty hot under the hood from being on the loud pedal for some time, therefore, reducing efficiency.

[pinchmeimdreamin]

sadly the stock intercooler in the focus isnt up to the job so the first thing most owners do is replace this which aids both the temps and thus the airflow through the turbo, And personally having driven a mondeo and now owned an st for nearly a year IMHO, the ST is alot easier to improve and now I match mine up against Subaru's and Evo's (not the fq400's i must add).
we even have one on Focusstoc.com now thats pushing out 385 BHP.

[Dave_ST220]

A turbo'd engine is always going to be easier to up the power on.

[Damian S]

385bhp through the front wheels...spintastic

[DAVE-W]

Sorry for the thread hijacking guys but can you mondeo st220 owners give me a bit of an honest low down on what the fuel economy is like please?

I need to change my 03 Impreza WRX PPP (the missus refuses to go out in it and it's hard to justify keeping it just to drive back and forth to work) and I've potentially got a good deal on a 2004 st220 with 31k miles. Just want to know how it's going to compare in petrol costs to the impreza!

Any other comments on the possible swap over welcome!

Dave

[Witchfinder]

DAVE-W said:

Sorry for the thread hijacking guys but can you mondeo st220 owners give me a bit of an honest low down on what the fuel economy is like please?

Mine is p*ss poor to be blunt, and I'm not especially lead-footed. I average about 21 MPG, but in fairness this is virtually all around town. I'd expect this out of a 4+ litre V8, but not out of a 3 litre V6.

I imagine it'll be roughly comparable to the Impreza, depending on how hard you like to drive.

[heightswitch]

NST said:

I thought about getting a Focus ST after my ST220m but after testing driving the new focus i really didn't like the seating position or high CoG which could be felt when cornering. the focus certainly has the better in gear performance and much better 'chuckability', but the mondeo imho had the better top end rush and better pull from tickover in high gears -something that you only get from large capacity engines.
fuel consumption was alittle scarey in the focus..

refinement and high speed crusing imho is better in the mondeo.
two different cars imho, i liked both but if given the option to take one i think i'd take the mondeo.

i test drove a Focus ST3 yesterday and asked about fuel consumption. The salesman showed me the trip and average combined. Very low 20's to the gallon? I thought this was appaling. I used to average 27 in a twin turbo audi S4??

if i am brutally honest it was a nice drive but didn't feel lightning quick. i just don't think i could live with that sort of fuel economy.

N.

[Damian S]

DAVE-W said:

Sorry for the thread hijacking guys but can you mondeo st220 owners give me a bit of an honest low down on what the fuel economy is like please?

I need to change my 03 Impreza WRX PPP (the missus refuses to go out in it and it's hard to justify keeping it just to drive back and forth to work) and I've potentially got a good deal on a 2004 st220 with 31k miles. Just want to know how it's going to compare in petrol costs to the impreza!

Any other comments on the possible swap over welcome!

Dave

yeah the imprezas are pretty poor on fuel, I had a gt4 that was usually under 20mpgs, the best I could get was about 25 if driving like a granny, in which case whats the point? If you go for another performance car, I cant see you getting much better economy TBO.

have you considered getting yours remapped? that can improve the economy but several mpgs because they run pretty rich as standard. It will give you some extra grunt at the same time

Another suggestion would be to buy a vw 1.8T engined car. plenty of options here, ie a golf, audi A3 / A4, seat leon / ibiza, skoda. The returned mpg of this engine is around 35, 36 provided you dont hammer it.......then get it remapped to up the power. Standard they ar 150bhp, a T reg or later engines chip to about 210, pre T reg to about 200. (may sound like a big increase but bare in mind this is the same base engine thats in the S3, cupra R etc, so its pretty bullet proof)

Ive been in an 1.8T A3 that had a revo remap, it was pretty rapid. As fast as a standard WRX once it was moving, in fact quicker at higher speeds.

Plenty of people offer remaps for the vw engine, custom code or revo technik to name a few.

just some ideas.

[DAVE-W]

Damian,

The impreza already has the Prodrive ECU and as part of the PPP it's not something I'd start to play about with.

HOWEVER.....a very interesting point you made about the VAG 1.8T lump......my next consideration is a 54 / 05 plate Skoda Octavia VRS in black (the ST220 is actually a used car on the Skoda main dealer's forecourt) and I was aware of how good these engines are both from both a reliability and economy perspective (not to mention the scope for tuning them).

Thanks for the input fellas.

Dave

[vino187]

DAVE-W said:

Damian,

The impreza already has the Prodrive ECU and as part of the PPP it's not something I'd start to play about with.

HOWEVER.....a very interesting point you made about the VAG 1.8T lump......my next consideration is a 54 / 05 plate Skoda Octavia VRS in black (the ST220 is actually a used car on the Skoda main dealer's forecourt) and I was aware of how good these engines are both from both a reliability and economy perspective (not to mention the scope for tuning them).


my friends audi tt and other mates golf gti both 1.8t both cracked manifolds, the tt had 2 rebuilds in 4 years and the golf cambelt went at 70000, and allsorts of sensors and messages warning of low fuel pressure amonst lots of other problems. reliable i dont think so!!

Edited by vino187 on Saturday 17th November 13:35

[vino187]

and the focus is a much better car than the mondeo. though i do like them both.