ST220 advice

[danlightbulb]

Hi all,

Ive been round the houses on many cars, originally wanting a 4x4 but recieving good advice on the running costs, refinement and the risk of diesels. I currently own a 2003 Mondeo 2.0l TDCi. Apart from a DMF replacement the engine has done very well on its run up to 190,000 miles. The rest of the car though has seen better days, suspension clunking, excessive tyre wear, some intermittent electrical problems. I've been thinking for some time about changing it.

So as I said, having been round the houses on many many cars I've come back to a Mondeo! Received alot of advice that a petrol engine is the more reliable but of course I'll be taking a hit on mpg, which I hope to offset by not risking expensive diesel component failures on the modern diesels.

So the ST220 has popped in to view. I'm hoping I'll get 30mpg, insurance quote is reasonable, about £10 a month more than my diesel, and some versions are £290 tax so thats about £10 a month more as well. Would have to avoid the £490 tax models which I think are post 2007.

So basically I'd be changing my 2003 TDCi 190k miler for probably a 2005/06 ST220 60 to 80k miler.

My questions are a) whether engines of this age will be good and reliable. Will the car likely have similar suspension / steering issues as my TDCi has at this age?

b) Whether the Bluefin device (£250) would improve fuel consumption at all on that engine?

c) whether I'd be better dropping to the 2.5l turbo in a later model?


Thanks